Back from Scotland

Yes, we are back from our trip to Scotland.... but I have to admit, the travel report will take a while. It is a very busy time here in England. But here is a very short version of our trip:

We started on July 4th, the sun was shining and we were looking forward to 13 days on the road and in Scotland. It was a wonder that everything fitted into the car. We used the roof box again and had all our camping stuff in it, the rest of the luggage on the back seat and Amber had her very own and comfortable travel compartment in the trunk. We stopped at Answick castle. As far as I understood St. Cloude State sends students there and Tina has been there through this program, right?
Our plan was to find a place to stay somewhere in that area, not too far away from the Scotish border. But everything was fully booked, even the campground. That was not what we expected and I was getting really nervous about the rest of the trip. Before we left Thetford we bought a book "pet friendly accommodation" and found a Best Western Hotel in Edinburgh, called it and stayed there for two nights. From there we explored the area around St. Andrews (golfer know what town I am talking about). The next stop was at Fort William, where we spent another two nights, well, we always spent two nights at each town. That gave us a whole day for exploring the area. From Fort William we drove to Isle of Skye. Beautiful, I loved it there! I even met a former co-worker of mine on the little campground we stayed. Funny, the world is so small. It was also our first time camping in the tent. Amber slept in the car and it worked out really well.
From Skye we drove to the north western Highlands and stayed in Big Sand, a very large but beautiful campground right at the sandy beach. Perfect for Amber, she was able to go swimming before dinner. From there we proceeded to the north coast of Scotland and stayed in a hotel in Tongue. It was very rainy when we arrived and therefore we decided to pick a hotel from our book again. Very nice, great food and a fantastic view. Amber was no problem and she behaved very well in the hotel, even staying in our room all by herself was no big deal. From Tongue we drove south again and stayed not to far away from Inverness. We picked a campground again, visited Cullodon battlefield and Loch Ness (too bad, I didn't see Nessie...) and a local brewery. The last night we stayed at the same hotel in Edinburgh. On the way there we visited some more castles and a Whiskey distillery.

That was our trip in a very very short version. But if you like you can have a look at a Scotland map before I will write a more detailed report with pictures. Right now I am preparing the house for our next guests. Tori visited us. She arrived on Monday and left today. We had such a great time together and I am so glad I met her! If you ask her, she can probably tell you more about broken shoes, waiting in the rain, getting lost while walking Amber, our trips to Bury St. Edmunds and Cambridge and her first geocache. I hope we will see her again soon. Tori, you are more than welcome to visit us in Maryland!
Now I am waiting for my brother and his family to arrive. I will pick them up at the airport tonight and they will stay until next Wednesday. Well, not all of them. Uwe had to reschedule his flight and now will fly back home on Sunday already. He just got a new project and needs to be in Switzerland next week. It is too bad, I wish I could spend more time with him, but on the other hand having a new project in times like this is really good. Business has been a little bit slow for him, too, during the first half of this year. Anyway, I have to prepare something for dinner and wait for Dave coming home with my car so that I can go to the airport. Hopefully I will be able to write more when my brother and his family left next week. So stay tuned.