Back From My Trek In The Highlands

Hello there my friends...well, I'm back in Glasgow after a 4 day trek in the Scottish highlands. What a greaaaaaaaaaaaat time! I will try to recap our adventures here...so much took place...but let me see if I can tell ya some highlight stories.   Tuesday night we got to have coffee with some friends at the Bean Scene coffeehouse just up the street from where we're staying here in Boise. I met up with Carrie McGavin (a friend from the church here) and Rose & Joe Daley. Rose was the leader of the Harvest Ministry College and one of the leaders in the church here, when I lived in Glasgow. She got married whilst I have been away in Boise...so it was cool to meet her husband Joe (a wonderful man) and to catch up on stuff with her.  We had a great time till around 11pm (still quite light out by the way...it's been summer soltice and being as that Scotland is so north...it doesn't get very dark here in the summer).   Wednesday my parents and I headed out for the highlands. My dad has been doing great driving...think about it: driving on the opposite side of the road, different signs and laws...it's quite a task and he's been doing wonderfully.   Anyways, so we headed up north....past Loch Lomond (remember the song: you take the high road and I'll take the low road, and I'll be in Scotland before yee...where me and my true love will never meet again...on the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond)....ahhhhhhhh. Beautiful! We stopped in Luss for tea and had a look around the wee houses near the loch. Then we continued up thru Glen Coe (glen means 'valley')...a historical clan massacre took place there between the Campbells and the MacDonalds a few hundred years ago. It's a beautiful place full of green mountains, watefalls, rivers, and wildlife. We stopped and frolicked in the heather a bit.   We kept going up north to Loch Ness! We stopped at Urguahart Castle (really cool castle ruins...built in the 1200's) and also at the Loch Ness Monster exhibit (very interesting). By the way...I do believe I saw the great reptilian water beast peeking it's head up out of the deep blue Scottish water...only a wee bit...it was just a bit...and then it popped back down again. But then again, it could've been a log, or just a shadow...I don't know. I like to believe I saw it. Yeah....I did. I saw Nessie.   We continued north up to Inverness (claimed to be the capitol of the highlands). This is where we stayed for 2 nights. It's a beautiful city. Our B&B was right near the Inverness castle. The next day we set out again and traveled west to Eilean Donan Castle (it was in the beginning of the original movie 'The Highlander'...."there can be only one!")...it's a real well known castle...great photos! I had gone there when I was last in Scotland and it was great to be back...it's one of my favorite castles. And then...we traveled across the bridge to the Isle of Skye! Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my goodness! I love that Isle!   Last time I was in Scotland I got the surprise of going over the bridge to Skye (but just across)...this time we got drive the entirety of the Isle. WOW! The rugged highland beauty of the green, the hills, the heather, the water, the waterfalls and rivers, and the ruins. We traveled to the Castle Dunvegan, the MacLeod Castle...where the 29th Clan chief resides (by the way...my ancestors on my moms side were the Irish McCabes and they came up to Scotland and served under the Clan MacLeod as the royal guards for the chief (at that time) and so in a way we like to think that we lay claim to the Castle also!) we got to see the famous Fairy Flag that brings good luck and the bulls horn used still today for initiation ceremonies of the chief to drink from. After viewing the castle we drove more...and we got to explore the wilderness.   We found a historic BROCH (which is gaelic for 'watchtower') that was built before the time of Christ by unknown peoples, perhaps the Picts...we hiked out on a bog to get to it and then climbed up the ruins. It was so cool frolicking in the highlands, walking on the heather and it's hard to explain how it felt to be touching rocks that were so old. I was in heaven! I remember having a similiar discovery when I was on the Isle of Tiree (a wee isle also in the Hebrides) when I was living here before (the college went to Tiree for a week and some of us went out hiking in search of the broch...which I later painted paintings of it). Then we also stopped at another spot along the way where I went for a walk near a rock bridge that was over a river...I got to frolick a bit more...I climbed down onto the rocks (you know me...I gotta get in there and really experience things and touch them). Skye is so far my favorite experience.   We went back to Inverness for the night...and then on Friday we went to the famous site of the battle of Culloden (a battle fought in 1746 between the English Government armies and the Highland Clan Jacobites led by Bonnie Prince Charlie) ever since I was in highschool (where I took a class about war...and we watched a short film documentary on the battle of Culloden) I have wanted to come to Scotland to see that place. Finally. We found where our clan stood to fight for Bonnie Prince Charlie (who was trying to recapture the Scottish throne). After that we traveled back down the highlands all the way Oban by the sea (on the west). We stayed over night in rooms looking out over the water...very beautiful. Sunset was around 11:30pm.   Saturday we drove back to Glagow via Inverary. We got to see Castle Stalker on the way (the castle at the end of the movie "Monty Python's In Search of the Holy Grail"). We stopped in Inverary and went to Inverary Castle (the Campbell Clan...the 13th Duke of Argyll resides there) and ate fish n chips by the water.   Today (Sunday) we traveled into the city centre by train and went to church at Glagow Central Fellowship which meets in the KOG cafe (the coffeehouse that I and many many friends helped work on when I was here). It's sooooooooooooo different...they've really progressed in the building plans and it looks very nice now (It's hard to believe that it was once a second home for me...I remember it very well back when they first purchased that building and teams of us came over from the States to help out...it was so old and run down and full of muck and just an absolute manky mess...and it's taken a lot of hard work from a lot of loving people from all over the world to get it looking so cool like it does now). And It was so wonderful to see old friends again...I was warmly welcomed by everyone...and though the church has many new people coming and going that I don't know...there were still the warm hugs and smiles from some of the people I remember dearly. We enjoyed the worship and we have been invited to the Hurlet tonight to attend a BBQ. The Hurlet is the former estate of the Earl of Glasgow that the church purchased to be the home of the Harvest Ministry College (and other ministries and people). I saw it just before I left Scotland before...before they purchased it...it too was in bad condition and has needed a lot of hard work to get it livable...so it will be cool to see the work they've done in the 3 years I've been gone.   Tomorrow we plan to tour the city again...this time by taking the city tour bus...and it will be our last day in Glasgow, as Tuesday we leave for Prestwick where we will stay over night so we can catch our flight out early morning on Wednesday for Ireland. We'll be in Ireland from Wednesday thru the 10th of July (when we take a ferry to Wales). I will try my best to email as we go. I've heard from a lot of you that you're enjoying my email journal...so I will try to keep up as I can.   God has really been blessing us with lovely weather and great times at each place we go to. I have been amazed at how many surprises he has had for us. We'll be driving and make a mistake with reading the map or make a mistake in the directions...and somehow he works it out for us that we'll end up right where we need to be (like a miracle or something). We've really been having great adventures and it does get overwhelming at times to take it all in...cuz there's been so much in such little time. And I've been so very blessed by the surprises of getting to see certain people here while here in Scotland. We end this leg of the trip soon and will head to Ireland for a whole new adventure...   Well...my time is up here at the internet cafe...I better get this sent out to you. I'm sorry if I'm forgetting things. Thank you for your prayers...I so much appreciate them! Much love, Lisa