here's a little narrative of the trip in scotland as documented by the picture set on flickr.

the trip started off with a circumnavigation of manhattan in a super shuttle van, during which i receive a travel alert from orbitz telling me the flight was delayed. eventually the flight left and we went nonstop to edinburgh. got our luggage and went to pick up the rental car.

we had the car, the atlas, and sense of excitement as we set off for a drive to catch the ferry to arran. first, i had to get out of the parking lot. the car was manual, which is fine, b/c i drive a manual. however, i have never shifted with my left hand. despite starting in 3rd gear a few times, i did alright.

after we were able to navigate the roundabouts to exit the airport (we did an extra lap around the terminal for kicks). we were on our way. we did well up until we ran into some road construction and couldn't figure out where the detour was telling us to go. we somehow visited the same roundabout 3 times before we eventually found another route. which neither of us was sure if it was the detour or not.

uneventful rest of the trip to glencloy. the first picture (101) is the view from our room's window. notice the condensation due to rather chilly temperatures (even for scotland). the second (159) is the ferry between the mainland and isle. the third (155) is me behind the wheel - more detail on that later as it was taken on the return trip. i dont think it was a fully functioning farm, but they did have this chicken with chicks in the front yard (145).

that evening we went to a local pub for some food and sampled some arran ale (quite good). then we crashed.

the next day we went for a short walk from whiting bay to some water falls (128, 119, 110, 120, 111). 110 is a single rhododendron.

we had lunch on the shore a kings cross point (skip ahead two to 131). this had a nice view of 'holy isle' that has a lighthouse on it. after lunch we set off for brodick castle where we toured the castle (no photography allowed). it was interesting b/c it had been lived in up until the late forties. then we wondered around the grounds (138) and the walled garden (135).

the following day was the distillery day. since i figured i'd be tasting some, we decided to catch the bus. again no photography in the distillery itself, but it was cool to see how the whole process takes place. the end of the tour had a tasting (152, 149), after which i did a separate tasting of some cask strength. those were surprisingly good and not too overwhelming. altho after 3 i felt pretty good. since it was pouring down rain we decided to have a little snack at the restaurant.

the rain didn't let up and bus ride home wasn't the best part of the trip. but the worst was walking the last half a mile home in rain and driving winds. i think the misery factor was at about 8 about now. but it did get better.

the next morning we were scheduled to catch the ferry about 11am. due to the high winds the ferry was delayed and we sat in the car (155, 159). so we spent several hours in our little car staring at the sea and hoping we would make it back to edinburgh that day. which we did, just a few hours later than planned.

this is getting a bit long, so i'll write about the time in edinburgh in a separate post.