Lazy days in Inverness...

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

To Inverness:
So we got up and left the farm late.  We only had two stops to make and were considering leaving one out so we decided to take our time and let his highness sleep in for a little.  That and he was in the rooms and you couldn't get into the bathroom to do anything without waking him up.

We said our goodbyes and got on our way.

What would be our one and only stop for the day was to Huntly Castle.

This was the home of the Gordons who like many other Jacobites, lost everything.  It was a very cool looking ruin and some of the more extravagant stuff was still visible on the entrance to the castle and on some of the fireplaces.

Not one to discriminate, he crapped in this castle too.

There was a playground right next to the castle and since it was a long ride we decided to cut out the other castle and give him some time to play in the playground.  On my way over, despite trying to be very careful, I stepped in a fresh pile of shit.  I knew it too.  That slight slip in your step, the immediate whiff of shit when you pick your foot up off the ground, and the growing anger about the fact that you are going to spend the next 30 minutes finding things to pick the shit out of the grooves in your shoes.  I hate shit.

They appeared to have a good time.  After sweeping my foot from front to back on the grass and looking like either a horse or a cat in a litter box, I made my way over to the bathrooms on the castle grounds.  Thankfully, the sink had better pressure than the shower the past two days and I was able to force the vast majority of the shit right off of my boots.

This is actually funnier than you know unless you read the blog from our 2007 trip where we actually have photographic evidence of Jess and her shit story.

We grabbed a cache in the town and hit ASDA on way out.  Jess ran in while the baby and I hung out in the car.

We drove to Inverness and finished up a This American Life -  a really messed up story about this guy, Steve Raucci, crazy story.  I don't understand how people get away with this shit.

We had dinner and then took a walk around Inverness - it was Monday at like 8 pm and no one was out and everything but souvenir shops were closed.  We found a cache on the way in to the center of town.  Because once a day isn't enough, a seagull shit right behind me, brushing the back of my arm and splatting on my leg.  There are a lot of fucking seagulls here too - they're the pigeons of western Scotland.

We stopped and saw the Abertoff House, some old ass house from the 1500s - and then walked around some more, headed back to The Cottage to get some sleep.

The Next Day:

Since we saw many things in the city the previous evening, we decided to take our time and make a nice lazy day of it.  It was Judy day - we basically did just about every recommendation that she made.  We took a nice ling walk over to the Ness Islands, where there is a huge playground for the baby to hang out and run around.  On the way there we stopped at a kilt maker's store Highland House of Fraser and were able to pick up a bunch of MacNeil stuff as well as some stuff for some other people we know.

We continued on to the park - and it was a long walk for the baby to be in the stroller but he was good till the almost very end. We hopped on the train at Whin Park.

Since there was no castle today, he decided to take a poop on the train.  Whatever works!

We took the long walk back to The Cottage, grabbed a cache and headed inside for lunch.  His highness decided that he did not want to nap and proceeded to cry on and off for the next 45 minutes.  I finally went in to work my magic which I dad.  After sitting for a while, I was uncomfortable and tried to lay down - he of course, woke up moved around and the crashed to the side and pinned my arm in the bed.

I had to pee really bad.

But who could possibly be mad at that face?

After nap, he was very excited to go and play with the dog that the woman was babysitting - so we went out into the garden and threw the stick to the dog, who I named, Dog.

After hanging out in the garden, we took the short ride out to The Dores Inn, which is located right on the shores of Loch Ness.  The place was cool and the food was good.  His highness was starving and made the start of the meal a little difficult but I took him outside and he calmed down a bit.  Did I mention the food was good?  We hung out for a bit and actually got dessert - something we never do - we must be on vacation.

Our fist taste of looking for Nessie was quite nice - I'm looking forward to seeing more of the West Coast and the Highlands and I am sure I am not the only one.