Scotland: Isle of Skye

Isle of Skye was by far my favorite destination on this trip. I loved the hills, the sea, the waterfalls, the clouds, the unpredictable weather, the narrow streets (mostly because Erick did all the driving), and of course the animals. Here are a some fun photos that did not get posted previously all from Skye:

Scotland: Old Man of Storr

While I was researching the Isle of Skye before our trip, I saw gorgeous pictures of distinct tall narrow rock formations. The photos that I saw online were breathtaking, and I wanted to see the rock formations for myself. 

I knew it would be a bit of a hike to get to the rock formations, but I was excited to do it. I was sure the kids would love it! The sky was still overcast, but the weather was mild. 

The tallest and most famous of the formations is called Old Man of Storr. In the next picture, you can sort of make out the shape of it in the center. Unfortunately, the higher we climbed, the more dense the fog became. 

We decided to stop and wait for the fog to roll off. Waiting had already worked once today at the lighthouse. It seemed like a good idea...

The longer we waited, the more thick the fog became. Eventually, we decided to continue our hike up toward the formations. We hiked all the way up until we touched the Old Man of Storr. And that's when the wind and the rain started coming down. Hard:

We hiked back down a very wet and muddy mountain. It was quite an adventure! Once we got back to the car, we were dripping wet. We had the boys strip down to their underwear, so they wouldn't be too cold and their clothes could dry. Joey and Bailey wouldn't go for that idea themselves, so they just suffered for the five hour drive to Edinburgh.

Scotland: Neist Point Lighthouse

We drove several hours on narrow winding roads across the Isle of Skye to see Neist Point Lighthouse. Imagine my disappointment when we arrived to thick fog. We couldn't see anything! Erick and I decided we would hang out for a bit and see if it would clear up...

It cleared!! I stayed up on the clifftop to try to get a good photo:

Joey and David decided to hang out in the car and watch a movie. They had a pretty great view from the car:

Erick, Bailey, and TJ decided to hike down to see the lighthouse up close. The pictures below are from their adventure. Do you see the little white dot in the rocks at the bottom of the cliff? That is an ill-fated sheep. Watch your step!

Neist Point Lighthouse was build in 1909. It became fully automated in 1990. The buildings surrounding it used to be the home of the family who manned the lighthouse. Then for a time, they became rental properties for tourists. Now they are mostly abandoned: