Splash of Summer

SO last time I wrote was getting back from New Zealand. And now it's been a little more than a month and a lot has happened. 3 weeks after I got back from NZ, my family headed to Iceland for 3 days then Scotland.

 Iceland was so crazy! Dad had booked tours for our two full days there - the first one was 8 hours long but the second one was 15 hours long. Most of it was spent in the 15 passenger van. But the parts where we got to stretch our legs and hike was beautiful! Glaciers, Icebergs, Waterfalls, you name it. Oh and did I mention Icelandic horses? Purest breed - they are not allowed back onto the island once they have left. No other horse breed has had the honor of stepping onto this cold viking land. Also, Iceland only has 300,000 people but shows off 10,000 waterfalls!

They took us up to the hills of Iceland and let us gallop around on their calm and gently horses of ice. 

Black sand beach made from rocks.

It was freezing and rainy at Diamond beach. 

Then 10 days in Scotland - where modern people live in a culture steeped full in legend and ruins. Our first stop was in Loch Lomond. Here we stayed in a castle backed by public gardens. We went on bike rides, explored the thriving plants, and created a haunted video starring us as the victims one dark night. After the castle, we drove to Edinburgh (pronounced Ed-in-burrow). We no longer each had a bedroom to ourself but instead slept on little beds and couches in a flat high above the city. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there! We didn't use a car but walked about 7 miles a day to the different sights and shops. After Edinburgh, we drove 2 hours to a beach and then to a little town called Lundie. Here we went on lots of walks and browsed antique stores. The last day, we went to the biggest grocery store we'd found in Scotland so far (about the size of a Safeway!) and found a huge gluten free aisle. They are so good with gluten freers here! All the cafes and restaurants have gluten free food and it's way better tasting than in America.

We hiked admist sheep till we reached mass amounts of heather.

This is the castle we stayed in! And yes, there was a tower room and a terrace on the roof and a spiral staircase and a dining room table that fit 18 people and chandeliers and sheep skins and everything you could want in a Scottish Castle.

Dress up at Scone Palace.

We were home for a full day before heading off to La Pine, Oregon to spend some much needed time with the cousins. We went to Crater Lake and took a boat ride to Wizard Island. My phone chartered off the wall ratings of how many "floors" we hiked in a reasonably small amount of miles. We dove into the icy water which felt so refreshing after the hot hike. The next day, we rented a giant paddle board at Twin Lakes and did a full out war of who could stay on the thing the longest with everyone else jumping on it and trying to out-balance each other. The last war was the most epic. Everyone got up and started (you weren't allowed to touch each other) but before it really got going, Dad just ran and swept everyone off in one fell swoop. Daaaaad! 




All in all, it's been a really good summer. Looking forward to some more hot days, berries and whipped cream, friends to laugh with, and hikes to walk on. Lets go. 

Our Paddle Boat

 Icelandic Scenery:

Ahem....unedited.

Whoops, rule of thirds disappeared in this fog.

Geyser.