Days 1 and 2: Edinburgh via Car, Plane, Plane, Taxi, Train, and Schlepp!

What a magical introduction to Scotland we’ve had! Our only complaint is that there simply isn’t enough time to fit in everything that would be fun to do. But then again, what traveler doesn’t have that complaint? Two days in Edinburgh didn’t even scratch the surface of activities on our wish list of sights. On the other hand, we had two phenomenal weather days with blue skies, puffy white clouds, and T-shirt temps. We’ve been told this was very lucky since it had rained at least a little while every day for the past month. Thank the Lord for many blessings!

Evie with our suitcases and backpacks!

We left home at 7:00 p.m. Sunday, chauffeured by Adam and sweet Evelyn Grace, and with a stop at Jen, Ben and Riley’s house for bon voyage hugs. We had no troubles until the traffic jam at the airport where it took 10 minutes to go a quarter mile. On the other hand, by a stroke of luck we had TSA pre-check tix, so we buzzed through security without even having to remove shoes. (Big smiley face!)

Our Minneapolis to Amsterdam plane.

We are so used to domestic flights where nobody feeds you on a plane anymore, that it didn’t dawn on us we’d have two meals on our flight to Amsterdam! So, we ate at a fairly nice airport seafood place. Surprise! We had lasagna and chicken Kiev on the plane. A lesson in how to feel unhealthy before you even get to your destination.

Following a medical emergency (concerning an elderly lady who wasn’t breathing but ended up all right), watching The Zookeeper’s Wife on the seat back screen, getting an hour or two’s

worth of sleep and then eating again for breakfast, we landed in Amsterdam.

Leaving Minneapolis at 10 p.m.

The coast of Greenland.

The coast of the Netherlands.

Interesting juxtaposition: windmills next to oil storage.

Schiphol airport is huge and crazily fun. Check out the Man-in-the-Clock clock we watched at one of the shopping and eating plazas!

The man fooled us--he isn't truly there. But every single minute he erases the minute hand and repaints it one tick down.

I loved these sumo guys--but this guard took one look at me posing with them and photo-bombed us.

KLM to Glasgow!

Tulip stores and duty-free shops abound. Fun sculptures and
friendly guards are everywhere!  After a two-hour layover we boarded a plane once more and arrived in Glasgow just over an hour later. It almost seemed too easy for getting 5000 miles from home and we didn't even feel too jetlagged! Only the bags under my eyes showed I was sleep deprived.

First view of Glasgow & the River Clyde

We caught a cab with “Jim” who gave us a lovely tour of Glasgow and even drove us past the hotel we’ll be staying in come Wednesday. He told us to hit the pedestrian shopping area, George Square, Kelvingrove Park and a pub called “Pot Still.” But with his (wonderful) accent we heard that as “Pot Stau” and it took us a long time to look it up on the web!

The train trip from Glasgow to Edinburgh takes 55 minutes and we did snooze away a few minutes of jet lag. Still we were “refreshed” enough to think we could walk to our B&B, which turned out to be approximately 1.7 miles from the train station. It’s a testament to the accepting nature of the Scots that nobody looked twice at two semi-bedraggled foreigners dragging their suitcases along Dalkeith Street and through throngs of people attending the August Edinburgh Fringe Festival. (Way more on that in a later post!) We probably looked like some of the wacky festival performers!

Amar Agua B&B

We arrived at Amar Agua B&B not knowing exactly what to expect. 

We were thrilled to find an almost luxurious home! 

Kuan was our host and took literally twenty minutes to give us a full orientation to the B&B and to Edinburgh. We learned bus routes, places to exchange money, times to hit the sights, and all kinds of fun facts. The best advice was for a dinner venue. He sent us to The Salisbury Arms—and we didn’t regret it for a second. The atmosphere was classy but homey and the food was different but delicious. After my dinner of a butternut squash/beetroot tart and Jan’s of a prawn/chorizo sausage linguini—we were sold on Scotland’s ability to feed its guests! 

The Salisbury Arms. Above--prawn linguini and squash/beet tart!

Finally, after a very long trip using four modes of transportation, including our own feet (warming up for the coming hike), we got to sleep in our lovely room beneath our four poster canopy, under a snuggly down comforter. Tomorrow we truly start the vacation! It was an amazing welcome to Scotland—we can’t believe we’re here!

Training in Big Woods and Old Stomping Grounds

Minnesota's Big Woods--a gorgeous place for training--or enjoying.

With just a month to go before our trip, walking continues at a somewhat leisurely pace. I'll have to be pushing the miles alone after this coming week since Jan heads off to his annual week at Boy Scout camp in Wisconsin.

Fortunately, my youngest (of three) brother Pete has ramped up his hiking, too, in preparation for the move his son and daughter-in-law are making to Colorado in a couple of weeks and the visits Pete plans to make to the mountains. And because Pete has been hiking, his beautiful girlfriend Tami has been dragged into the "sport" as well. We even found out the hiking spirit moved her to go shopping for Merrill hiking shoes!! And so we're adopting them as our hiking partners in crime.

Pete, Tami, Me, Jan -- Hiking Partners in Crime

My litle bro and I

Hidden Falls in Nerstrand

Iconic Minnehaha Falls

Last weekend's training distance was about 15 miles. We went for more waterfalls--a hidden little gem in a southern Minnesota state park called Nerstrand Big Woods. And then a Minneapolis treasure--the beautiful Minnehaha Falls.

When I was a kid our gang would walk here to the base of the falls and follow the creek to the Mississippi River. Nostalgia!

Both of these were nostalgia walks for me since I grew up three blocks from Minnehaha Falls park, and my grandparents
regularly chose Nerstrand for extended family picnics. We got in some rolling hills and some flat distance. Mostly it was awesome fun just to be able to add mileage with great company in a beautiful state!

 Check out some more pics from our Fourth of July hiking weekend!

Our gorgeous Nerstrand training camp.

Hills ahead!

The best hiking partner a girl could want!!

Out on a limb with the Mighty Mississippi behind us.

Peter being mean to Tami and rocking the branch.

It looks as if we don't really get much hiking in--we're too busy goofing off. But we figure that's part of the training, too. If we don't get our picture-taking muscles in shape, how will we get gorgeous photos of the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lomond?

So we empty the rocks from our shoes and go on to the next pre-adventure next week!

Mega Mall and Waterfall--Walk Training Underway

So serious about training.

With exactly six weeks until we leave for Scotland on August 6th, I've determined that it's time to ramp up my walk training in earnest. Jan and I are avid hikers all the time, but our park hikes and neighborhood walks generally run from 3-6 miles, squeezed into weekends when the weather is good and we have no other obligations.

Our planned 95-mile hike through the Highlands will take eight days and consist of three 14-mile days, two 12 mile days, two 10s, and one nine miler.
So--in the next six weeks we'll be taking some longer treks around home just to test boots and get used to uneven terrain and hills.

To that end we started out this past weekend at Minnesota's premier, super difficult hiking Mecca:  The Mall of America.

Tough terrain right in our own backyard.

Yes, cue the laughing emoticon, but the weather didn't cooperate with our desire to walk. When a thunderstorm came rolling through at the time we wanted to leave, we gave up on our outdoor choice and headed for Nickelodeon Universe--the indoor amusement park at MOA. While there are no rocks, hills, roots or lochs at the world's second-largest indoor shopping mall, there is fantastic people watching, literally miles of floor to walk, and lots of really good bad food. We were so proud of ourselves for limiting junk intake to one Tim Horton doughnut each!

My faithful & loved Lowa boots.

I made the indoor trek about testing some new arch support inserts in my old faithful hiking boots. We walked approximately three miles, did stairs at every opportunity (even the escalators), and in the end my biggest takeaway was that I might not need to buy new boots. The next few hikes will tell, but I know the decision has to happen very soon so I'll have more than a month to break in new footwear.

Nickelodeon Universe--it's a jungle.

One corner of MOA always smells like this. Le sigh...

A random Cat Hat (for Miss E?)

After the MOA journey on Saturday, we took a 90-minute drive on Sunday to one of our favorite Minnesota state parks: Minneopa. It's special for a couple of reasons: it's one of the last places we took our beloved Magic The Wonder Border Collie for a long walk before we lost her to old age a couple of years ago;  it's also got a really cool waterfall that was the inspiration for the falls in my first book series' little town Kennison Falls.

Minneopa/Kennison Falls

The weather was much nicer for this walk and we clocked around seven miles. Instead of

Testing the ankles on root steps

smooth flooring and Tim Horton, we had rocks, roots, craggy paths, and 100-calorie almond packs. And instead of people-watching we got Minneopa's wild, no-cattle DNA bison herd and wild flowers. At half the distance of our longest days to come in Scotland--it was good
to get out on some truly uneven ground and start getting the ankles in shape.

More about long, weird training walks to come along with the saga of my right leg--which has this new tendency to fall asleep unexpectedly while I'm walking. I'll let you know...

Jan and his resting rock.

Us!

A New Adventure

The West Highland Way--from Milngavie to Fort William.

It's been a while (a long while) since I've been active here on my blog, but it's time to crack open the Squirrel's Diary and take you on a brand new adventure we're about to write. Just shy of two months from now, Jan and I are flying off for Scotland and yet another long walk. We're hiking the West Highland Way--nearly 100 miles of gorgeous Scottish country along the "bonnie, bonnie banks of Loch Lomond" and through the fabled Highlands.

To say we're excited is understatement. In addition to our hike we'll have several days in Edinburgh, a couple in Glasgow, and two in Inverness. We know there will be too little time to see all the sights, but we hope to hit the highlights and perhaps absorb some culture along with some famous Scotch Whisky!

We leave on August 6th, so between then and now I'll track our "training" progress as we prepare for 8 days of walking. Stay tuned for the weird ways we get ready and some fun facts about Scotland as we learn them ourselves.

Check out our old travelogue from our 16-day hike across northern England five years ago. It's the memories of that truly spiritual trek that have spurred us to make another trip to the U.K. Come on along!!

Stunning Loch Lomond--the largest loch (by surface area) in Scotland.