Our Trip Blog

The Events of Tuesday, May 24, 2011

                This day began when I awoke in the dark “movie lounge” of our ferry, the European Highlander. Some loud and sudden happening in the movie had startled me awake, though I have no knowledge of what that event was. It was easy to fall asleep in a dark movie “theatre” room, but it was hard to stay asleep when the movie started playing, in surround sound. So, after being rudely awakened, I gave up on sleeping for the time being and instead tried to watch the movie. This was a challenge, because Mom had insisted that I remove my contact lenses, because wearing them while I sleep would damage my cornea. My glasses were buried in our luggage. The images of people in business suits came to me in a blur, sometimes even as if it were a cartoon and not real people acting. Soon, the movie ended, and I promptly fell back asleep.

                I next awoke when the captain announced that our ferry from Northern Ireland across the North Channel to Cairnryan, Scotland had finally landed. This was at around 2:15 in the morning! We sleepily gathered our belongings, groggily made our way down the stairs to our car, and patiently waited our turn to disembark the ferry. Mom told us kids to go back to sleep, but we disobediently stayed awake, because everything in the ferry dock was so wonderfully and brightly lit. However, once we were out on the open road, engulfed in darkness, we all quickly fell asleep.

                When I next opened my eyes, it was 4:29 AM, but as bright as day outside. We were parking in a little pull-out just off of the highway near Glasgow. This pull-out was conveniently equipped with a quaint red British telephone booth, which was actually the reason for our stop. Our host had requested that we call him when we were close. Therefore, Dad used the phone booth to call our B&B. Later, Dad told us, as we drove, that he had been praying and asking whether to drive on to the Isle of Skye or to stop at our B&B for some much-needed rest. He felt like God was telling him that there would be some good purpose for us to stay at the B&B, so that was what we ought to do. That decided it!

                Soon, we pulled in to the B&B parking lot and followed our host into the B&B, wearily carrying only our bare necessities through a purple hall and up the stairs. Suddenly, I found myself standing with Abby and my parents in Room 5. Lindsey and Ben were no longer in sight; they were sleeping in Room 3. We hurriedly dressed in our pajamas, brushed our teeth, and climbed into our wonderfully warm and comfortable beds. This was at 5:15 in the morning. Needless to say, in no time, we were fast asleep.

                Next thing I knew, Dad pulled up the darkening shade blind on the skylight and observed, “That’s bright”. I was so tired that this obvious statement exasperated and annoyed me. It was 9:00 in the morning. Tiredly, we got up, showered, dressed, and headed downstairs for our traditional Scottish breakfast. Our host, Frank Smith, greeted us hospitably and showed us to our reserved table in the otherwise empty breakfast room. Check-out is normally 10 am, but our host generously bent the rules for us, given our eventful night and early-morning arrival.

                The table was elegantly and stunningly set with all matching blue and white porcelain china on a matching blue and white tablecloth. Also on our table were beautifully decorative crystal pitchers of cream and bowls of white sugar, along with wonderfully intricate silverware. It was quite the formal breakfast! Mr. Smith showed us the self-serve section, fully equipped with many varieties of cereal, two types of yogurts, a colorful bowl of fruit, pitchers of apple juice, orange juice, and milk, and all the spreads one could ever use: butter, honey, jam, jelly, and even orange and lemon marmalade!

                Our host then asked of us, “Coffee or tea?” We all requested tea – we have become rather dedicated tea-drinkers here in the British Isles. In my opinion, it offends my code of dental hygiene. He also inquired how many of us preferred scrambled eggs to the traditional fried eggs. Mom and Abby both asked for scrambled, but the rest of us stayed true to the traditional Scottish fry…or so we thought. A few minutes later, Mr. Smith came bearing piping hot plates. It was then that he revealed to us that it was actually a not-so-traditional Scottish fry. Mr. Smith is actually an Englishman, from Chester, and he grilled, rather than fried, the food to lower the fat content. The only fried part of our meal was the fried eggs. But it was still a delicious spread! Each of us gratefully breakfasted on a fried or scrambled egg, a grilled sausage, boiled bacon, a spoonful of beans (for breakfast‼), half a tomato, and a handful of grilled mushrooms. Besides our own individual plates, Mr. Smith set before us a basket of toast, both white bread and wheat bread, and two pots of English breakfast tea.

                In addition, our host kindly brought us one small plate of black pudding and haggis, each sliced into equal sixths. This he thoughtfully separated from our breakfast, so it would not spoil the rest of the food. Haggis, allegedly a Scottish specialty, is an intense mixture of oats and sheep organs crammed into a chunk of sheep intestine, generously spiced and boiled. Apparently, every tourist tries it once, and only once. However, the majority of our family actually enjoyed their haggis. Black pudding, which we had already sampled during our Irish fry in Wexford, is composed of pig’s blood and intestinal insides. This black pudding was darker and more flavorful than our last black pudding, but still not exactly a delectable dish, in my opinion.

                While we enjoyed this scrumptious feast, Mr. Smith began to converse with us. He shared a summary of the story illustrated in the symbols on our willow-pattern china, about a daughter of royalty and her forbidden lover and their struggles to be together against her father’s will. Next, he spoke about the haggis, telling us that international visitors often tell him that they have a similar dish in their country and have had it for hundreds and thousands of years. Yet it’s still famous only in Scotland.

                When we’d finished breakfast and Mr. Smith had left us, we did a bit of work on the internet, working on our laptop upstairs, the B&B’s public computer downstairs, and Lindsey’s handy iTouch. We read a few emails and posted a few blogs. This meant that only half of the family used the computers at a time. So we took turns, as a loving family does in such a situation. Dad, Lindsey and Abby chatted with our host. Apparently, he was quite the conversationalist, and we learned about his life and about world events.

                While I waited for Mom to finish sending her necessary emails, I observed my surroundings, which I had been too tired to do earlier this morning. Room 3 was “all flowers and bunnies”, according to Ben. He also laughingly reported that Lindsey had found a great big purple stuffed Easter bunny sitting on her twin bed.

                Mom, Dad, Abby and I had slept in Room 5, the “family room”. This room had a general theme of teddy bears. Our proprietor had lovingly decorated the room with Mickey Mouse pillows and teddy bears on all the beds – even Mom and Dad’s bed. Also, cute pictures and paintings of teddy bears and other childhood toys hung on the walls. In the chest of drawers, I discovered a whole drawer full of kiddie movies. Another family-friendly element of this room was a thin, navy-blue-colored, floor-to-ceiling curtain separating the two twin beds under the eaves from the parents’ double bed.

                When we’d completed all the urgent computer tasks, we brushed our teeth, put the few pieces of luggage we’d brought in back in the car, and drove off toward Isle of Skye. As we drove, our parents informed us of what we had missed during our early morning drive through Scotland: funny signs that said, “Haste ye back!” when leaving a town, a coastal drive, a very cool bridge. Next, we discussed current events: the latest news about the Iceland ash cloud (which was supposed to be over Scotland within a day), and the Queen’s visit to Ireland, followed by Obama’s visit to Dublin. Mom also updated us on the events that had occurred while we were sleeping on the boat. It turns out that it had not taken two hours to fix their technical difficulties. After being anchored in the middle of the stormy North Channel for about an hour, we were on our way again.

                When we ran out of things to talk about, we had our quiet times and then edited blogs as a family as we drove. However, this time, it was harder than in past times. We were all extremely tired from our adventures, and therefore easily distracted by the gorgeous Scottish Highlands scenery. We passed lots of waterfalls, Loch Lomond, and a bicycle mounted on a ten-foot-high metal pole, surrounded by a circle of whitewashed stones. We also took many tangents and side conversations. Our tiredness made us all very loopy, and gales of laughter about nothing in particular frequently interrupted our blog sessions.

                After stopping in Fort William for groceries, we drove on and found a lovely pull-out with a scenic viewpoint for lunch. However, it was raining, so we decided to eat in the car. Devouring a quick lunch, we people-watched the tour groups coming and going, and then we ourselves walked up to the Commando Memorial while munching cookies for dessert. This monument honored Scotsman who willingly and sacrificially served in World War II.

                As we continued driving, we continued editing blogs, in our tiredness laughing at not-so-hilarious tangents and misunderstandings. When we were almost there, an incredible rainbow appeared in the sky, so we pulled over, and Abby hopped out to snap a photo. But she held the camera really close to her face and squinted at it really hard. Somehow, I found this hilarious, so much so that tears streamed down my face by the time Abby returned to the car. Being as tired as we were, we laughed until we cried about many things that, looking back, were not one bit funny!

                Following Gypsy, we found our house easily enough, drove up the long driveway, and let ourselves in to the Sca View Cottage. Exploring, we discovered a mud room with washing machine, dryer, and coin-operated electricity meter, a spacious hall, one small bathroom with a telephone-booth style shower, one very ‘cosy’ bedroom with a double bed, a relatively spacious kitchen and dining room combination, a very roomy sitting room with plenty of comfortable seating and a very fake-looking fireplace heater, one spacious bedroom with a double bed, and one twin bedroom. Next order of business: doling out the rooms. Mom and Dad chose the larger double bedroom. Ben chose his twin bed, and Abby joyfully received the other, as it was her turn not to have to sleep with a sister. That left me and Lindsey in the cramped second double bedroom. With that matter settled, we brought in our luggage and moved in. This process took longer than usual, because it involved cleaning up from having separate overnight bags to take into our B&B, earlier this morning. That little sleep and lovely breakfast seemed so far away, as if from months ago. Yet it was only this morning. What a long day!

                Having completed the move-in process, we cooked up a dinner of minted lamb breast, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes with really dark brown sugar, and strawberry-and-apple pie for dessert, which had very crunchy crust and very sour filling. We all went to bed soon after we finished cleaning up dinner, glad to be able to sleep in a real bed in a real house all night long.