Scotland!

After our fun times in London, we headed off to beautiful Scotland, via Virgin trains. Although I experienced considerable frustration while booking the train tickets, the Virgin Trains are, by far, the nicest trains that we have been on while traveling in the UK. Any train that Evie falls asleep on is even nicer!
Waving bye bye to our train, after we got off in Lockerbie:
Our first stop was a pretty little village called Moffat, where our Grandpa used to holiday and which Mom visited when she was a little girl. We stayed in a great hotel called the Annondale Arms and our only challenge was getting Evie to go to sleep. Apparently sharing a room with your parents is kind of stimulating and eventually, in desperation, we had to move her bed into the bathroom so that she would go to sleep.

Roaming the streets of Moffat:
Tea and scone (we eventually got another one):
Happiness is playing under trees:
Mom and Dad on a bridge:

Attempting to calm Evie down before Lala babysat. Unsuccessful. It is also stimulating to have your doting grandmother in the room with you when you're supposed to be going to sleep.

The next morning, we went for a walk through the woods near Moffat. At first we were a little disenchanted because the woods had been cleared for timber and it actually was pretty harsh looking, but eventually we got out of that part of the walk and found some scenic countryside.
Mom and Dad at the kissing gate:
I'm not sure what was going on in this picture because Dad and I were lagging behind, but it was pretty funny to see Mom and Jim holding hands. I think maybe they were trying to entertain Evie, who was making seagull noises on Jim's back because she was hungry:

Gazing down at the countryside, which was largely populated by sheep:

One should never miss the opportunity to peek over an ancient rock wall in Scotland:
A glarey shot of the three and a half of us:

The whole gang:

Every walk should be followed with a vanilla milkshake:

Mom had memories of visiting the Mare's Tail waterfall when she was a little girl and was eager to see it again, so we decided to have a taxi drive us to Edinburgh, via the Mare's Tail rather than taking the train. This also gave us a chance to experience the incredible scenery between Moffat and Edinburgh and gave Evie her first experience of car sickness. After vomiting all over herself, the taxi and the car seat and being changed into new clothes on the side of an extremely narrow and traveled road, Evie recovered and we finally made it to the Mare's Tail.
Dad running:
And a couple of cramped hours later (punctuated by the not so subtle smell of vomit), we finally made it to Edinburgh. Everyone but me (and probably Evie) thought it was worth it to drive.

Lunch in a cafe that didn't have high chairs was a challenge, but we are an innovative bunch and did our best to keep Evie entertained.
But after she nearly tripped about three waitresses and sneezed on the girl sitting in the seat next to us, Jim had to take her outside.
Dad thoroughly enjoyed his waffle with bacon and brie on it.
At Edinburgh Castle. If you look carefully, you can see the black hat of a bagpipe player up to the left:
Ascending into the castle:
Cannon enthusiast (we'll have to go to the Vicksburg Military Park next time we're home)!
Foog's names and Foog's Faces...always appear on gates in Edinburgh Castle:
We are of the opinion that one cannot eat too many scones with clotted cream and jam when one has limited time left in the UK. Evie seemed ok with this plan:
The changing of the guard:

And riding on a stone horse:

Just as one should never miss the opportunity to peek over a stone wall and eat copious amounts of scones with clotted cream, one also shouldn't miss the chance to peek through an ancient window:

Edinburgh Castle was historic, but it was much more fun to dance around in front of body warping mirrors that lined the streets:

Edinburgh was a great place to get your big dork on. They had plaid tams with red hair attached to them--a fashion opportunity that I just couldn't pass by! Combined with my Edinburgh sweatshirt and the Edinburgh Castle book, I was just a number one fan of Edinburgh.
Evie was not to be outdone. She was also very enthusiastic about Scotland:
Heading from the Old Town to the New Town:

We managed, during our stay in the historic old town, to rent an apartment that was about 20 feet from THREE youth hostels. The residents of these youth hostels spent their nights and into the early hours of the morning (as in 6am) drinking their faces off and screaming at the top of their lungs. In our stuffy little rooms with the windows closed, earplugs jammed into our ears and pillows over our heads, we managed to get a little sleep, but when we were lying down on the ground in this park, I thought I might not be able to get up again. I also thought a lot about what I used to be able to do (drink a lot and party all night) and how I would feel now if I tried that. Considering how bad I feel when I'm NOT drinking and not getting enough sleep, I think it would be pretty painful. On this trip my mom referred to me as a 'middle aged woman' for the first time. HUMPH!
Jim and Evie on the World's fastest and longest carousel ride:
And now some shots of Edinburgh architecture that Jim took while out on a photography walk by himself:

Jim and Dad did some wandering around and pub hopping after dinner on our second night. While they were out, they stumbled onto a rainbow and a cross dressing stag party. In America, men take their friends who are going to get married to strip clubs. Here, they might to strip clubs as well, but it seems like the ultimate goal is to get the groom completely soused and dress him in humiliating outfits. We have seen more drunk grooms to be dressed in thongs and other horrifying costumes while out and about in London. In this case, it looks like the groom AND his friends were enjoying the thrills of cross dressing.

On our last morning, we took a walk up to Holyrood Park, which is set within some steep, thistle covered cliffs. We didn't have the time to climb all the way up, but it was very pretty and I was impressed with how many people were running up and down the paths. Unfortunately, some unknown accident befell my camera while it was in Jim's pocket, so pictures from this part of our visit to Edinburgh are limited:

Edinburgh is usually a city of 400,000, but on the cusp of the Fringe Festival, when we were visiting, its size doubles to 800,000. Despite the crowds and the night screamers, we really enjoyed exploring the city, which was full of people from all over the world and funky shops. It would be fun to go back for a longer visit sometime but this time, alas, Jim had to get back to work and Mom and Dad had to fly home so we headed back for one final evening in London all together. I cried when Mom and Dad left and Evie was asking about them for a couple of days, but now we're on to our usual routines and looking forward to the next visit in November, when our new baby is born!