Back to the US - some sad changes

I returned to the US and instead of my direct flight to Chicago, I was made to go through Newark. Anyone who has flown internationally and has had to change planes in the US know what a pain that can be as you have to recheck your bags and go back through security. In a stroke of coincidence, I had gotten through security when I heard a familiar voice. One of Amy's friends, GB,  happened to be there when her flight from Canada was rerouted. She was looking for someone she met in Canada who mostly spoke French that she was trying to help navigate the airport. She didn't find her, but she did find me! It was great catching up with her as I have not seen her much since Amy passed away as work and life gets in the way. She kindly invited me to the United lounge and I got to see how the other half lives. We were seated only one row apart on the way back to Chicago. As I said, what a random coincidence.

My dutiful son, B, picked me up at the airport and we had dinner together. It was nice to see him but the nomadic adventures can't wait so the next day I picked up the trailer and made camp again at Bong. I picked up the dogs and Heidi was not doing well. She had stopped eating and my in-laws did an incredible job nursing her along and encouraging her but Heidi was running out of steam. I celebrated Father's Day on Saturday with my son B and my daughter C (again following this blog's policy of assigning random letters to people to avoid using names). They had an opportunity to say goodbye to Heidi as it was clear that her time had come. On Sunday I stopped at Amy's place and we had a conversation (mostly one sided as I am finally able to do all of the talking) and I came to the conclusion that Monday I would contact the vet. On Monday Heidi found peace and was able to run with Amy again which I am very grateful for. I then packed up the other hunting hounds and headed for a site with electrical hookups as it was to be in the 90s that week and air conditioning was needed by all.

Heidi - alive

I was able to tie up some loose ends at the house prior to the closing and gave away the last of my things. This time it was my riding mower and snow blower to B and L (B’s fiancé) for their new house. My house is now officially empty. I met with friends and relaxed that week. I met with J and E at their remote location and reviewed my plans. They live near the Beast of Bray Road and I made a mental note to return. I also met up with fellow members of the W club - G and M and had a wine tasting. I was sure Big Foot would be in the area as it was pretty popular and then I noticed the road construction. Big Foot hates that and was likely not to be found, but we still drank the wine.

On Amy's birthday I got Heidi's cremated remains back so I put her with the other dogs in the Hall of Fame at their undisclosed location. It was a very emotional birthday this year. It has been five years since Amy passed and I miss her daily. The cleaning out of the house and selling it was very emotional as we designed that house together and spent many hours picking out fixtures and features. It was very real now that I have gotten rid of so much including that property. Life is not at all like we planned. Things are very different from what we would have wanted or expected but that is the nature of life and you have to be able to find joy in there somewhere otherwise it isn't worth living.

No more time for Big Foot hunting as the loss of Heidi and the impact of the changes were enough for a week. Onto new adventures.

Amy and some random person from a few years ago

Nomad life looks a lot like non-nomadic life, with more dirt.

Scotland - Is Big Foot visiting the Loch Ness monster?

Since Scotland is known for the Loch Ness Monster, I decided that it would be reasonable that Big Foot would want to meet that cryptid and perhaps pick up some advice on laying low and evading detection. So off to Scotland I went.  

I toured the Highlands and was distracted by the beauty of the place, as there were many rivers and waterfalls and the natural environment was stunning. I managed to find a few castles and cathedrals to tour which was fortunate. The Cawdor Castle and Gardens were stunning and really well maintained. There was no sign of Big Foot but the person responsible for the signs in the rooms of the castle has a great sense of humor and wit. I tried to take some pictures but they didn't quite turn out but the level of sassiness was right in my ballpark.

Cawdor Castle

Cawdor Castle looking good

Natural path at Cawdor

Cool landscaping

Yet another church

The Black River

I was staying in Inverness which was a lovely city and went down to Loch Ness to see what could be seen. Again saw castle ruins on the shore which was destroyed in some rebellion or another. Clearly there is also a lot of history just underfoot but has been buried or is just not recognized. The history of the world is far more complex than most realize for sure as we only have fragments of what was and not a true record. I wonder in 8000 years if someone dug up our civilization if they would have a true picture. Hell, I am living in it and I am clueless. 

Loch Ness

Loch Ness

Loch Ness is an interesting body of water. It is really long and deep but not particularly wide. It feels more like a river to me but I am not the arbiter of such things. There was no sign of Big Foot or "Nessie". Frankly after reading the aforementioned signs at the castle and seeing other elements of Scottish humor, it may be feasible that the famous picture of the Loch Ness Monster was actually a prank. This of course would not be true of Big Foot who has many TV shows and an upcoming movie and in no way could not be real.

After Inverness it was off to the Isle of Skye with a brief stop off at various waterfalls and rivers for a hike. I also checked out Attadale Gardens knowing Big Foot's fondness for botanical gardens. It was quite lovely even in the rain but he/she was not to be found. 

The Isle of Skye was beautiful and parts of it extremely remote. I managed to go geocaching and placed a free drink token from John's Main Event in Burlington, WI. Hopefully someone uses it. I stayed in a modern version of a shepherd's hut. It had electricity and water so it was quite luxurious. This was down a long (over 5 miles) single lane road that had sheep grazing across it. The sheep would just step in front of the car if they felt like it but the bigger hazard were the local drivers who thought they were on a rally route and tried to go 60 mph. Thankfully ever few hundred feet there was a space that allowed two cars to pass but one would stop. The trick was when you saw an oncoming car, you would speed up to see who would get to the passing space the quickest. Needless to say, I missed two lane roads with shoulders. In a massive coincidence, there was a little tea and cake shop about a quarter of mile further down the "road". This was the only place around for miles and there was no cellular coverage (at least for the two difference services I tried). The name of the shop was Amy's place. The couple running it named it after their daughter who had passed away early from Lupus. The color for  Lupus is purple which is the color they painted their shop. Again coincidently, purple is the color for pancreatic cancer which is what took our Amy away from us too early. If you are in the area, check them out https://www.amys-tearoom-torrin.com/

Shephard's Hut

"Road"

Overly aggressive chickens. I ate their relatives in retribution.

Amy's Place

I did record a video of me driving on the road but it turned out to be expletive filled and not family-friendly. After a few days soaking up the "sunshine" of the highlands it was time to head to the cities. As a side note, the sun set after 10pm and was up around 4am. It seemed dark for only a few hours at night so I missed my opportunity for star gazing as I generally try to sleep at some point in my day.

Glasgow was a really cool city and the museums were excellent. All were free which was an exciting change of pace from nearly everything else I visited. I enjoyed walking around but there was no sign of Big Foot anywhere - not even at the hipster coffee shop I stopped in where I was able to get avocado toast and a proper pour over coffee. I tried to visit as many pubs as I could to see if I could catch the creature but alas.

University of Glasgow

William Wallace

Enjoying a local beverage in the castle house I stayed in.

Edinburgh was my final destination and looked promising as an opportunity to catch up my prey. It appeared that all of Europe was on holiday at the same time wandering around the castle of Edinburgh. I loved checking out the shops and people watching along with the national museum. No Big Foot but plenty of interesting history. Plus free admission so make sure you go and spend a few hours. The self guided tour or Edinburgh castle was very nice but pretty crowded. I even got to see where Scottish military prisoners were kept and also where prisoners of the American Revolution were kept (mostly sailors). The French and Spanish prisoners were treated quite well as noticed by the English tourists. They failed to notice the American prisoners were treated like common criminals and given only water and a little bread, This was due to the thought that they were petty criminals - much like the Irish republicans in the 20th century. At least there is consistency?

Cute cup of coffee (latte, whatever) but no Big Foot

Very progressive military prison, All "needs" were thought of.

Edinburgh Castle

In any event it was a lovely city with many coffee shops and pubs. No Big Foot though so it was time to return to the US.

Ireland - First place to look

I realize it may not seem obvious to most people, but I can imagine that Big Foot would visit Ireland. The Dobhar-chú has been known to inhabit the waters and it must be welcoming to cryptids. It is also a lovely country with a strong history of mythical beings and he/she might find it a great place to visit. I know I did. I last visited Ireland with Amy and our children so we visited some familiar and some new places this time. 

This visit included traveling with one of my brothers and his wife. In keeping with this blog's policy of not using actual names, I will refer to them by a random set of letters - let's call my brother "J" and my sister in law "M". I will potentially include their pictures or they may be actors hired to recreate the experience - I will not tell. They proved most valuable in the hunt for Big Foot as they enjoyed stopping in many pubs to look for him/her.

Image of random people on top of a Guinness. Made possible by leprechaun magic.

We started out in Dublin and enjoyed a lovely walk from my hotel to the one we shared. It was in the Temple Bar area so it was quite lively with many potential Sasquatch hang outs. We then hit the Grafton Street area along with walking around Trinity College and St Stephen's Green. We stopped in several establishments but no sign of the elusive creature. Over the next few days we continued a relentless search for the creature. We enjoyed our tour of Guinness and enjoyed several pints of that classic deep red beverage.  We did our best to explore classic historical pubs and really bad restaurants. No luck in Dublin.

Library at Trinity College

A couple of pints

At Guinness tour

                                        

We went onto Northern Ireland with our first stop in Belfast. There are some real differences between Dublin and Belfast based upon the history of the region but as with all of Ireland, the people were very friendly and there was plenty to drink, I mean do, there was plenty to do. We toured the Giant's Causeway along with Bushmills distillery for Irish Whiskey. Notice the "e". The Scots spell it "Whisky". The Irish say they add the "e" since it stands for "excellence" and I must agree. The whiskey was smooth and helped to clarify one's thoughts. We also took a completely unbiased tour of Belfast and where the "troubles" had been. Our completely unbiased guide happened to be a former member of the IRA so we were fortunate to see the tributes to the fallen and neighborhoods where there had been fighting. He expressed hope for the future as do I. The world has enough hatred and anger without adding more to it.

A local contemplating life with some Bushmills

Giant's Causeway

Back on down to the Republic of Ireland. We stopped off at a pub for a quick Big Foot check and to be neighborly had another Guinness. We had rented a lovely cottage for the next few days to allow a base of operations. The "road" to the cottage was very exciting and must have a blast to drive down (thanks for driving J). One side had a tall stone wall and the other had bushes and an occasional house, which came in handy as the oncoming traffic and us all had one lane to share. We toured various castles and churches plus a lot of ruins. The Cliffs of Moher were stunning as usual and a sight to behold. Stopping in at a pub we saw some bumper stickers from Milwaukee (which is not near Ireland) so I had to snap a photo, alas no Big Foot.

A touch of Milwaukee in Ireland

Cliffs of Moher

Hmm, M and J seem to drink a lot

Local having a laugh

We continued our tour and visited The Rock of Cashel. It was a magnificent ancient building that was home to Irish kings from before the Norman invasion and is reported to be the site of conversion by St Patrick of the Irish king, but it is technically in ruins today. We also visited the castle of Kilkenny which was beautiful and well preserved. The key difference is that at Kilkenny the owner aligned with the English crown and survived well enough until one of their ancestors could marry a rich American heiress. Cashel was not as fortunate and was further destroyed when a rival religious leader had the roof removed in the 1700s allowing the weather to do its thing. No Big Foot but plenty of history including a tour of a weaving facility that has been in operation since before 1778 (prior to that the friars ran a weaving facility but were made to leave). They take in raw wool and process it until there is a finished product. If you have a need for a quality wool blanket or other woolen product, check them out https://cushendale.ie, but there was no Big Foot (or Guinness) there. 

Cashel

Familiar image at Cashel

Kilkenny Castle

Fancy Kilkenny

Our last stop together was a tour of Waterford crystal to see some items being made. Skilled craftspeople doing some amazing work for sure. We parted company as they had a wedding to attend at Waterford Castle and I drove back to Dublin before my trip to the next destination. While in Ireland, my house was listed on the market and I accepted an offer. Big news for sure.

Van Gogh in crystal