Hello Scotland

After a very short flight we found ourselves in the third country of our trip – Scotland! We quickly collected our bags and headed to the rental car counter to see what they had in store for us this time.

As an aside, it seemed to all of that every time I got kind of comfortable driving, the universe would throw some wrench into things. Are you handling the narrow, curvy roads, well what about if it’s raining sideways?! Level Up! Did you just successfully squeeze the van between a parked car and garbage truck, well what if we add a guy on a bike and make the garbage truck a super explosive gas truck?! Level Up! This went on, without fail.

It was pouring rain when we picked up the new van, and much to my relief and delight we ended up with a Vauxhall that just barely fit all of us and our luggage. After driving the previous beast, this thing was a breeze, even though I Leveled Up to a manual transmission. We made the short drive to our new Airbnb, which was ideally located right next to Glasgow Greens, a huge park near the city center. The townhouse was HUGE, had a dedicated parking spot, and even had three bathrooms. If it weren’t for the constant problems we had with the front door key, this would have been ideal.

Of course it was time to eat, because isn’t it always?! We checked the map for something within walking distance and we found German Beer Garden, a throw back to last year’s trip. In spite of some quiet protests, via bad body language, we enjoyed sausages, schnitzel, beer and pretzels. After lunch we made the short trek to the People’s Palace in Glasgow Greens.

The People’s Palace is a museum with a hodge podge of exhibits about Scotland and the history of Glasgow. We picked up yet another Children’s Treasure Trail, and then proceeded to help Charlie and Samantha to hurriedly run around the place to find the answers to the questions. In this venue, there was supposed to be a little fake bird at each of the places that contained an answer to a question. That’s awesome, except when half the birds are missing. What could have been a pretty nice stroll through the museum turned into some frustrated kids whose parents’ patience was running thin.

Once we shut down the People’s Palace we went to a park in Glasgow Greens, and because of the rain, everyone got wet and filthy. When Liz and I finally got tired of sitting in the yuck, we headed back to the house and then loaded everyone up to hit the grocery store. We picked up dinner for that evening, breakfast staples, and even the makings of a picnic lunch for tomorrow. By the way, I’m always fascinated by the deli counter everywhere we visit. The last few places have had this thing that looks like a Jello dessert with meat floating in it. I’ve never seen anyone buy it, and I’m too chicken to buy a piece and try it out.

The forecast in Scotland, every single day, was lots of rain and overcast skies. Since we can’t control the weather, we decided to ignore and just do what we wanted, weather be damned. So, the next day we loaded up the kids and our picnic, and drove north to Loch Lomond. It’s a beautiful area that pretty much looks like a postcard in every direction. Once we reached the trailhead for our hike to the Bracklinn Falls, we ate our picnic in the car. Let me just say, in this situation, our children were pigs. There were so many crumbs and so much food all over the van that we could have fed another kid. I was a little afraid to turn it back in, but I guess it’s better than the vomit from England.

The rain let up as we started our hike, and before long the sun was peeking it’s way through the clouds. What we learned over the course of our visit was that this rain/sun behavior was par for the course (Scotland golf pun). We enjoyed some splendid views of the waterfall, continued our trek up the mountain, walked through an ancient forest, and ended up making a big loop back to the car. At this point I was ready for round two and wanted to move the van a few hundred feet and hike to the Queen’s Jubilee Cairns. I was outvoted.

Instead we drove to a charming little village called Calendar where we engaged in one of our favorite pastimes – eating ice cream! The friendly lady in the shop let everyone try lots of unusual-to-us flavors, including Irn Bru, which apparently outsells Coca Cola in Scotland. For the record, it tastes like teaberry gum, but no one knew what I was talking about. This particular sweet shop was attended to by a diabetic, which we all agreed was very smart on the part of the owner.

After getting our sweet tooth nourished we weren’t sure what to do. Since we had come to Loch Lomond and hadn’t seen an actual Loch yet, we decided to drive around and find one. Our exploring paid off as our travels brought us to Loch Katrine. As we exited the van we noticed a place where we could maybe rent bikes! We did this last year and it was a little scary because we cycled through the city of Potsdam in Germany. Sam was unsteady on a bike that was too big for her, Charlie had to ride in a towed basket thing, and there were numerous close calls with traffic. This situation was going to be much better since there were no cars, the bikes actually fit the kids, and it was a relatively flat ride along the banks of the Loch.

In spite of some hesitation on the part of Katie, we set out on our ride. Everyone was riding well, the views were stunning, and the weather had turned out to be perfect. Everything was awesome – and then Charlie lost control of the bike going down a hill, went down in a heap, and came up with scrapes and tears. In that moment, he was done, but we had to ride back still (about 6 km). I tried the “initially comfort, then ignore/diminish their ailments” strategy, and in hindsight is was pretty successful. He dusted himself off, got back on the bike and continued the journey.

On the way back we found this little peninsula where we dismounted the bikes and went to take a closer look. On this very spot many an artist have come for inspiration, and I can see why. The gentle breeze whispering in my ear, the warmth of the sun on my face, and the landscape laid out before me gave me chills. In that moment, it felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be, with the people I was supposed to be with.

After all that serenity, we had to get back to the bike rental shop before it closed for the afternoon. We made it with a few minutes to spare, and without any further incidents. On our way back to Glasgow we stopped at a Scotish pub called the Faerie Tree, where we enjoyed (that word is a stretch) haggis and black pudding. I actually liked it, it was deep fried after all, but everyone else was skeptical! After dinner we headed back to our house to get a good night sleep for whatever tomorrow would bring!!