Iona Beach Party!

Ok guys!
This past weekend we went to a beach party on the island of Iona. Iona is about 4 hours away and traveling to get there was a chore to say the least. First we had to take a bus to the train station and then we took a train for about and hour to Glasgow. Then we got on another train for about 3 and a half hours. After that we got on a ferry which took like 40 minutes. Then we caught a bus that was an hour ride and it took us to a ferry. After we got off the ferry we were finally in Iona! But once we got on the island we quickly learned that the campsite was a mile away from where the ferry dropped us off. It was a struggle to say the least to get to the campsite with everything we had packed. We set up the tent and had some dinner and then we went to the beach. The water was so beautiful but soooooo cold. We found some really cool white rocks called Iona marble and we took a few to bring home with us. The beach party wasn't going to start until the next day at 7 pm. So on Saturday morning we slept in and made breakfast. We had bacon and eggs. After that we just walked around the island a little bit. We went into some shops and got some souvenir shopping done which was unexpected because we didn't plan on doing that there. But the things we bought there was so much better than the crappy tourist stores with Scottish things made in China. We walked by the Iona Abby but didn't go in because it cost more money than we were willing to pay. We also saw the Iona nunnery. It was in ruins but it was still so cool. The flowers there are so amazing. At the party we hiked up this little mountain to watch the sunset and it was one of the most awesome things I have ever seen. Looking out over the ocean and seeing a sun set was breath taking. After that we went and sat in the beach and listened to the DJ that they had. When the sun went down a huge bonfire was set. It was perfect because it had started to get cold. We ate sketchy 'burgers' and watched a small fireworks show, it was no 4th of July but it was still neat. We left at about 1 AM with no head lamp and had to walk home in the dark. It was freaky because I felt like I was going to fall off a cliff or step into a bug hole. But we made it back safe. We had to leave early the next morning because there was only 1 bus back to the ferry so we rushed to catch it. We were both pretty wiped out when we got home. It was like non stop traveling yesterday. Ferry,bus,ferry,train,train,bus and the home. 2 weeks and 3 day until we go to Spain. I am getting very excited to come home. I miss everyone A LOT. see you soon!

A little bit of Amsterdam and Ben Lommand

Hi guys!
Amsterdam was....it was everything everyone thought it would be. The red light district was crazy. We kind of did things backwards on that trip. We went on a tour on the last day that we were there so we didn't get to follow up on any of the cool things we were seeing. Also we didn't get to actually finish the tour because we had to catch our train to the airport. The reason that we didn't get to the tour until the last day was because we didn't know what time it started. While we were in Amsterdam we went to the Van Gough museum. It was amazing. The painting were so cool to see up close. The picture of the urinal looking thing, is actually a urinal in the street in Amsterdam. It helps keep men from peeing on the street. I just thought it would be funny to take a picture of it. The cat in the picture was this cat from a little store on the street that we bough fruit from. I LOVE cats so I picked it up and the handed it to Casey and it just crawled up on his back and stayed there while he walked around the store. It was so cute. There were lost of cats in Amsterdam. I don't think they were strays, but they were in tons of shops and stuff. The most recent thing we have done *and most painful* is hike up to the top of this mountain called Ben Lommand. I have been hobbling around for a few days but I am really glad that we did it. The hike was 7 miles round trip and we gained and lost about a mile of elevation along the way. The hiking book said the hike would be 'moderate'. Now I know that it meant moderate for people who regularly hike. Most of the way up and down we were hiking in a stream. I did not bring hiking shoes and my tennis shoes are too small. So what did I wear? Clarks. Regular shoes....First of all they are too big so they kept slipping every time I took a step and second the did not grip very well. It took us about 5 hours to get to the top but we took our time getting there and we stopped to eat lunch on the way. I was complaining at times.....but the views were breath taking. I have never seen anything so beautiful, and apparently neither has Casey since he kept saying things were 'so beautiful' every 2 seconds. As we came closer to the top it started to rain and the wind really picked up. I was pretty miserable at that point. All I wanted to do was get down because my knees were killing me. Once we got to the top we looked around for about 1 minute and then started to go back down. On the way down we saw and AMAZING rainbow after the rain had stopped. We only had 2 hours to get down or else we would miss the last ferry home. So we pretty much ran down as best we could. Casey had to be my human crutch because my knees were pretty much dead and didn't want to keep going. ON the way down I had to go to the bathroom really really bad. So we stopped and found a place. When I was done I felt like my heel was hurting. When I looked down there was blood on the back of my shoe and on my sock. I had apparently got a blister and then it popped. There was another one under it but it hadn't popped. So Casey duck tapped my heel and we were on our way again. Luckily we made it down to the bottom with 1 minute to spare. The trip wore us out and we rewarded ourselves with a very yummy meal at this Italian place I have been wanting to try. Like I said before I complained a little...ok maybe more than a little on the way up but I would do it again if I could. I hope you guys enjoy the pictures!!! * there were A LOT more of Ben Lommand but I didn't want to bore you with a million pictures of the same thing if you wanna see more let me know*

Videos continued...

Sorry about that everyone. I posted the first video and then fell asleep. It's been a little hectic since then but I am now posting the second and third vids. Cheers

Pictures of Roslyn and Stuff

Hi guys!

I hope you liked Casey's video. There is a lot more stuff to show so hopefully that will be up soon. But here are some pictures of Roslyn and St. Andrews. Enjoy!

Some Videos Finally

Hey everybody,

So I am sort of proud to finally post some videos to the blog. The sort of is because it has taken me such a ridiculously long time and because it turns out I'm not so great at making interesting movies about Natalie's and my own travels. I hope they at least convey some of how cool it is to be here in Scotland. The reason I was able to bust all of these out is that the research I'm doing basically involves removing the contaminants from a dumpster full of sand by burning them out, and this takes like 30 hours, so Liane and I and some others are on site over night. As an update, this weekend the two girls and I are off again to Amsterdam. I think we are all really excited and not sure what to expect. I know I did not post about Paris and I probably will when I put together some Paris vids so that they can jar my memory. What I do remember is that Parisians are not very nice, and Paris is ridiculously expensive. Paris is also amazing and beautiful and all of that stuff. Since then we have gone to St. Andrews and Rosslyn Chapel. This weekend we went to Glasgow but the weather was horrible and it wasn't spectacular. This was our first taste of the Scotland I pictured before I came over here. It has pretty much rained for like 4 days straight. Yesterday we saw the movie Wanted. I wish that I could ramp cars off of other cars and leave them unscathed. Old Blue (my Pathfinder) and I would be getting some seriously regular airtime off of any sports car we happened to fly by in the opposing lane. And I've always wanted to shoot one guy and then shoot other people through the guys head that I just shot. Laws of physics/reality aside, it was a pretty entertaining movie. Much more entertaining than the movies I'm posting. But I guess I cannot skirt the subject any longer so here they are: