There can be only one.. Scotland Highlands..

Yeah ok.. so yesterday was a weird post about my time in Spain.. well this is another trip, the following weekend, where the family and I took off to Scotland. And Mrs Lee's brother came to visit and he has always had a fascination with the Highlands of Scotland ( something to do with a movie call Highlander maybe? ).

So we packed up the car, and drove the 400+ miles up island to explore the great north of the UK.

The little monkey of ours seemed to enjoy himself at least..

And kept us on our toes throughout the trip as well! Kids and their energy I tell you..

Lots of historical buildings throughout the trip that were within reach to view such as these castles and hotels along the Loch Lomond coast that we got to check out while taking an hour cruise.

Junior liked having a look at all the greenery.. so nice to be up here in nice weather in Spring!

But no matter where we went though the scenery around us was just beautiful. Even if it was a bit of a ways out and a bit of drive to get to at times.

Even while the other Lochs are within a short drive of each other, each had their own charm. This one was a bit to the west of Lomond, and was hosting a huge ( couple ships ) war maneuvers exercise while we were there. So we got to see some of the ships across the bay moored up.

These might be great for reference photos in the future.. though I suspect my chances of painting up a warship of any scale to this level of detail is very slim. Just not my cup of tea, but still awesome to look at ;)

One of the things that I have always wanted to do while in Scotland is to take a Whiskey tour! And it just so happened that while we were driving from Loch Lomond to Edinburgh we had the chance to pass by a Whiskey producer.. and none other than Glengoyne! Honestly this could have been any one of them, but since we were there we decided to go and have a look around :)

As their intro view to all us Whiskey drinkers states.. if you were to dream of a perfect spot to make some Whiskey.. this would be it.. and really.. they are not far off. Rolling hills, not a lot of neighbours, but set in a great looking countryside. And having such a nice looking setting.. and they even have a waterfall in the back!!!

Very scenic place to be... made even better with a production of Whiskey nearby!!!

Unfortunately we couldn't take any photos while in the place, but we could take some while we were a bit outside of the warehouse ( while standing in the rain! ).

The showroom storehouse.. with a massive padlock on the doors! Something that we would see on more Scottish doors in time as well. But if that door wasn't shut ( or the others filled ) I could have been tempted to try to take one to the car! :D

And finally we made it to Edinburgh. Our main target for the trip, with plenty for us to see, and do. And we even had some decent weather for some of it to enjoy the outside as well!!

No time for the castle this time around though as it seems to be the go to spot for us every time we have visited, and we gave it a pass this time around. Instead we looked at the Scott Monument and did the full 287 or so steps up to have a better view of the city. Though we did this while it was a bit more miserable out, and allowed us to hide from the rain a bit!

This is what it looked like when we first passed it..

The weather shifted very quickly for us, and it looked more like this as we climbed the monument.

But still in happy spirits while at the top ( with Junior leading the way with his insane 6 yr old energy! )

We finished the trip off with a trip to the museum and art gallery. Where photos were allowed, and in some cases encouraged!

All in all the family got to enjoy a new area of UK, and to spend some quality time together. Much needed after last year's trips for painting. And something that will be repeated more this year as we have many more family outings planned up.

And surprisingly the drive home showed us getting the better weather the closer we came to home! So much so that the weather is sitting in the low 20s at the moment! Hazzah!

So hopefully you all get to enjoy it as well, and hopefully it stays for the weekend!