First stop is to visit some of my oldest friends!  Paula and Denny Willing have been friends since school!  Paula, since elementary!  And Denny since High school,  when they started dating.   It was great to see them again after about 9 years.

Denny is a big game hunter,  has served as a Marine, a Michigan State Trooper,  a state investigator,  and an NRA VP of competitive shooting.   Retirement finds them enjoying cruising and grandkids! Here are a few of his  🏆s

Altogether he had 14 trophies from his 3 hunting trips to Namibia and South Africa.   Personally,  I prefer shooting with my camera, but these are impressive mounts!

We saw that nearby in Grand Rapids at the Meijer Gardens,  is a Chihuly exhibit with some incredible installations!  Inside,  were some of his beautiful bowls, cylinders, drawings,  and smaller pieces.

What amazing pieces!  These first 4 are permanent Chihuly installations at the Meijer Gardens.

Outside installations in the water were incredible!  The still water reflected the glass balls and spikes.

Some were more grounded

The gardens have also permanent sculptures.

Of course, the flowers were beautiful.

Finally a couple garden installations!

We made a little discovery,  a settlement of German immigrants in the 1850s in Eastern Iowa, called the Amana Colonies.   it was a religious movement started in 1714 in Germany that came to the new world for more freedom of worship.   There still remains a vigor small village and a visitor’s center, restaurant,  and shops. 

we enjoyed a sauerbratten lunch at the restaurant

We spent the night in Iowa and crossed the Mississippi in the morning!  Impressive bridge over the river!

Iowa was our 8th state,  and today we crossed into Michigan,  our 11th state on this trip.  Back in my home state for the next couple weeks! 

We arrived back in the USA, through Denver, and stayed a couple days in Nebraska getting over jet lag and having time with my daughter and family,  before heading across country on our road trip portion of this adventure.  Chase county fair was in full swing,  so we got to experience fair fare, funnel cakes,  corn dogs,…. yum?

We enjoyed just relaxing on the patio at my daughter’s too, watching the migrating hummers.

we said our ‘Good luck at college and see you next time’  to Tucker and Navy as each heads of to their universities this week,  on different directions for now, Tucker to UNK, University of Nebraska,  Kearney, for nursing degree and Navy to Florida Atlantic for marine engineering.  

Our next stop was Lincoln and a great dinner, church,  and visit with friends,  Mike and Chris Collier.  We sang together at EVFree Fullerton several years ago,  but it is always great to keep in touch with fellow believers!

still heading east. … more visits to come next week.  

if you are at all family with the Harry Potter series,  you might recognize this viaduct! 

But more familiar probably from this perspective.

It is our last day in Scotland and we have to head to Edinburgh to be closer to the airport for the night.   But before we leave Fort William, we decided to visit a bit of Harry Potter game.   The Glenfinnan Viaduct is only about 30 minutes away!  We also decided we didn’t want to wait over an hour to watch the train pass. We found a couple great places to get a photo!

Our one last goal was to get to see highland coos ( Cows, for us,  non Scots).  We were so lucky to catch these just of the main road back to Edinburgh.

It’s hard for us to believe. but it trip is almost over, our shortest trip to Europe in decades!  But for Tucker,  this is the longest he’s ever been away from home,  and a short preview of his next move to university.  

When we woke to a view like this,  we decided to change the plan for the day!  originally,  we had 3 nights here and time to relax,  and golf,  but moving 1 day to lengths out stay in Edinburgh to see the Highland games took that leisurely day away.  So, with only 2 nights stay here on the loch, we had just the 1 day in Fort William.   We just sacked the sightseeing for Tucker farther north in Inverness,  found a local golf club and sought tee time and clubs for him! 

Emmett and I then decided to drive a bit west in the highlands to Eilean Donan Castle!  our drive was beautiful,with far more vegetation than I had imagined,  between gorgeous deep blue lochs and lots of blue skies 1.

The castle is an iconic image for there Highlands, originally the ancestral home to the McKenzie Clan, purchased by the MacRae Family, in the early 1900s.  It is now still held by the family in trust for the Nation and operated as a historic site for visitors.

There is a video here with history and inside views (since no photos were allowed)

Eilean Donan – Kyle of Lochalsh, Scotland https://share.google/Kitm3wA3c3tCGt0KQ

We had a snack before returning to For William to pick Tucker up from the gold course for an early dinner.

The drive from Stirling to Fort William changed from city and villas, to forested farm land to green mountains and waterfalls!  And we had a beautiful day,  with some clouds,  a few sprinkles,  and then sunshine! 

In the Glen of Glencoe, at 3 sisters,  Emmett and Tucker did a hike up toward the falls,  and I did a shorter one,  just to photograph the scenery and document their hike.   It was a gorgeous day,  and we all enjoyed getting into the countryside.

We arrived in Fort William in time for dinner and to enjoy our lovely apartment on the loch

Too bad we only have 2 nights here!  This trip is wonderful,  just toooo short! 

We continued on towards the west,  to Stirling Castle,  pivotal to Scottish independence and history since the early 12th century!  It has been conquered and fought over between the English and the Scottish for centuries.  It was taken by William Wallace in the late 13th century,  recaptured by Edward I of England,  then taken again by the Scots and Robert the Bruce in 1314.   A couple hundred years later, it becomes the home of the baby queen,  Mary Queen of Scots.   Several King James 4,5,6 all ruled there.  So much History!  We had a great guide giving us the timeliness, and then we could visit the inside of the buildings.  

Our guide was very knowledgeable!  He did a great job telling the history

They recently unearthed part of the old kitchen and have some displays to demonstrate feeding hundreds each day! 

The Gardens are beautiful

We left Edinburgh early and the streets look remarkable different than the day before!  Empty streets!

Our first stop on our route west was Falkirk, with 2 amazing sites,  tired together by a canal!  The Kelpies, 2 amazing horse heads,  almost 100 feet high,  a monument to the working horse!   There is a set 1/10th scale,  which travels to tell the story of the Kelpies. 

the canal starts at the base, and we will see the end of our next stop.   Beside the waters, were a family of swans, the signature, almost full grown!

Just a few minutes drive away is the fascinating technological wonder. The Falkirk wheel!  It is the only one in the world!  It works to move boats from 1 level of water to another,  but it isn’t a lock!  The process takes 4-5 minutes! 

The movies show only a few seconds at a time, but you can see the whole process,  as I walked around the structures.   2 boats moved down,  1 moved up, 

The end seal moves down. our is the way,  and the boats begin to move out.

I am just amazed at the technology! 

I  feel like we Really experienced Scottish culture today!  We watched the highlands games competitions in Inverkeithing, across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh.  4 bands. many darling young highland dancers, athletes in biking, and track and field events.  It was almost like a county fair, crossed with a track meet!  This is one of the oldest highland games in Scotland, begin in 1646! 

Runners,  bikers,  and field events like shotput, hammer throw, and caber throw.   Even the girls and elderly compete alongside the boys but from a handicap position, since there were seldom more than 5 or 6 competitors in each race.

Even the pipe bands compete.  The youngest drum major was leading the youth pipe and Drums group!

I’ve had the Tattoo on my bucket list for years and Today We checked it off!  We had a great Scottish dinner first,  an official beginning to the Tattoo program,  the first time ever offered. 

We got a private performance from the lead dancer with violin

At the Tattoo

What an evening!