Falls of Foyers, Loch Ness, Leakey's Bookstore, Highland Folk Museum

Loch Ness!

What can I say except that this part of our trip was my most favorite. If I ever get to go back to Scotland, this is where I'll base myself, with Skye being a close second (though Skye is a very doable day trip if I base myself in the Aviemore / Inverness area). (like the other TRIP POSTS there are photos first and then a video at the end of this post)

We stayed two nights at an airbnb in Aviemore, which is about 35 minutes southeast of Inverness. On the first morning David and I walked in search of a coffee shop. Strangely enough, it was near impossible to find an actual coffee shop that opened earlier than 8am ANYWHERE in the U.K. I don't quite understand that, but whatevs. We walked from one end of the town to almost the other end and finally found a shop that was open at 730. We sat at the shop for a while, giving Corban and Megan time to get their family up and ready .... I / we tried to be mindful of giving them some private time in the mornings and evenings so they could have a little bit of 'normal' as a family. :) :) 

Our first stop of the day was the Falls of Foyers near Loch Ness (or maybe it's a part of Loch Ness?). SO BEAUTIFUL! The whole day had perfect weather, so our morning hike to see the Falls was perfect. There was a little gift shop there, too, and we all enjoyed nosing around. Here are a few photos of on the way to and at Falls of Foyers.

highland cattle

the same cattle

View of Loch Ness from Falls of Foyers

We then headed towards Inverness along the coast of Loch Ness, looking for places to stop and get out along the way so we could see the Loch.  The road was single-track nearly this entire time, which made for some stressful riding for me. No surprise there. EEEEK!!! I found myself wondering if I lived there would I eventually get used to this way of living, or be perpetually stressed out and on edge every time I got into a vehicle? Hmmmm...
Here are a few photos of Loch Ness.

Making a "tough" motion, I think?!?!

A path to the Loch

A sweet moment captured - an older couple we met a few times.

We spent a handful of hours in Inverness, walking around, visiting a few shops (including the famous Leakey's Bookstore), and eating lunch. We walked past a shop with old printing presses inside, so we stopped in to have a chat. Very fascinating! Here are photos of that.

On the way back to Aviemore, we bypassed it and went to the Highland Folk Museum. ALL OF US loved this place and wished we had more than 15 minutes to spend here!! It closed at 5pm and we arrived at about 4:45. I got a lot of video footage, but here are a few pictures. 

Our final stop of the day before going back to the airbnb was Aldi. I bought a glass bottle of the famous Scottish soda called IRN BRU. They just went back to the original formula and I got a kick out of the label advertising, "Old and Unimproved". :) :) Based on the color, you'd assume it would taste like "orange" but it tastes more like "bubblegum". Not my cup of tea, but still it's fun to have the bottle sitting on my fridge, reminding me of the trip.

Ok, here's the video for this day ... so many wonderful, beautiful, and fun things to share! Enjoy! The next post will be our long way around drive from Aviemore to Edinburgh. 
Love to all, j