*TUESDAY*

Tuesday 24^th:

Early morning is right; I vetoed a shower so that I could sleep in, in which I had no such luck. Josh woke up at seven to shower, and then Cassidy proceeded to turn on all the lights and pack his bag up. Which includes airtight plastic bags you have to crinkle and roll all the air out. So I was up it rather I liked it or not. We were ready in great time and again, very conveniently located to the train station. Which is great because if you have seen the size of my two backpacks you wouldn’t wanna tote them all around Scotland either. Talk about getting into good shape whether you like it not, and fast! Just with the few things I have purchased so far, I am ready for a new bag already, it was hard zipping up my bags in America now add four other things, it’s a handful. New goal for today: find a tote bag to carry gifts in. We caught out 8:30 train from Edinburg to Inverness. It is about a four-hour train ride where at that station our rental car picks us up. The train ride was beautiful, I am glad its during sunlight we take this trip. All the country and cute houses we get to see. Makes you not really miss the desert landscape we have back home. I was chatting with my friend I met while skydiving in Las Vegas the other night. He lives in Manchester England and he says “hope you brought your rain coat with you for Scotland’s weather, do you even have a rain coat being from the desert?” We then chatted about the beauty and culture of England and he proceeded to tell me, Nevada/Utah is pretty in their own ways. The mountains and desert landscape is pretty all the same, just in their own way. I agreed with him about all in their own they are wonderful, I guess. We ended up getting to the train station an hour before the car rental place were ready to pick us up. So we enjoyed a cup of coco at the café and just sat and rested to pass the time. After finding the car after walking circles (we are really good at that) signed papers and off we go! I was all tense and I was in the back seat with Cassidy driving. I felt like a mother of a teenage child, wishing I had my own emergency break to step on! I don’t think I have been that nervous in a long time! Anyways, so you know I lived because I am telling the tale. I got car sick immediately with a combo of cassidys driving, windy roads, and speeding up and slowing down very quickly. I proceeded to try to take a nap to try to feel better. We made a few stops on our way to the B&B (bed and breakfast). One of the stops were “the steps”. There was 365 steps down to the ocean (I think there were a few more than that.. but who is counting) it was really an amazing view! Couldn’t get enough of it! Have I mentioned its been like 45ish degrees with winds of 25 miles per hour close to the ocean! I cannot believe I am craving hot chocolate in AUGUST! I am wearing long pants and the two jackets I brought and am still freezing all the time! Talk about different then at home you cant cool off at all in August. Anyways, I am really tired and day behind this one gets cut short. We found a cute resturant to eat dinner in called Y-Not. It was really good the Meatball sandwich I had anyways. We were close to our B&B so there was nothing else in this small town going on, so we called it a night. Josh and I get our own room tonight, a cute blue room with two little twin beds AND a blow dryer! Amazing isn’t it! The things you’re thankful for in a foreign country! OH and I cannot forget to mention my big brother Cassidy's super embarrassing moment. While we were driving along the country side there is lots of fields of sheep and cows about, we pass a pasture of cows all having horns and Cassidy says is all seriousness "Oh look, they all have horns, they must be bulls." I at first thought he was joking, because as most of you know we grew up on a cattle ranch, even with out that fact, he is a college graduate and 31 years old, I would think somewhere along he would have learned that just because cows have horns does not make them bulls. And you all wonder why I think its ridiculous for our parents to leave the ranch to all of us five kids, obviously some of us have to do a bit more research on the family business. Anyways, hopefully I can get all caught up and not miss any more good stories to tell!