Scotland: Edinburgh

After spending the morning in the castle, we walked down the Royal Mile and all through the city. We enjoyed street performers playing bagpipes. We saw lots of fun shops. We ate at a decent American-style burger restaurant (mostly because it was family-friendly and affordable). 

We ended our day on Calton Hill with fantastic views of the city. 

After the sun went down, we wandered back to our train stop:

Scotland: Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle is located on top of a hill in the middle of the city that can be seen from miles away, and the castle complex is massive. We started our day by taking a train into town and walking up the hill to the castle.

The castle has tons of history with museums, chapels, military training facilities, shops, and more. We enjoyed it all.

At one o'clock, we watched a massive cannon explode. This cannon was used in the 1800s and early 1900s to help nearby ships set maritime clocks on board.

The boys enjoyed checking out many cannons on the castle complex.

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.