My Dear Old Arizona Home

Sabino Canyon, November 27, 2015

Audrey helping make rolls for Thanksgiving

Well, we're officially back in Tucson.  Things are different here, but at the same time familiar. Even though the University of Arizona has 40,000+ students and who knows how many faculty and staff (well, someone must know, but they're sure not advertising it online), I find that I run into people I know a quite lot.  The same is true outside the University - I've returned to the church I attended here in the past, and still know many people, even if their kids are lots older than I remember. I'm sure they're thinking the same thing about my kids. We even run into people we know around town - hiking in Sabino Canyon, even shopping at Target.  And of course we have family here now too, so we've been able to spend a lot of quality time with them (although I'm sure Paul's parents are happy we've now moved into our own place, so they can have some of their space back).

Claire drawing in our work-in-progress living room

We're doing the usual stuff you do when you arrive to a new (old) place - trying to get the house in order, keeping up with school stuff for the girls, thinking about (and rejecting, for now) getting involved in activities - Audrey would love to take gymnastics, but without a stay-at-home parent it becomes an additional burden for grandparents to drive her to and fro - same for dance class for Claire. Or, do it on a Saturday and cut into family  - or free - time for everyone. Running around 5 days a week seems like enough.  In Scotland, we jumped in with both feet, because we knew we'd only be there 2 years - and the adults had as many activities as the kids, trying to get plugged into the community fast.  Here in Tucson, we're more laid back.  We have family.  We have old friends. New friends and networks would be nice, but are not immediately required.

Swimming in Grammie and Grampie's pool (briefly) in October

I am still amazed at how nice the weather is here.  You can pretty much guarantee that most days will be sunny.  I remember moving here in 2001 for graduate school and waking up every morning for the first three months thinking, "Wow, it's sunny and clear!"  And eventually realizing it's ALWAYS sunny and clear. A cloud is weather. Seriously. And in October it was a little chilly to be in the pool, but once the sun warmed it up you could jump in for a quick swim. Try THAT in Scotland in October (or, in fact, anytime...) By the time we acclimated to the hot weather (meaning that when it dropped below 60 degrees, it felt cool) it was hard to even remember how warm the same temperature in Scotland felt in mid-summer. The light is welcome, too - it gets light, even in the winter, at 7 am. This makes a huge difference!

Driving to school

While light and warmth are welcome changes (at least until April, when the balance tips from "nice and warm" to "hellishly hot") some things are not so welcome, like tons of driving.  I didn't drive for two years in the U.K. I did not miss it.  And then suddenly I was the school transportation master in the morning, and this meant 60 minutes in the car every morning.  The commute has shortened somewhat now that we're in our new place, but I used to walk for 30 minutes every morning, taking Audrey up to school and then walking down to work, and now I just drive. And sit. And drive.  I do take advantage of the fact that U of A has a beautiful campus for walking when I can - I try to do circuits around buildings and stairs too, especially now when you can take a lunchtime walk and not melt into a puddle on the sidewalk.

Saguaro on campus

The desert has a different kind of beauty than Scotland, and it can surprise you.  The view includes a lot more blue sky and while there is still green, it's not the rolling green of Scotland. It's the grey-green "Don't get too close, I'm armed!" of cactus and their friends.

We went to visit Sabino Canyon on the day after Thanksgiving.  Sabino is the most "touristy" canyon in Tucson - locals as well as out of town visitors flock there, and you can take a tram up the 3.8 mile paved road to nearly the top of the canyon.  You can connect to more rugged hiking trails, but the basic idea of Sabino Canyon is that it's easy to access.  As such a touristy place, it's a bit hard to feel like you're getting the real Sonoran Desert experience...but at the same time, it's a lot easier to go there with kids. We took the tram (over Paul's protest). The kids loved it. The canyon was beautiful because it's one of the few places in town where there are trees that actually change color for fall.  In most of the city, it's pine trees, palm trees, and cactus (although a friend back in grad school did try to convince a friend of ours from New Jersey that the cactus lost their needles in the winter...she believed him for about a minute).  But Sabino was dotted with yellow and orange trees mixed among the saguaros, and the stream was running high due to recent rain.  It hardly seemed like the desert at all. 

Sabino Canyon, November 27, 2015

And for those of you who are still wondering about the title of this post: it's a Rex Allen song. We included it on our wedding CD years ago, and here's a link to the YouTube version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nne_tetupyM.   

Scotland vs. Arizona: Reverse Culture Shock

People have been asking me: "So how does it feel to be back in Tucson?" And the answer is, "Mainly, weird."

Some things feel very normal - for example, driving again is pretty much like it ever was, despite the kids' amazement that now I can drive.  With broad roads,  well-signed streets, and a zippy new(ish) car, driving is pretty easy, except for the unpredictable behavior of other drivers.   

But little things are odd.

I'm still walking on the wrong side of the walking path, which tends to be a problem on a campus with 50,000+ people - I'm likely to get bashed into (or run over by a bike, skateboard, or golf cart) if I'm not careful.

U of A Administrative building with cactus garden in front

When I went out to lunch, and we cleared our table afterward, it felt odd, as you would just leave your dishes on the table for someone else to clear in Scotland, even at a small cafe, so I haven't cleared my dishes at a restaurant for 2 years.

Looking at refrigerators and washing machines and cars (for example) - lots of things are just BIGGER in the U.S. These things seemed small in Scotland at first, and then we got used to the smallness so now everything seems big.

Dropping the kids off at school is different - I've traded a 30 minute walk (up two hills to A's school and down 1 1/12 hills to my work) for a 60 minute drive each morning, dropping C off, and then A, and then finally heading to work myself.  I still get a bit of a walk...but when I got my parking permit, the guys looked at me strangeley, as if "Why would you want to walk; most people want to park as close as possible to work!" And they wonder why obesity is a major problem in the U.S.

The Mexican food is certainly a lot better here, and the diversity of places to eat.  But with diversity comes mediocrity, too.  There are a LOT of "not that good" restaurants that can stay in business (all they have to do is fool some of the people, some of the time), so you have to be wary. And the prices seem to have risen exponentially in the five years we've been gone. We haven't even tried the sushi place yet, concerned about sticker shock.

There is a lot of choice...Dundee has fewer choices, in places to shop, places to eat - we relied a lot more on Amazon.co.uk to get us things that we wanted but couldn't find conveniently in town.  But in Tucson, choice abounds. Restaurants, stores, multiple malls. But then you have Target - which I missed when we first arrived in Dundee, but now seems like a black hole for money - you walk in, and $65 is vacuumed out of your pocket.  Even if you're only stopping by "to get one little thing."  In the UK, pharmacies sell medicines and a few related items (diapers, sanitary supplies). In Tucson, medicines are only one of approximately a million items sold by Walgreens or CVS. 

As I was when I first arrived in Tucson from the East Coast, I am surprised and how sunny it is, and how big the sky is.  Scotland has beautiful scenery on a sunny day, but the sun, and open space are different here in Arizona.

It's different driving around, too...I keep wanting to pull the car over and snap pictures of the "different from Dundee" things - like storefronts advertising homemade tamales, and tortillas. Like the surprisingly large number [now THIS is something that has changed in 5 years] of places where you can be certified as a user of medical marijuana...just right there as you drive past...don't know if they're all dispenaries, or a combination of sellers and "doctors" [I put this in quotes not because I doubt effects, but because this doesn't seem like the kind of service a doctor might specialize in, or advertise widely, but maybe it's just me] popping up to serve a market that has probably always been there in Tucson, but just not so..in your face.

I'm switching back to American words and spellings, even though I had switched over in Scotland - it's a bin, not a trash can; trousers, not pants; I'd even started saying "If you fancy X" - all that has to go. Ditto spelling - writing papers for British journals, having my email correct me when I slipped up - "behaviour", especially was one I used a lot and now have to not spell "wrong" for the American audience. 

But maybe I should try to keep the British spelling and speech patterns - I fogot how "cool" it is to be British in the U.S. It gives you a certain authority that you lack if you're just a regular American.  Some of my new co-workers were telling me I had an accent - I tried to explain that I've always kind of had a British-esqe accent, but it's just magnified by virtue of having spent two years where all my co-workers sounded like that...but maybe I should just cultivate it, and pretend I'm really a Brit. Trouble is, if I really try to do a Scottish accent, I end up sounding like the leprechaun from Lucky Charms. So scratch that. I'll just have to be an American for whom, right now, Scotland seems normal and Arizona seems weird.  Until it doesn't anymore.    

The Long Goodbye to Scotland

The problem with having a set date for leaving a place is that "When are you leaving?" becomes a topic of conversation far earlier than you might like it to.  While we knew my contract ended on October 2015, as early as this past April, people we knew in Dundee started conversations by talking about our departure.  They didn't mean to be rude - it was just something to talk about.  And most of it sounded a bit like this:

"So, what are you going to do when your contract ends?"
"Probably go back to the States."
"Don't you want to stay?"
"It's complicated and expensive to stay."
"Oh. But don't you want to stay?"
(Orzechs change subject)

About June, we decided we were definitely going back, but we didn't know exactly to where. So the conversations started to sound like:

"So what are you going to do when you go back?"
""We're going, but we don't know what we're going to do yet. We'll find jobs."
"Why don't you stay?"
(Orzechs change subject)

Finally, after all our lovely summer visitors left in mid-August, we packed all our things and sent them back to Tucson.  By the end of August, Paul had rekindled his relationship with his old boss and workplace and had been offered a job at the foundry, and I had a promising interview as a nutrition program evaluator (which I ultimately got). By September, the conversations started to sound like this:

"Congratulations on your jobs!"
"Thanks."
"So what's next?"
"Well, two cars and a place to live, schools for the girls..all to be accomplished in a couple of weeks"
"Wow. We'll miss you."
"We'll miss you too"
(Orzechs change subject)

Finally, it was the end of September, and it was really time to say goodbye. We packed and repacked our suitcases, and got rid of a lot of things, which is trickier in the UK than the US - the charity shops are small, and they just can't take all your stuff at once.  So we were giving things away to everyone we knew, and slowly carrying things up the hill to the charity shop for the last couple of weeks.  On the last few days, we were hauling things up the hill to the dumpsters near the apartment complexes, because our own bins were full.

We had dinners with friends, and a beautiful afternoon with the Loves, our family-in-Scotland - they were among the first people we met when we moved, and we maintained and built our friendship across two years. I had recruited Sarah Love into Loadsaweeminsingin, and without my knowledge, on my last night of singing, she organized the ladies to sing the Proclaimers song "Letter from America" - the chorus goes "When you go, will you send me a letter from America?" I was almost in tears to have to leave all these lovely singing ladies.  Paul had a last few surfing trips to St. Andrews with his friend Mike, and had a final goodbye trip our to our local pubs - Drouthys and Speedwell - with some of his yoga friends. Audrey went to Brownies on the Thursday night, and all of the sudden, there it was - our two years in Dundee over.  Well, not until after we sat in a lot of traffic going to Glasgow with my wonderful boss Wendy, who helped us bring all our stuff into the hotel and then turned around to head back to Dundee. But then, poof.

The trip back to the States was long - we should have taken the more direct flight rather than go via Iceland - it looks very cool, but we hadn't scheduled a stop.  The three days with my parents in DC felt like vacation - if our last week and all the shared meals in Dundee felt like a cross between Thanksgiving (seeing all the people you love) and a funeral (mourning the loss of people you may never see again), the time in Virginia just felt like Thankgiving. With family. With more family, and with the people we adopted as our family a long time ago (25 years, I guess we are family by now, Townsleys). And then we really moved to the United States - we got in the plane and flew to Tucson, and began adjusting back to life in another country where the driving distances are vast, the refrigerators and washers are huge, and even when it's (occasionally) cloudy and gray, the breezes are still warm.

Stay Tuned.  

Guest Blog: All About the UK, by A (7 years old)

As most of you know, we've been moving continents recently,  so I've been a bit busy and been neglecting the blog.  However, our seven-year old, as she patiently (and sometimes impatiently) waits for school to start after Fall Break here in Arizona, has been working hard to have something to show her new classmates to tell them about where she's just come from.  She drew some lovely drawings to go along with some of these statements - I've added some pictures I had in my computer instead.  

Hope you enjoy this guest blog: All about the UK, from the 7-year-old's perspective.

 

Midges are small insects that bite and leave itchy bumps.

A lot of islands are off the coast. Some of the names are: Staffa and Skye.

Island of Staffa, off the West coast of Scotland

 In the Highlands sheep block the roads.

Some men grow big beards.

Temperature is measured in Celsius; 0 degrees Celsius would be 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

It rains most every day.

My old school was called St. Joseph’s.

I lived in the city of Dundee by the river Tay.

Tay Rail bridge over the River Tay

 Edinburgh and London have castles and palaces.

 

The family in front of Edinburgh Castle

You can walk everywhere.

Lots of people go camping.

There are lots of rivers in Scotland.

There are lots of farms in Scotland.

There is a type of cow in Scotland called a Highland cow they have big horns.

Highland Cow at Blair Atholl, near campground

 There are a lot of green plants and grass in Scotland.

That is a little bit of information about Scotland and the UK.

Scotland and Dundee are a part of the UK.

Breaking the Rules: A Word about Ahmed

Disclaimer: I am by no means an expert on the events that took place when a kid brought a homemade clock to school and got arrested because of it. In fact, I am not even there in the U.S. Regardless, these are my thoughts.

When I wrote "Breaking the Rules" as the start of this blogpost title, I didn't mean it as a reference to Ahmed's actions, although it's likely that bringing an invention to school that had the potential to go off/ring may have broken some rule. That phrase was more about this blog, which is generally about travel and occasionally funny accents, and rarely about media frenzies.

I wanted to write this brief blog to say two things:

1) I sympathize with the teacher who called the cops, and the cops themselves.

2) I have decidedly mixed feelings about the public accolades from no less than Barak Obama and Mark Zuckerberg, for goodness sake.  

My first introduction to this story came when I saw the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed on Twitter.  At that point I didn't know the story, but a trip to Facebook quickly provided me with the basics of what happened, as well as people sharing tweets from Obama and Zuckerberg.

I don't mean to say that the people who accused this 14-year-old of making a bomb didn't jump to conclusions.  Clearly, they did.  But as someone who has been in front of high school and University classes over 10+ years, and who has read more than my share of articles about school shootings and other mass shooting incidents (see the Washington Post fact-checker blog for the difference), I don't blame the teacher for being cautious.  Would you rather be wrong and embarass a kid, or be wrong and wind up putting yourself and others in danger? I know which one I'd choose.  As for the cops, they too jumped to conclusions, but their training likely emphasizes that things out of the ordinary may lead to danger.  So again, they went too far, but they were probably operating on the same diet of school (and general) violence that is so well-reported by the media.

Secondly, the "celebrity endorsments."  It seems like Ahmed is a bright kid.  And he clearly has enthusiasm for engineering and robotics, which is commendable.  But does he really deserve all this praise for bringing his clock to school? In a normal situation, he would have brought the clock to school.  His engineering teacher would have said, "Good job."  He would have put it away (NOT set it to go off), and that would have been that. No one outside his family and circle of friends and teachers would have known what he had created.  But mistakes were made. And so people who are pro-innovation (and face it, it's a good thing to be pro-innovation) and pro-student (regardless of race/ethnicity) jump into the political fray. Hashtag! Tweets! Facebook Posts! Media, media, media CIRCUS. Because mistakes were made, and a whole lot of people want to line up to say "It wasn't me! I didn't make the mistake!" Not this time anyway.

Thanks for readings, and please now resume your regularly scheduled lives, as if Ahmed had just showed the clock to his teacher, and that had been the end of it.    

Scotland: Cultural Differences Part 3 (Or Seven Things What Will Shock my Seven-Year Old When We Return to America)

First, they don't call the whole continent "America." Over here, the U.S. Canada, Mexico, it all seems to be combined into "America." when her friends ask "Where are you from?" Audrey says "America," but soon she'll have to be more specific.

Second, there are no school uniforms, and as a result, U.S. kids care a lot more about their clothes. Don't get me wrong, kids in Scotland do care about their clothes, especially (for seven year olds) tracksuits and party dresses, but they really only have 2 days to indulge that interest. The other five days are back to the pinafore, or skirt, or (very occasionally for girls) trousers.  The related item to this is that (shh, don't tell my Scottish friends) only old ladies iron in the United States. Everyone irons here. It's like a national pastime. We've speculated that it's related to the dearth of clothes dryers.

Practicing with her uniformed "Dance Team" in the schoolyard

Third, there is no blackcurrant juice. Only grape. I am not sure how blackcurrent managed to take hold in the UK but it is everywhere. You can have blackcurrent, orange, or apple. Those are your choices. 

Okay this is actually a novelty Ribena radio, but it was the best blackcurrent picture I could find!

Fourth, you don't have to walk nearly as much, and only if you choose your home very strategically will you be able to walk to school (especially in Tucson). On the plus side, you won't be walking up two steep hills in the rain and "fresh breeze" to school every day. 

Fifth, some holidays that are minimally celebrated here in the U.K. are a BIG deal in the U.S. I have already been prepping her for Halloween. Of course the rise of Halloween (and Dia de los Muertos in Tucson) means that something else has to go - the "Bonfire Night" fireworks (and yes, bonfire) celebrating Guy Fawkes attempt to blow up Parliament (generally, in Scotland, or, celebrating that he failed, depending upon your location in the UK and your politics) won't be a fixture anymore on November 5, nor will there be Christmas Light Night in mid-November. 

Bonfire Night fireworks

Sixth, it's called a bathroom or a restroom, not a toilet. And a faucet, not a tap.  And a hundred other language differences.

Seventh, no one can sing the lyrics from One Direction's latest album.  At least, I hope they can't. For everyone's sake.

To the Edinburgh Fringe with Friends

Flyers from the Fringe, and busy Royal Mile headed away from the castle

Edinburgh, the nearest large city to Dundee, is famous for a number of things. Edinburgh Castle, for example, one of Scotland's most popular tourist attractions, and one heck of a Hogmany celebration (so I've heard; having small children tends to put a damper on going out in the middle of the night).  But Edinburgh is also home to no less than 12 festivals (for details, check out the Festival City website) most of which take place during late July and most of August, drawing tourists from far and wide.

Perhaps the best known festival is the Edinburgh Fringe, "the world's largest arts festival."  If you have an act and can find a venue willing to host you, you can perform at the Fringe.  There are, according to the official programme, 460 venues, which could be anything from a bit of the sidewalk (we were at Venue 252 - Outside the Tron - Hunter Square) to a full performance space. Up and down the Royal Mile, passer-by were assailed by advertisements for shows - from officially sanctioned "previews" of shows up on small stages (we saw a few numbers from Chekhov with Cherries, a musical take on the plays of Anton Chekhov - I wanted to go see the full show but it definintely wasn't appropriate for children) to hundreds of people in costumes (walking ten feet down the Royal Mile, I saw the entire high school cast of a production of the Canterbury Tales, then several aliens handing out flyers and posing for pictures).

Friends in Dundee told us that going to the Fringe was an experience, and that we should be prepared for large crowds, and bring our own food because there would be impossible lines just to buy a sandwich.  So when we decided to go with our visiting friends the Brodskys, we chose to go on a Monday (hopefully a bit less crowded than the weekend) and also a day where the weather was iffy (not too hard to find in Scotland). So we set out:

Posing at the Dundee train station

Our train was busy, but we had seats and arrived to Edinburgh without incident.  It was sunny (for the moment) so we took advantage of the weather and had a picnic in Princes Street Gardens before tackling the Fringe.

One person happy to pose for a picture

We had planned to head to Cowgate (one street up from the Royal Mile) where there was a "Free Fringe" venue offering several free children's events.  But by the time we finished lunch and walked up to the Royal Mile, it was pouring rain, dampening our enthusiasm for pushing on to Cowgate. We decided to split up, sending one of our party to Edinburgh Castle, the dads and most of the kids to the Camera Obscura & World of Illusion museum to dodge the rain, and me and the wee one off to explore the Royal Mile.

Checking out the outdoor mirror at the Camera Obscura museum

It being Scotland, as soon as we parted ways and most everyone disappeared inside the museum, the sky cleared and it was a bright, sunny day.  I took this picture from the stage area of the Royal Edinburgh Millitary Tattoo to prove it:

Millitary Tattoo seating in front of Edinburgh Castle

Then I walked down the Royal Mile toward St. Giles cathedral, along with many hundreds of others with the same idea as me: let's see what we can see of this festival for free.

Swarms of people near the cathedral

I ultimately ended up in the shadow of the cathedral, watching a pretty decent blugrass band (Monticule) play on a tiny stage.  They had an audience of perhaps 25 people tapping their toes and buying their mini-CD. 

Monticule concert; C sad face because I had just told her I had no water

After their set, we retired to the National Library of Scotland for water and a blueberry muffin - I always appreciate the public places in cities, like galleries and libraries, but with the craziness of the Fringe I appreciated them even more - the National Gallery of Scotland and the National Library of Scotland met our bathroom and cafe needs throughout the day.

After meeting back up again, and enduring another rain shower, we finally made it to the Cowgate venue, only to find that all the kids shows were done, and the only available free shows were not suitable for kids. So we sat down and ate some popcorn, as you do.

We then moved on to the abovementioned "Outside of Tron" venue to watch three street shows in a row, all of which involved unicycles or other high perches, flaming torches, and razor-sharp knives.  Only one of the shows, however, involved a kilt and gold lamè underpants, and before you ask, no, I didn't get a picture.

Brodskys watching one of the unicycle-torch-knife street shows

Finally it was time to head home.  By this time the weather had turned beautiful, with no sign of the squalling rain of earlier in the day.

View from the train station entrance: Ferris wheel and Scott Monument

 Even the train station featured a bit of Fringe activity- an art installation to see us off.

Train station art

Despite the rain, we had a lovely day at the Fringe Festival. We decided that to truly experience it, you would need to spend approximately 24 hours moving from show to show (and indeed, with shows scheduled at all hours, you could spend 24 consecutive hours at the Fringe).  But instead we hopped back on the train and took ourselves and the kids back home, ticking "Go to the Fringe with Friends" off our (quasi) imaginary Scotland to-do list. 

Part 2: Five More Views of the Isle of Skye

In Part 1 of the Isle of Skye blog, I showed the vastness of Skye (driving around), picturesque Uig, our wigwam, the Quiraing hike and the Fairy Glen.

In Part 2, I'll start with:
6. Portree. 
Although it is the largest city (by some margin) in Northern Skye, and we drove through it several times, I don't really have pictures of it because we were always passing through, or waiting to park (not exactly a picture-taking opportunity!) or grabbing a quick bite (often of ice cream, not because it was so warm outside, but because it made a good bribe for the kids).  As you drive in from the south, there are a string of bed and breakfasts along the main road, sandwiched between the road and the harbor, that had stunning views.  When we stopped to get gas on our way out of Skye, I snaped this picture of a bit of the harbor, but if we end up back in Skye, I would love to stay in one of those B&Bs and wake up to Portree harbor every morning.

Portree harbor, Skye

7. The Fairy Pools  
On our second day with our friends the Loves, we decicded to make the drive down to the Fairy Pools. It had been recommended as one of the best things to see on Skye, and it did not disappoint.  We easily found the parking and then made our way down the (fairly steep, but still doable for all but the littlest girl) path to the pools.  The first set of pools was impressive enough, and some of our party went wading (some on purpose, and some accidentally). After drying off a bit we decided to walk on "just 10 minutes more" and were rewarded by even more lovely pools and waterfalls.  We turned around and managed to time it just right; the rain started up in earnest just as we got back in the car.

Walking down the path to the Fairy Pools

The first pool (notice how clear the water is!)

This water is too cold for wading!

A pool further up the trail.

Making footprints is fun!

The last pool we got to, with a mini-mountain view.

Crossing and re-crossing the creek on the way back.

8. The Ill-fated hike
On our last day on Skye, we weren't sure what to do. We'd packed a lot into the first two days, but still didn't want to miss out on what Skye had to offer.  Audrey voted to go back to the Fairy Glen, but we ended up striking out on a small hike instead, on our way to Dunvegan Castle.  Unfortunately for us, our hiking prowess is very low. And we missed the trail.  We ended up following a road onto someone's land and crunching through moss, heather, and who knows what other kinds of flora to get to the top of the hill to overlook an inlet and something labeled "natural arch" on the map.

It turned out to be a nice view, but we did have an uncertain moment when the homeowners came to the front door of their house to peer out at us crashing through the underbrush on their land. I can only imagine their conversation, but they must have decided we were harmless, as they went back inside.

View at the end of the ill-fated hike

And this was the high ground...still up to our knees in damp grass, bushes, etc.

9. Dunvegan Castle
After the ill-fated hike, we were ready for something more...structured. So we went on to Dunvegan Castle.  We balked a bit at the family price (not a Historic Scotland property, sadly, but privately run) but it was totally worth it.  The three gardens were lovely, as was the house. On the way down to the shop, old photos of  Skye in the 1880s lined the walls, showing ordinary life in the crofts and fishing industry. (For a print of Dunvegan castle made somewhat earlier than the 1880s, look at this one in the collection of the Tate Britain).  And of course the girls got to buy stuffed Highland cows with their holiday money, so they were happy.

Dunvegan Castle

Waterfall in the Water Garden

Audrey's photo of a water lily in the Walled Garden

Old delivery crate with castle address, in the garden museum

10. Getting there and back again
Driving to Skye from Dundee was a long way  - Google maps says 5.5 hours, but Google maps does not have two small children, gorgeous scenery, or (not pictured) slow Camper Vans and even (yes) tractors to deal with on small one-lane-each-way-if-you're-lucky roads. So we made the most of our seven-hour crossing of Scotland. We stopped (every 20 miles on the way out, according to Paul), got some air, took pictures, and saw the lovely Eileen Donan castle on the way back. 

The Skye bridge, as we approached it from Kyle of Localsh

Eileen Donan castle

Scenic overlook: the Highlands

Skye was definitely stunning. A little chilly (as this whole summer has been across Scotland). I fail to understand how people can call it "Summer" if the temperature never exceeds 60 degrees fahrenheit. But the (inevitable) rain cooperated, pouring down only when we were already in the car or tucked into our wigwam for the night.  And when the sun came out, even in brief bursts, it was magical.  But that's Scotland for you.

Part 1: Five Views of the Isle of Skye

 My problem is that I take too many pictures. It's almost paralyzing: I visited the Isle of Skye last week with my family and friends, and ended up with over 400 pictures. After culling out the ones that were awful, blurry, or where I didn't even remember where I took the picture, I still had more than 300 (with some contributions from Paul as well, one of the best is above). I want to share them all with you, but I fear even the most patient and interested of blog readers will not endure 300 photos. I'd probably crash Picasa and Blogger, too. So I do what I do when I have too much research data: I categorize. For our trip to the Isle of Skye, I ended up with ten categories for which I will pick the best two or three photos in each category to exemplify our trip. In this post, I show the first five categories. Wish me luck.

1. Driving Around
As its name suggests, Skye is an island. However we did not realize how massive an island it is until we got there.  Just to see various sights (and we didn't even traverse from one end of the island to the other) we put over 200 miles on the car in just over three days.

Paul and Gavin consult the map on the north end of Skye

Claire mugs for the camera on a beach near Staffin

Kilt Rock waterfall on the north end of Skye

 2. Uig and Borve
To get to the place where we stayed (the wigwam, next) you had to drive almost to to the top of the Isle of Skye. This meant driving to Portree, the largest northern city, and then continuing to drive on to Uig, a small town whose claim to fame is that the ferry departs there to go to the Outer Hebridean islands of Lewis and Harris. Next to Uig is Borve, whose claim to fame is standing stones, but Paul was less than impressed.

Uig harbor

Standing stones of Borve

3. Our wigwam
Those of you who know me will know that camping and I do not go together. I am much more of a "glamping" type. Previously in Scotland (at Gairloch) we stayed in a wigwam (think:yurt), but this time, we stayed in the "En suite wigwam" - meaning that in addition to a platform bed, a heater, and a kettle, this wigwam had a toilet, a shower, and a mini-kitchen. The lap of wigwam luxury. The view was great as well!

Our home away from home in Skye

View from the front of the Whitewave property

4. The Quiraing Hike
Before leaving for Skye, I did a little research on likely activities, and found the Quiraing. After printing out the information about it, including a small topographical map, I wrote on the printout, "2 km walk starting from a parking lot in the middle of nowhere." It actually didn't turn out to be that bad - we found the parking lot fairly easily, and there were plenty of other hikers to follow up the hill.  There were multiple ways to approach the rock formations - we stuck with the fairly easy bit (except for that really steep part where there was almost a mutiny among the under-8's) up to the Prison, with a view of the Needle, skipping the Table entirely.

Paul, Claire, and the Loves, with the Prison in the background

The wonderful Loves at the top of the hill, with the Needle in the background

View out to the sea from the Prison

 5. The Fairy Glen, Uig
This was the closest attraction to where we were staying and it was definitely Audrey's favorite place on the island.  Initially, she was sad that she didn't actually see fairies here, until we explained to her that seeing fairies was mostly an act of imagination.  Then she got into it and started to tell us about the fairies she had seen here and elsewhere. We made two visits to the Fairy Glen, once with the Loves and once more when sunshine threatened to break through on our last evening in Skye.

We started out by the lochlet, then climbed a hill

Through some picturesque and fairy-ish trees

To take the path up to the highest point

Where you could look down to fairy circles, with gifts left for the fairies in the center

And a beautiful view of the lochlet and hills below

I hope I've piqued your interest in the beautiful Isle of Skye - still to come, Portree, the Fairy Pools, the ill-fated hike, Dunvegan Castle, and getting there and back again!