Highland Madness - Day 1

Good evening everyone.  We have arrived safely at our hotel in Garve.  Had a great trip up here.  Thats  all for tonight - good night..........

Hahahaha just kidding.  You are not going to get off that easy, I have plenty to share.

Cottage taken from the bus

Well we got up and headed via taxi to the train station for our 9:00 trip to Edinburgh.  It was snowing when we left Dunbar, surprise, surprise lol.  We got into Edinburgh around 9:30 and we had about an hour to spare before the bus was picking us up so we decided to go into St James Center and have a coffee.  Well we got into the center and my mom went to go order the coffee and I went to Thorntons to get a bar of chocolate for my dad and some toffee.  No sooner did I pay for the stuff, the alarms start sounding in St James Center.  Everything starts shutting down and a voice kept repeating to please evacuate the center, this is an emergency...lol So we got our suitcases and headed out an emergency door with all the employees.  We weren't sure what was going on, but it turned out to be an evacuation drill lol.  So there we are standing out in the cold for about 15 minutes until they let us back in.  It was freezing cold and we were having snow flurries.  I felt real sorry for a couple of girls from one of the stores.  They came outside with no jackets or sweaters.  Once we got back in, the coffee was real good.  The girl gave us large coffees to warm us up even though my mom ordered medium lol.   So we headed the to bus station for our 10:35 departure and the bus was late..lol.  The driver was very apologetic.  He said that he had someone to pick up on the way into Edinburgh and they didn't show.  When he called their home he was told they had decided not to go on the trip.  Nice manners, the least they could have done was call.  Then into Edinburgh he hit road construction traffic.  Anyway, our driver Steve is really nice and the coach is big (its a Volvo, Brian lol).  We have the back seat with no one sitting by us so we pretty much have 6 seats to ourselves.

Garve Country Hotel

I was very happy when Steve told us that we were stopping for lunch in Pitlochry - one of my most favorite towns in the world.  We were there for an hour.  We ate lunch at Mackays Bar and I had the best Cream of Mushroom soup I have ever had.  After lunch, my dad stayed for a pint and my mom and I wandered down the street a little.  We got back on the bus, and had a two hour drive to our hotel in Garve.  The scenery was very pretty.  We went through snow capped hills, passing lochs and glens.  We arrived in Garve around 4 pm.  My dad and I took our cameras and went for a short walk.  There is a river behind the hotel called "The Black Water".  We walked along the river and stumbled across the Garve Burial Ground with old stones dating as far back as 1845.  There is a newer graveyard across the street.  A lot of the gravestones were really old and the words were worn out.  After the graveyard, we walked down a long country road.  Saw some cows and sheep along the way.  We turned and came back, crossed through the very small train station and walked back down to the hotel.  we got ready for dinner as it was being served at 6:30.  DInner was delicious 3 course meal.  I had Scotch Broth, Roast Pork with Applesauce and garden vegetables, and for dessert I had rhubarb crumble with custard.  Now we are relaxing in the lounge, having a drink.  Its the only place that has wi-fi so I guess I will be hanging out here every night lol.  My laptop is working good, but for some reason the iPad isn't connecting.
So tomorrow we are headed for Inverness.  Breakfast is at 8:00 am and then we are headed out on the bus at 9:30.  So look for more updates tomorrow.  I am about to upload a bunch of photos.  Of course I have to do it two at a time which is really frustrating.  So if you see me starting to add photos you may want to wait about 10 minutes before opening the album so I can get them all uploaded.  I think I have about 20 photos to add.
UPDATE: I may not add all the photos as the connection is real slow at the hotel.  I will add a couple of photos and see how long it takes.  If it takes too long you may have to wait to see more photos when I get home lol
Well thats all for tonight.  I will chat with you all tomorrow :-)