Tuesday June 14th

Hey everyone!  I had the best weekend ever!  We left last Thursday and headed up to the Scottish Highlands and then to the Isle of Skye!  We saw the most beautiful landscape I have ever seen in my life.  I was just in complete awe and wonder at God's amazing creation the whole weekend.  Ever time I thought that it coudn't get any prettier, it did.  Not only that, but all of our prayers for good weather paid off.  We had blue skies and sun the whole weekend and not a drop of rain.  Apparently this is very very rare for this time of year in the region we were in.  I am just so thankful that we were able to experience such a beautiful place in this world with such beautiful weather. 

We started our journey on a steam train, then got onto a ferry, and then we rode in a bus the rest of the weekend!  Every time that I tried to take a picture in the Highlands, I just got mad.  I coudn't capture the beauty and power of the landscape.  I did get pictures, but they just dont even compare to what I really got to see.  There are no trees really in the Highlands or on the Isle.  There is something in the air that prevents them from growing really.  Only a few types can really grow, and there aren't many of them.  This is what our tour guide told us at least! This makes the Highlands look like giant rolling hills.  But that isn't even a good description.  They are massive, they are rolling, but they are the most powerful looking mountain/hills imaginable.  They are just as tall as mountains and just towering over you on all sides.  I can't give a good enough description so I'll just quit trying.  It is frustrating me! Haha

These two pictures were of St. Conans Kirk.  Kirk is another word for Church of Scotland.  There is really nothing important that I know of that went on here.  It is just a beautiful church that is still in use today!  So we stopped and took a look around!  We also sat in the pews and had a little devo and singing session.  It sounded absolutely beautiful!

This was just one of the many many waterfalls that we saw in the Highlands!  We literally didn't go a mile without seeing waterfalls like this coming out of the mountains!  As much as we complain about all the rain we've gotten, it made for some beautiful waterfalls.  Last year's group said that there was just barely a trickle of water from most of the falls. 

We got to ride a steam engine train as soon as we got to the Highlands!  It was a beautiful ride!  We also got to ride it across the bridge where all the Harry Potter movies are filmed.  It is the bridge that they cross on their way to school every year!  I know you are all probably getting sick of Harry Potter, but I'm a Harry Potter nut and I am in Scotland, the birthplace of Harry Potter!! Everything here makes me want to reread the whole series agian!  I see inspiration for the books everywhere I go! It is so cool. 

This was the ferry that we rode on to get the Isle of Skye!

This is a picture of the Highlands from the Island of Skye!

Our group attempted to get a picture of us all holding hands and jumping off this wall (onto a road with traffic mind you) haha  But we failed every time! haha Still a cute picture though. :)

Another of the many waterfalls! I climbed the hill to the top of this one and got a close up picture of this one though!

This was the coolest waterfall we saw the whole time.  It is actually spilling off into the sea where the Atlantic and North Sea meet!

These little daisy looking flowers are like the dandelions of Scotland.  They are everywhere so I wanted to get a picture of them on a pretty day with blue skies! 

This was one of the funnest things I did!  These are Highland Coos.  They are called coos, not cows.  They are all over in the Highlands and on the Isle of Skye!  We saw them when we were driving down the road and stopped to get pictures!  Of course they were all laying down and we couldn't see them very well.  So leave it to me. I jumped the fence and walked up to them and got them to stand up and pose for some great pictures!! The little baby in front was just the cutest thing ever!  Haha Those horns were just a little bit scarey up close though. 

This is the first castle that we got to go in!! I was set up like a museum on the inside though and half of the rooms you couldn't go in or even look into.  I was still very cool though!

I have a new "best picture"!  We just noticed while driving by that there was NO wind and that the lake was perfectly still!! It was unreal to see.  There is always wind in Scotland, especially here right on the coast!  It was the most peaceful and beautiful sight to see. 

This, my friends, is LOCH NESS!!!! Yes we went hunting for Nessie!!! Unfortunately we did not find her.  We took a boat out onto the loch (lake) and had a tour guide tell us all about the legends of the loch ness monster.  It was a lot of fun!

This is a picture of a castle we saw while on the Loch Ness