The First

The First has come and gone.

Kathryn is the first child and the first visitor to visit us in Scotland. 

She arrived on Dec 9 and I just watched her board the plane to return home. 

(written on Dec 21 - this was a delayed posting)

Home.

They say 'home' is where your heart is.

Kathryn and I just talked about this last night. 

Home used to be where my parents lived and where I grew up. Or at least where we lived together.

But my parents moved from Las Vegas to Pennsylvania about 30 years ago. 


And then they lived in a house that was not my home. And they lived in a town that I had not lived in. So, home changed.

First day - Loch Ness

Now my home is where Mike is. 

And yet at the same time, home is also where my actual house is – where my ‘stuff’ is – where my kids’ baby pictures are hanging on the walls - where my long-time friends are.

And yet again, home is now also our flat in Thurso. 

Thurso is home now because it is where Mike is.

And it’s also a place where I know people and am known.

Kathryn was only in Scotland for 11 days, and it was both calm and adventuresome.

She was to arrive on Sat Dec 9, but on Thurs a big storm called Caroline was to hit. And boy, did she!  

England got hit with a lot of snow they were not expecting and the Highlands had 100 mph winds in some areas. 

I do not know if it got that high in Thurso but I do know it was at least 65 mph winds. And that was pretty exciting.

It was at least high enough that they sent the Dounreay workers home at noon that day and required them to leave in groups of 4 for safety reasons (I guess so that there would be someone to grab a hold of you if you started to blow away). 

There was also flooding on the Thurso 
River behind us, which was a little exciting. And homes outside the town lost power for about 12 hours.  And flights were not landing in Inverness that day. 


I was super glad Kathryn was not scheduled to arrive that day!

By Friday, the Arctic blast came through and the temperatures dropped to freezing, leaving snow and ice on some roads.

Now, if you have been following my posts, you will know how I feel about traveling in the winter. 

But amazingly, the storm came in and was gone right as predicted, leaving us with wet, slushy roads to travel on Saturday morning. 

And God gave me perfect peace that day as we traveled to get Kathryn.

Our week together was pretty quiet. 

We walked around Thurso – to the pier and across the beach. 
We went in and out of charity shops. 
We went to the butcher and to Tesco. 
We even went to the Big Tesco in Wick. (That is always an exciting trip when all you have had is the little 8-aisle shop that carries just the basics. I imagine it’s what people experience when they go into a super Wal-Marts for the first time.  There is a desire to walk around and just look at everything!) 
We had coffee at the Pentland with the church ladies, and went to a dance at the British Legion, where there was Jive and Waltzing and Fox Trotting. 
We played Mah Jongg with the gals on Tuesday. 

Kathryn was excited to understand this system on sight without reading it
due to the Nuclear Components class she took this fall at CBC

We went to the Caithness Horizons museum to learn about the Dounreay site and about The Flow.

We even went to our 2 theater cinema and watched the new Star Wars movie with half of Thurso.

Since it is the off-season here, most of the sightseeing things are closed. Or on limited winter hours. And while Kathryn probably would have been perfectly content to just hang out in the flat and play games, it seemed appropriate that she should see something of Scotland while she was there.  So, Mike rented a car for the week so that Kathryn and I could have the freedom to drive around.

Sinclair Castle ruins

We went to Dunnet Head, which is the actual most-northerly point in the UK and walked part of the Dunnet Forest Walk. We drove to John O’Groats, which is the acclaimed most-northerly point in the UK. 

The Stacks (in the far background) at Duncansby Head

We drove to Duncansby Head and walked across the cliff tops and sheep fields to see the stacks. 

We saw the Sinclair Castle ruins and the Dounreay site. 

It was windy and cold at each of these places, so basically, we drove there, took the picture and left. J  (Been there - Dunnet) 

We walked across wet and muddy fields soggy from the rain because it doesn’t really seem to dry out and the whole way Kathryn whined about the mushiness and walking on sheep poop. LOL!

We tried to see a cairn and small standing stones and the fairy glen at Latheronwheel, but that turned out to be an adventure. 

One I would rather never EVER repeat.  

this picture is AFTER we pushed the car out of the grass on the right side 

And here is the story: Leah’s son, Zach, was in Thurso for exactly 2 days before they left on holiday and Leah wanted him to see a few things while he was there. So, they decided to join us. 
And I am SO thankful they did!

We drove to Latheronwheel easily on the clear roads, but here is the thing. Once we got there, we had to drive down a steep road to get to the pier at the bottom and almost to the bottom is the little forest walk to the fairy glen. So, as we came through the town, there started to be thick patches of icy snow on the road. And as we got to the curve to go down the hill, we discovered that the road was a sheet of ice. Unfortunately, we could not see that until we rounded the corner. 

Then it was too late. 

tire marks from sinking 

Right away, I realized that we needed to NOT go down that road, so I braked gently and turned slowly towards the grass at the right side of the road, but the car started to turn and slide a little sideways. I got a front wheel on the grass and stopped. 

At this point, I was easily imagining the car turning sideways and sliding all the way to the bottom of the hill. 
With all of us in it.

Can you even imagine how much I was freaking out?

the double tow

Getting the car out of that predicament is a longer story than I can tell here, but it involved  a heavy shovel, 2 local men, 2 big vehicles, both with tow ropes, and pushing the front of the car while standing on ice that wouldn’t let us stand upright.

Remember the wet, mushy fields I mentioned above? Even though it was freezing out and there was ice, the ground was wet and mushy – so the tire only sank into it and had nothing to grip, which meant between the ice and the mud, it was impossible to move the car. 


Zach was incredible. He kept a cool head and got help and used the shovel to break away 1 inch chunks of ice off the road so that the tires would get a grip on the road. 

But Kathryn was my real hero. 

I was freaking out just a little. 
Right. OK. 

But Kathryn wasn't. And I know her. She is a mini-Mike. She thinks clearly and logically and figures things out really well. She keeps her head and works through issues. I knew she was capable of being behind the wheel and I would be better suited to help push. 
And so she did. 

She got behind the wheel and calmly did the things she was told to do -
even with the knowledge that the car might slide all the way down. ( !!! )

Leah - AFTER 

Once we were rescued from this “adventure,” we drove to the Cairn of Get, where we had a smaller and funnier adventure. 

This time, we tried to walk down the path toward the cairn just to rediscover that wet, mushy mud/grass. 
But this was THICK mud. 

Leah was in the lead and so was the first to step onto the mud that, in theory, should have been hard due to the cold, but instead, she sunk up to her ankles and then continued through it, because it was the only direction to go, hollering the whole while, “Don’t do it! Don’t do it!”  

Another Laugh Out Loud moment shared by us all.

We also tried to see the standing stones down the road, but when faced with another ice covered little hill, I immediately turned around.

Leah later told me that Zach told his sister about the whole ordeal and wrapped it up with, “We had a lot of fun. Good times.”  

LOL!

After all of that, Kathryn and I felt we had had enough adventure and cancelled the drive to Durness we had been planning for the next day in favor of staying home and playing games. And we did not regret a moment of it.

downtown Amsterdam

Kathryn and I also had a little adventure in Amsterdam as well.

See, when we booked her ticket to come, she got a GREAT price to fly out of Seattle, but it required a 17 hour layover in Amsterdam on the way home.

Now normally, not even a great price would convince me to intentionally spend 17 hours on a layover. But I happened to know that Amsterdam has a train that will take you directly to downtown in about 20 minutes. So, I said to Kathryn, “Seventeen hours is long enough to leave the airport and go downtown and see a little of Amsterdam.” And she agreed. And booked the ticket.

It wasn’t until about 2 weeks later, when I suddenly wondered what it would cost for me to fly over with her and spend that time together. 

And THAT'S when the reality of 17 hours hit me. 

She was going to have to stay overnight! Alone! I couldn't let that happen!

Now, some of you are going, yeah. Ok. So what? She is almost 27 and very capable.

I know that. And she is. 
But I would not have intentionally left her alone. 
So, I booked a ticket on the same flight and on Tuesday, we took the train to Inverness, stayed at a B&B and ate really great local food, then flew to Amsterdam on Wednesday.

For 17 hours.

While nothing dramatic happened, it was still an adventure. We arrived and had to get train tickets and get on the right train. 

We arrived in downtown after dark, which was exciting, but also harder. We found our hotel, which was right across the street from the Central Train Station. But because our flight had been late, we ended up having to sort of hurry because we had booked tickets for the lighted canal cruise and it was going to take 30 minutes to walk there.

On the way, we stood in line for the fries with mayonnaise that we were told is a MUST to eat in Amsterdam. We ate while we walked.

And it was a gorgeous walk!  

Everything was so festive with lights and decorations down even the smaller streets. And lots of people. And BIKES!  YIKES! Tons of bicyclists riding in the dark – in herds. Forget watching for cars – we really had to watch out for the bikes!

The weather was 20 degrees warmer than when Kathryn arrived 11 days ago and so it was really refreshing to walk along the streets. The boat ride was pretty nice and we even ate a Stroopwafel on the tour. 

We had planned to go to Stroopwafel Heaven and have a freshly-made, hot stoopwafel with dripping caramel, but just the day before, as I was looking for the address, I learned the shop had closed!  That was going to be a highlight of our time here! I was so sad. 
The packaged one on the canal boat was a disappointing imitation. 

Now, if you are not familiar with Amsterdam, there are a few things to know before you go.

Marijuana is legal and smoked in public. There are even cafes that promote it, where you can sit and smoke with other smokers, and I guess people do that. 

And so as we walked down the street, we smelled that obvious smell quite often. 

Another thing is that there is a Red Light District. There are even tours of the Red Light District! And from what I hear from some friends who have visited, it is something to see. I am told it is not seedy and that families actually walk through there. However, I really do not think I would take MY family to the Red District – tour attraction or not. 

So, 17 hours in Amsterdam with Kathryn is over and I am in tears as I watch her get back on a plane and head home. 

Her home.

Our home. 

The home where our kids grew up and where their pictures are on the wall, and the crayon marks are still in the fireplace grout from 19 years ago.

And shortly, I will head home as well. 

I will fly back to Inverness, take a taxi to the train station and catch the 2:00 train back to Thurso - where Mike is waiting - arriving at 6:00 - in time for supper. 

not taken in our flat - this is The Gun Lodge Hotel

a wee Christmas tree from Cathy -
with a wee angel from Kathryn