Road Trip Scotland Part 2

Our first night on a road trip we had a little hitch. I had booked a Hostel months ago up in the mountains in the Highlands Tomintoul. During the day prior to our check-in, I tried calling and emailing and no response. We got to the city very late with some tired kids and there was not a person in sight to check us in. After waiting for about 45 minutes we finally gave up and decided to look for another hotel in the town. The problem was there’s only about three hotels in this little town and it was their second busiest weekend of the year that weekend they were hosting the largest biker rally in the area so I took the kids to a Park to get some wiggles out Chad went next-door to a hotel and thankfully they had a last-minute cancellation and the owner was so generous and got us a room for the night.

The universe was on our side that night because the closest hotel from that town was about 35 to 40 minutes and we were all really tired and very hungry. After we checked and we went downstairs to the restaurant in the hotel we had a great dinner and the owner went out of his way to assist us with food coloring books for the kids and just made a very fun night. The best part about the whole night is that we were surrounded by the Motorcycle / Biker community and they were so generous and so interactive with the boys we got to see motorcycles up close we met a man that night named Doom who had a prosthetic leg with flames on it. The boys thought he was a superhero straight up.

The next day we woke up and had a yummy breakfast at the hotel. We got some wiggles out at a local school playground. Then we hit the road for the West Coast of Scotland.

On our way we stopped at Grampian Transport Museum. This Grampian Transport Museum had an impressive range of transport exhibits, from travelling chariots of the 1800’s, to some of the fastest cars ever made. A fun surprise for the boys Was that we got to ride in a 1970s vintage bus around a racetrack! The museum had a great playground as well!

After the museum we headed to Aberdeen to check into our hotel and grab some dinner. We didn’t have much time to explore Aberdeen so we just headed downtown to the mall and grabbed some Sushi! We needed to mix up our meals a bit. We found it interesting that food prices in general had been very reasonable in Scotland but our Sushi bill was outrageously expensive! The highlight of this stay for the boys was definitely the amazing breakfast. 🤣

One of my favorite memories in Scotland has been our visit to Dunnottar Castle. Perched high in the Aberdeenshire Coast, is absolutely majestic. We arrived about 9am and it was a bit foggy but even with a little fog it was a phenomenal view.

I was so proud of the boys just walking to over 250 steps just to get to the castle! My mama heart stopped a few times on our trek but the boys surpassed my expectations and did amazing and didn’t even complain.

After our castle visit we walked down to the coast and the boys had a blast exploring the beach.

Our next stop was St. Andrew’s to grab some lunch. On Sundays, St. Andrew’s is open to the public to walk around the greens. It was very busy with tourists especially since it was a sunny day. This was special for me considering my Grandpa Bill played on this course and I know It was a very memorable experience!

After our time in St. Andrew’s we made our way to Glasgow. This was a special spot for Chad since his moms maiden name is Glasgow and there is some historic meaning! We spent about 2 hours walking around the downtown and exploring the area. Most museums were already closing but that was ok with us. We started to realize the boys were becoming a bit tired of museums and being confined inside. The vibe in Glasgow was completely different from Edinburgh, it was filled with a lot more vibrant energy and seemed a lot like Portland.

Our final and grand finale of our road trip was stopping at The Kelpies. Luckily there was a massive Playground because our boys needed a break from the car and we had a few hours to kill. We heard from many people that the The Kelpies are most beautiful at night. We made the decision to keep the boys up and see them at dusk.

Visiting them when it was completely dark would have kept us up until midnight. We decided to stay and see them about 10:30pm. The path there was stunning as it ran along a canal lined with boats.

We made it back to our home exchange in Edinburgh about 12:30 and we went right to bed!