Turkey for my Birthday!

We went to Istanbul for my birthday and had a great time.

When we arrived it was raining and we saw a rainbow...

We stayed at the W which was a really nice hotel - we loved the room.

I do love a nice hotel...I've never really been a youth hostel kind of girl!

We went to the Grand Bazar.

And had lunch at the Kepenski for my birthday...yes I'm feeling good!

We saw the Hagia Sophia and the blue mosque. The fist photo below is the Hagia Sophia, the second is the Blue Mosque.

Hagia Sophia

Blue Mosque - it was a beautiful day.

We also took a boat trip down the Bosphorus.

It was fun but we were glad to get off the boat.  It was a little bumpy.

Glengarry

Our next stop on our Scotland trip was Glengarry castle - we love this place! This was our room.

This is a view from our room:

The food was excellent and we love the library which had a fireplace.  We spent an entire day just relaxing in front of the fire while it was raining. One day we took a drive to the Isle of Skye and visited Dunvegan Castle which had incredible grounds.  This is a photo of Sammy in the walled garden.

Here's a photo of me walking around the grounds - I couldn't believe how big this plant was.  Sammy took a photo of me next to it so we could see the scale.

On the way back from the Isle of Skye I had to have a photo of the purple heather which seemed to be everywhere making the hills look like they were a soft velvet.

And we saw a rainbow right before we arrived back at the manor...

Beautiful end to a beautiful day!

Scone - Scotland

After Edinburgh we went driving up to Invergerry and on the way we stopped at Scone Castle where they have crowned the kings of Scotland for the past...well at least since 1306 when Robert the Bruce was crowned. And the castle is still being lived in which I find really interesting, wouldn't it be a kick to live in a castle!?

Here is a replica of the stone where they were crowned the original was said to be carried off by the English in 1328, although some think that the Scots buried the original and a fake was sent in its place.



There were a lot of peacocks at the palace too.



After we left Scone we drove for a while, the scenery was really beautiful - this is one of the stops we made.



Next stop - Glengarry Castle.

Scotland

Sammy and I took a break from the sun and sand and went to Scotland. We stayed in Edinburgh the first few days and went to Stirling Castle.



The Swiss Army band was playing on the grounds and they were really good. There were a lot of military bands in town because the Tattoo festival was going on.



Here's a photo of me and Sammy enjoying the music, sunshine and sand free day!



And another one! We had a really good time at the castle.



The next day we had a walk around Edinburgh and the views were incredible. This fountain in the park I really liked and although we never did make it into the castle it did look good.



Self portrait Edinburgh...next stop Scone.

Cordova Alaska

In July we went to Cordova and went fishing. We were suppose to be catching Halibut, but our guide wasn't so good and we (and by we I mean Sammy!) ended up catching Silver Salmon.

Sammy caught 3 Silver Salmon - here is his first one.

And I caught something a bit smaller - I think this was some kind of Cod.

Art had a good time hanging out in the cabin, which was warmer than the deck where it was FREEZING and rainy outside!

Art was snacking, listening to music, and flipping through his magazines. The good life!

The next day in Cordova was incredible - of course...cold and rainy when we're out on the Sound and warm and sunny when we're hanging out in town!

This is a view of the marina - the town is behind me.

This is the main street in town - it's a very small town. The day was so beautiful and it was warm enough to take off our jackets, but you can still see that it's cold enough that the snow doesn't melt completely on the mountains.

When we were walking down main street I found a craft store. It was incredible, she carries everything from needlepoint supplies to felting, scrapbooking, and she even had spindles and gave classes on how to spin your own yarn. I would love to have access to a store like this in Dubai.

We had dinner at the marina, it was very tasty.

The next day we had a drive around Cordova - the road is only in and around the area and it ends at a glaicier. You have to either fly into Cordova or take the ferry in you can't drive it's not connected to Alaska's highway system. Anyway on our way to the glacier we saw a bear, a mother bear with her cub(s). We couldn't tell if there was just one cub or two. But, Sammy and I being smart stayed in the car while we were watching her and taking photos. 2 car loads of people drove up behind us and got out of the car. Now she was maybe 25 yards from the road, and granted there was a small pond between her and us, but really do you want to get out of the car?! They run very fast and are very protective of their young, and almost all attacks happen when a person gets too close to the mother and her young. Well according to the papers in Alaska...so Sammy and I drove off because we didn't want to see her eat anyone. Further down the road we saw a second bear that looked younger and skinnier than the one above. He was in the middle of the road stauntering down it like he owned it.

This is the end of the road and we were the only ones here.

We went back to Anchorage the next day and...

had breakfast at our favorite place in Anchorage, Gwennies. They have the best eggs, pancakes, and reindeer sausage. I always feel like I need a nap after having breakfast here

That night we went to our other favorite place in Anchorage - Humpy's. The food is good and Art loves listening to the band.

Here is a shot of McCallum at Humpy's. This is not watered down, this is not 2 shots, and it is not a teeny tiny glass. They just have a different definition of a shot over there! What a nice end to a very nice vacation.