Trip to Scotland with family June 2008

Friday, June 28, we flew up to Glasgow, Scotland for the weekend. We first saw the Hunterston Castle. The pictures are:
A in front of the garden gate,
the garden,
the castle from across the lawn,
J, D B and L in front of the castle tower,
a little pile of rocks and laminated cards near the tower left by visitors to the castle,
One of the torrets,
L, B, D and J in front of the castle,
the Hunterston House near the castle,
another view of the Hunterston House.

After seeing the Castle and Hunterston House, we drove up to Dumbarton and found a Carvery where we stopped for lunch. The procedure was to pay for your dinner and then go pick up your food from the carver. There was ham, turkey and beef plus yorkshire pudding, stuffing, 2 kinds of potatoes and 3 hot vegetables. The ham was labeled by another name and B told me it was ham. The couple in front of us laughed and I asked if they were laughing at us. They said they were and asked if we needed additional translation. I asked what the round balls were that the carver put in the yorkshire pudding. The fellow said it was "like stuffing". I asked what it was called, and he said, “stuffing”. We continued to visit with them while we were in the Q or line and then they stopped by the table and said “Goodbye” before they left. The meal was not expensive, so we added dessert.

Then we went to find a room for the night and every place we asked about was full. So B kept going down the road. Finally we found a Bed and Breakfast with a room for the bunch of us. We were in about 6, B and I went to the store for a few groceries. The next morning we got up and had a great breakfast and went to church. As we were talking to people in the foyer one of the ladies said, “Oh, you are the people from the restaurant.” Sure enough the couple that we had spoken to in the restaurant were there, and the husband is the bishop. When he said “Hello” he said to his wife, “I am sure glad I was nice yesterday. Wouldn’t it be embarrassing if I had said something rude.”

We just thought it was interesting that of all the people in Dumbarton we had talked to the bishop at the restaurant. Meetings were good and I understood more than I had the last 2 Sundays. Afterward the bishop turned out the light in the chapel before he left the stand and the ward members all left the chapel. But they stood in the foyer and visited for 20 minutes or so. One of the ladies had a bag of crisps and candy that she offered to everyone and people stood and ate and visited. It was very impressive that they did that outside the chapel.






We drove up to the Duke of Argyle’s Castle - the Campbell Clan Castle - and walked around and took pictures. L's favorite part were the rocks. She picked up the rocks and dropped them over and over.

We then went to dinner at a pub that had been recommended. As we were waiting for dinner, L began to break out in hives. There were red welts all over her. So we ate quickly and called the nurse line and we headed for the hospital. They had began to go down by the time we got there. The doctor gave her decongestant to help them go away and we headed back to our room.

Monday we went to the Dumbarton Castle. The kids were sleeping, so we just walked around outside for a few minutes. It is up on a big rock next to the firth, or river delta. The views below are rock from the land side, of the entrance down on the coast and a close up of the castle on top of the rock.

Then we drove through Glasgow and looked around.




We visited a castle in Paisley. This was a ruin, there were metal signs telling what the rooms were, but no one there and we let L run for a while. She enjoyed being out of the car.

We had a nice lunch at the Hungy Monk on our way to the airport. It is a beautiful place in the Scottish countryside.













J and L were delighted to be in London and getting into their own car, to go home to their own beds.

Tuesday we rested and I played with the children. We did a little work in the house and garden. Wednesday July 2 D took me to the airport where I said "Goodbye." L understood what was happening and didn't want me to go.

It is nice to be home again.