Travels

        We got up early to catch a bus at a pick-up spot for the Gray Line 12-hour tour of the Scottish highlands. The driver wore a kilt, knee socks, and Scottish brogues. He was well-informed and talked most of the time we were on the bus.

      The Scottish Highlands on a sunny day were just awesome! We had never seen anything like them before. The highlands are shapely tall hills, not mountains, covered with a grass with stands of Scotch pine at the lower elevations. Atop some of the hills, there were a few patches of snow. We were told that there was a warm spell In early April, melting most of the snow and abruptly halting the ski season.

    There were stops along the way for coffee and pee with a long stay on the shores of Loch Ness for lunch. There was the optional boat ride to catch a glimpse of the monster, but we settled for a pub lunch.

        Notice that in these and our other outdoor photos are all taken in sunshine. In fact, every day for our entire two weeks, we had sunny weather. This was a source of amazement to all the Scots that we met.

        Besides the rocks and trees, we watched some boats navigate a river lock (between lochs?) visited a farm with Highland cows. The Scots call them Hairy Coos for the long, thick furry coats that helps them survive the cold Scottish winters.

In the Highlands