The Legend of Nessie And Catching Up
The wee town of Inverness is nestled up in the very heart of the highlands, at the very center of the valley between the great mountain ridges, formed when the world was young and Scotland part of a vast land-locked continent. This valley stretches the entire length of Scotland, from the Firth of Moray right down to the sea on the east coast. This valley is called The Great Glen. Nestled in this glen, created by the gouging forces of gigantic glaciers and filled with sea water so long ago that now the water is fresh, are the beautiful lochs of the Glen. The largest, and most famous, is Loch Ness.
Loch Ness is the deepest of all Scotland's lochs, and holds more water than all other sources of fresh water in England and Wales combined... it is deep enough to submerse the world's population three times, and still leave room for mystery.........Sounds exciting, right? Yeah, well, that's why the tour guides all say that exact same thing, over and over. I'm checking the water facts, I'm not sure about all of them, i distinctly remember Loch Lomond claiming to be the largest Loch...hmm...anyway. We obviously spent last weekend in Inverness and visited Loch Ness on Saturday. I'm posting the pictures so you can see for yourself, there's something about sailing across a lake thats so filled with mythology. But really, I found Lomond to be prettier, and thats about all I have to say about Ness. As for Inverness, if the cars were a bit larger and all sported ski racks, (as observed by Lindsey) I think us Coloradoans would have swore we were back home in Breckenridge or Vail. Thats ok though, beauty is appreciated, and the thoughts of home only sweetened it.
TIME TO PLAY SOME SERIOUS CATCH UP!!
Righto!! Its now Thursday, March 4 , 2004 and I'm not quite sure where my month went. I just finished my politics class and I'm killing time between now and the start of the final lecture of the year, my art class. I have exams next week, but I dont expect them to be particularly ferocious, and so I'm definately looking forward to this, my last weekend in Edinburgh. Mishka is coming to visit, and Lindsey and I are going to show her 'round like the old pros that we are...meanign we're going to the castle and on a scary ghost tour and climbing arthurs seat, because we haven't managed to do those must-accomplish-tasks yet. Then-- after exams next week-- a week from tomorrow!!.... we're heading out to Ireland! Yahoo! I'm very excited about that. Then we come back to Edinburgh for our Firbush experience...I suspect it will be exactly like Outdoor Ed was back in 6th grade, but this time I'm going to be a little more stubborn in my activities. I dont need to get hurt trying to be a good sport just before we head out to Europe, ya know? So I suspect I'll spend lots of my time hiking, maybe cross country skiing if there's enough snow (which is unlikely, the weather seems changed for warmer permanently. Its funny how you just seem to know when its done with winter, but...it happens and thats what I'm feeling right now.) That also means I'll be shipping my laptop home on Thursday next...only one more week of internet access, ahhh!! I'll either need to get really good at updating this sucker, or really fast at typing out emails. Probably a combination of the two. Anyway-- yes, you can count on more exciting news in the updates, because I'll be travelling, but they will probably still be once or twice a week until I get the "internet cafe" idear down.
Righto-- I'm going to post the travel itin. on here, in the "Calender" page accessable by clicking on the link at the top or here if you're super impatient. As always- keep emailing me, because its always good to know you're loved. Although I'm nearly positive I'll update again before the I leave for Ireland, better safe than sorry and I want to say a few things right now:
1. WELCOME HOME!!!!!!!! to all of the brave, wonderful friends of mine making their way back to the States, having answered their calls to duty. And with that...and no tears...ok, maybe a couple....GOOD LUCK and GOD BLESS to those of you just heading out.
2. Thank you-- to everyone: friends, friends-of-friends, Sandcreek Elementary, Sammo and Jammo, the staff of HRHS, my fellow tea drinker "Steve", Lisa and her coworkers, the haggis-hating Pirate and her comerades aboard the USS Newsom, and of course my wonderful family- aunts, uncles, cousins, papas, mom and dad, my bro...and of course, my girls. I have a confession-- I started the journal because I'm lazy and I didn't want to write millions of email. In reality, this has become a wonderful place for me to collect my thoughts and put them together- it gives me a purpose. Everything I see, I try to absorb with my soul, so I can share with all of you-- I dont want to disappoint you, who so clearly care about me and have made this wonderful experience possible. I want to update and express what I'm seeing to share with you, because you make the effort and take the time from your lives, to be supportive. Because of this, I've learned more about myself, and experienced more profoundly, then ever I could if I were here only for myself. So-- thank you.
Ok I think that about clears my docket. Keep checking for pictures, they're sorted by location. I wish there was a way for me to mark them as "new" but since there's not, I'll be sure to put in here which ones are new. For right now, the following folders have new pictures: CITY OF EDI, FEBRUARY, LOCH LOMOND, GLASGOW, HARD ROCK CAFE (HRC), INVERNESS.
Toodles! |
