Scotland

It's a dream come true! The Koalaman and the Bug went to Scotland for Christmas. I have wanted to go to Scotland for a very, very long time. We drove (by we I mean the Koalaman, since I didn't have my driver's license yet) for seven hours at a good clip to get up to Glasgow. And then I think everyone decided to leave work early because of the snow, and it took us two more hours to drive three miles across town.

Glasgow is very near where the Buchanan clan originated, so there were a lot of things named Buchanan. Buchanan Street is the main shopping street, and there's a Buchanan Shopping Center on that street. We did a bit of exploring around there on foot that evening.

The next day we drove up to a village called Drymen to look for the Buchanan Castle. We found it with no trouble, as it's situated on the Buchanan Castle Golf Course. It's in ruins now, but it's still a beautiful fairy tale castle. It was built in 1854, after the previous one burned down. The roof was taken off in the 1950's for tax purposes, which is why it's in ruins.

This is what it used to look like.

There are signs posted everywhere warning people that it's a dangerous, derelict building, but we went inside anyway. Can't go all that way just to see the outside. We were very careful where we stepped, as the floor was caved in through to the cellar in several places.

After Buchanan Castle, we drove toward Loch Lomond and saw more Buchanan things on the way. Buchanan Church, Buchanan School, Buchanan Smithy, etc. Loch Lomond was beautiful, and we went for a walk along the shore.

We headed back for Glasgow and spent our evening there eating shortbread. The next morning we headed towards Yorkshire, England, where we spent the night before heading home. The Yorkshire Dales are really something to behold. And the city of York is a wonderful place. It still has its medieval city walls around it.

It's too bad the trip was so short, but it just made me look forward to the next trip even more. Coming up this summer, one camping and hiking trip.