Thursday, April 30, 2015

Winter Hiking

So.. now that its almost May, let me tell you about the few winter hikes I did this year.  We were able to do many (we, of course, meaning the girls and I), but we got in a few!

In January, B and I headed up to do a hike right near Red Rocks.  Her awesome dog Loui joined us.  He's so much fun to hike with because he's just so excited all the time!
B and I!

view from the peak of our hike looking down on Red Rocks

Loui leads the way

In February, Jay and I took advantage of a beautiful Saturday and headed up to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.  We took  a short (3.5) hike and saw a huge herd of elk!  It was so awesome.  And the scenery... so gorgeous.



The very next day, I went hiking with the girls and Loui again.  It was a lovely hike, but apparently I didn't feel much like taking pictures that day.  Strange...


B goofing around

Loui waiting for us to catch up
 After that... I guess the rest of the hikes have been "spring" hikes... update on those soon!

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Pipe Band Show

As a nice break to the winter blues, the Denver and District Pipe Band put on a lovely show in the middle of January. (Yes, I am fully aware of how many months ago that was- get over it :) )

I love performing with the pipe band.  I think its a great group of talented musicians and its always fun to see the Highland dancers perform as well!


Highland and Irish share the stage




Honeymoon part 8 Iceland

We spent the last days of our honeymoon in Iceland.  What a beautiful place!  I don't want to muck up the pretty pictures with a lot of words, so this is a mostly picture heavy post.  I will say, we stayed at a horse/sheep farm the first 2 nights and then on our own in a self-catering guest house for the last few nights. Both were amazing experiences.
Now... onto the pictures! (if you're interested on where these were all taken, feel free to ask!)
















Thursday, April 9, 2015

Honeymoon part 7 last days in Scotland

So, the last few days we had in Scotland were lovely.  The day after our castle stay, we drove to other side of the Isle of Mull to catch another ferry back to the mainland.  This time we headed to Oban.  The ferry we took was HUGE! Jay and I started counting the vehicles as it was unloading... somewhere around 50+ cars came out!
big ferry!
coming into Oban


Jay on the boat

Oban was a cute little town.  We found our hotel pretty easily - although it was kind of sketchy (seriously) - we were able to drop our bags and wander around for a bit.  The town of Oban sits right on the water, but there was a very large hill in town that we took the opportunity to climb up. And we are so glad we did!! We were able to look down on Oban and watch the sunset.  So beautiful.
walking around Oban

from the top of the hill

beautiful sunset

The next day we hopped back in the car for our last day of driving.  We took a detour through the Great Glen on our way back to Glasgow. I had been through there once the last time I was in Scotland and it didn't disappoint this time.  Jay was impressed.  Scotland is such a beautiful country.




We also stopped at Loch Lomand as well.  Its a huge lake just north of Glasgow and has been sung about for years in Scottish folk songs.  So lovely and serene as well.



Then it was back to Glasgow to drop off our rental car and a good night's sleep before heading to Iceland!

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Honeymoon part 6 Ferry Rides and the Isle of Mull

 So the morning we left Skye to head to our next destination was the clearest weather we'd had! Go figure.  We left our lovely little guest house and booked it across the island to make the ferry in time!! It was cutting it close. Too close. But we made it. The view looking back at Skye was incredibly lovely...

 As we approached the mainland of Scotland, we were all asked to get back in our cars to prepare to leave.  What a strange feeling to be in a car, on a boat, just waiting...
in the belly of the ferry
We arrived back on the mainland of Scotland ready to head to our next ferry stop.  A small town south and west of where we were. We would be getting a ferry there to take us over to the Isle of Mull, which is where we stayed in a castle.

Scotland's landscape does not disappoint. Even when its overcast, its beautiful.

 The one downside of the drive around the countryside was the one lane -  two way roads.  Say what?  Yea... a road meant for two way traffic was literally one lane wide. Which meant that we did a lot of pulling over, since Jay wasn't ever sure who had the right of way.  A perfect example of said road below:
We finally made it to our 2nd ferry stop of the day.  It was located outside a teeny tiny town.  Good thing we had snacks in the car - originally we had planned to eat there in the town!

 The ferry was tiny, 2 cars allowed (thanfully we got there super early!)
We arrived on the Isle of Mull in a town called Tobermory.  Cute, colorful and so fun to wander through!
From there we headed out to the castle we were staying at.  I am glad we were looking during the daytime, otherwise we would have been so very, very lost. The castle was gorgeous.  The grounds were amazing. Everything was just perfect!!