GregWeckenbrock-Europe: Scotland- Kristen, Mom, Dad, and friends

With our Ireland adventures nearly concluded, Kris and I spent our last night in Ireland, sleeping in the rental car. We awoke the early the next morning to fly to Scotland to meet our parents and their friends, Katie + Dick, Bob + Camille, and our Aunt Gail and Uncle Max. We spent the next four days in Edinburgh with them, sleeping on the floor of mom and dad's luxurious hotel room. -Room for two more? We brought sleeping bags???

Kris and mom walking above Edinburgh. Awesome afternoon hike, good compliment to the awesome 2hr long all you can eat Scottish breakfast.

Her mother's daughter.

Mom and daughter, Edinburgh castle in the background.

Stop number 8 on the audio-walking tour...

Edinburgh Castle, audio-walking tour.

Old church behind Mary's royal palace. One of the first buildings built in what is now Edinburgh.

Black and White Panoramic of Edinburgh.

After 4 days in Edinburgh, Kris flew back to Cincinnati, and mom, dad, and friends joined the Royal Scotch Railway tour, to see the country for the next week by train. They would later travel a bit more by bus, but I in fact, found myself alone in my travels for the first real time, with four more days in the country to do whatever I pleased. So, I packed my bag and headed north, into the highlands for some much needed quiet time. It was absolutely great, just what I needed. I found a nice little bed and breakfast in a seaside town on the west coast, named Ullapool. I wrote, read, slept, hiked, ate, drank good Scottish beer, watched football games in pubs and hung out at the library. What more could I have wanted? I took a few picts too, check them out:

"Scottish Light" -Bus

"Scottish Light"- The start of the hike where I got my feet soaked because its "a wee bit boggy" if you get off the trail. I got off the trail. It was windy, full of moving light and clouds, and nothing short of breath-taking.
There was one casualty however, I lost my constant companion of the last 3 months, Travis's Hat. I was sad about it, as it had absorbed so much energy from the trip. The memories it held would last a life time. But on a windy, cold day in the boggy Scottish highlands, after a 2hr hike up to the highest point around, I arrived at the top, felt the strong wind and took it off, the wind getting meaner, my head getting colder by the second. I fastened it to my man-purse, as I had so many times before, and began to climb down. After about 45min, I stumbled in the waist high brush, fell, and noticed for the first time, as I rolled down hill and my man-purse went flying, that in fact, Travis' hat was no where to be found. I raced back up as high as I could before the weather socked me in and I had to turn back because of darkness and fatigue. It was gone. "It was a good death".
In the end, my "trip hat" met the same fate as Fitzy's "trip flips"... Check out the pictures Travis's Hat died to take: