We have a day of rest today. This is a good thing to have in the middle of a long trip. We need a day when nothing is planned, when we are not in a hurry; a day when we can stay in the flat and drink enough water because we aren’t worried about the location of public facilities. 

So far this Scotland trip has been a resounding success. The first part of our trip was focused on Claire and Dan’s wedding and reception, and with doing ‘tourist’ activities with my sister and her family, Andrew and Jill, and my mom and her husband. We are staying in the Portobello Beach area of Edinburgh, just a quick bus ride down to the old city and its museums, cathedrals, and other sites. It’s a family vacation like no other we’ve ever had before and although many times it seems like getting us all together is a bit like herding recalcitrant cats, it’s all good and seems a fitting way to begin our new life of travel and exploration.

The wedding and reception were stunning and perfect. I had a moment of disbelief at how life’s events unfold as I was sitting in the little taxi with Claire and her best friend, Lesley, on the way to the Lothian Chambers for the ceremony. I had to pause and look around, and just say out loud, “Wow! I am riding in a tiny taxi down cobbled streets of a beautiful ancient city, dressed in wedding finery, with my daughter who is getting married to a Scottish man. How is this my life?”. I tell you I had a moment there.

Claire’s new family of Scots. Dad Andrew, brother Chris and his girlfriend Ciara, Mum Hazel, and there’s new husband Daniel on the end.

As I post this, family celebrations are coming to a close. Claire and Dan are preparing to come back to the states for part of the summer. Sister Amy, mom, and their gang return to Washington on Sunday. Andrew and Jill left yesterday and landed in a flat on Hyde Park in London. They will spend a few days there, then go on to Paris for a few days.

Mike and I are almost on to part two of the Scottish vacation. We will take our rental car on a grand tour and make a big circle going north, then through the Cairngorm montains and across to the west coast. We plan to go across to the Isle of Lewis and then end our trip back at Glasgow where we started. We have no plans, no reservations. We’ll just be doing a road trip the old fashioned way, going wherever the spirit moves us. Will we have to sleep in our car? Who knows? Ok, probably not because we tried setting it up like that and Mercedes does not make their little SUV’s for sleeping. Too bad. 

Right now our boat life seems far away and a little like a completely different life. We might have to go down to a marina to remember who we are.