Yo estoy...: Scotland.

The Highlands. Sheep dotted fields intermingled with the Heilan coo (Highland cow) here and there. Afternoon tea. Castles. Clans. Fairies. Monsters. Harry Potter. Bagpipes and men in kilts. For any and/or all of the above, one must visit Scotland. I went with one of my co-workers, Monica, and we had an absolute blast!

We wasted no time whatsoever. From the airport in Inverness (the capital of the Highlands) we picked up our rental car and drove to Culloden. You can not read about Scottish history, without hearing about the battle of Culloden, where the Jacobite army was defeated and the uprising lead by Bonnie Prince Charlie was ended.

Battlefield of Culloden

From Culloden we stopped by to see Clava Cairns (standing stones) before heading into the city.

Inverness

High church, Inverness.

View along the river Ness from Inverness castle

View along the river Ness. Inverness Cathedral.

View along the river Ness.

View along the river Ness. Inverness castle

View along the river Ness.

Jacobite boat trip on Loch Ness

Medieval Urquhart castle on Loch Ness

Loch Ness view from Urquhart castle

See rocks and stone walls. Will climb. Some attempts more successful than others.

Loch Ness view from Urquhart castle

Playing in Loch Ness. Nessie did not respond to our whistles and calls... that we were aware of at least!

Loch Ness

Loch Duich

Stopped at Eilean Donan Castle along Loch Duich. It was raining at the time and we didn't actually pay for entrance here. For added bonus, take a look at the castle as it's captured in the following video!

Crossing over the the Isle of Skye we drove through the Cuillin Hills

Cuillin Hills, Isle of Skye

The main road split at Sligachan. We stopped and walked down below the small and unsuspecting bridge of Sligachan to the Enchanted Waters of the stream running down from the mountains.

As legend has it, there was a fierce battle between Scotland's warrior woman, Scathach and Ireland's favorite warrier, Cu Chulainn. As the battle raged, the daughter of Scathach ran down to this stream to cry. The fairies of the river heard her cry and instructed her to dunk her face in the stream. Once she did, she was granted the knowledge of how to stop the battle.

And there you have it, by dipping your face into the stream below Sligachan bridge for a full 7 seconds, and then allow it to dry naturally, you attain eternal beauty!

Loch Harport. Isle of Skye

Loch Harport. Isle of Skye.

Evening stroll after dropping our bags at our hostel for the night

View of the sunset from our hostel for the night. Yes, that's a huge chess board. No, we didn't play a game.

The next morning we were very excited to go and explore the Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye. Scotland's weather changed our plans for us. We sloshed through the mud as far as we could go.

Determined to see the Fairy Pools!

Having second thoughts...

Tea and cookies it is!

On to Dunvegan castle

Dunvegan Castle

Dunvegan Castle is the home of the Chief of Clan MacLeod. Pictured here in the center is the Fairy Flag of the Clan MacLeod. Many versions as to its origins, my favorite being the following... once upon a time, the Chief MacLeod married a fairy and they had a baby. When the fairy had to return to her people, her only request was that the child never cry. One night the baby's nurse left the nursery to join in the castle celebration that was happening. In her absence the baby began to cry. When the nurse returned, the baby was wrapped in the blanket and the fairy lullaby was playing. Legend has it that when the flag is flown help will be granted.

When the 27th Chief had the flag securely framed as you see in the picture he listened as an expert in the field shared his opinion on the origins going back to Scottish expeditions to the Middle East of the 1060s. To which the Chief politely listened and then responded, "Thank you Mr. Wace, you may believe that, but I know it was given to my ancestor by the fairies."

Dame Flora MacLeod was the 28th Clan Chief. During World War II, if the German's had attacked she had promised to fly the Fairy Flag. They never did, meaning... there is still one remaining flying of the Fairy Flag left to be honored by the Fair Folk.

View from the Woodlands across the round garden towards Dunvegan Castle.

Roadtripping in the Scottish Highlands! We were totally paying attention to the road!

Well hello there. How do you not stop and take their picture, especially when they're posing so perfectly for you.

Flodigarry. Isle of Skye.

We had an app on our phones to alert us of geomagnetic activity! It is not uncommon for aurora to be visible from Scotland and out time on Skye had plenty of geomagnetic activity recorded! We kept our eye out, but clouds for the most part were too thick. You could argue otherwise, but there is definitely color other than black there!

Sunrise from our front porch at the Flodigarry pods.

Morag, our Flodigarry pod for a night's stay on the Isle of Skye