Playing Catch-Up

Hello again!  We've had a long couple of days!  We've covered a lot of miles, both by car and plane.  On Friday, we said good-bye to our Irish cottage and drove up to Northern Ireland to see the Giant's Causeway, a rock formation on the northern coast.  We made a stop at a beach near Mullaghmore to stretch our legs.  Asta found some tide pools with anemones and colorful snails.  She's quite the little naturalist!

It was late afternoon when we arrived at the causeway, and the weather was absolutely perfect.

After climbing around on the rocks, Andy, Becky, and Asta went on a steep hike up the cliffs to get a bird's-eye view.  At one point, there were 162 steps to climb!

The view from the top was stunning.  Definitely worth the hard work.

It was so clear that we could see the coast of Scotland!  We were so proud of Asta for making it all the way up.

We had booked an apartment in Belfast for the night, so we drove south to reach it by evening.  We had a little trouble with the key, but luckily the leasing office was nearby and we were able to get help.  Andy and Terry dropped off their bags, then ventured out again to get a look at the new Titanic Museum. 

The next morning, we got going early.  Andy wanted to stop at the old Delorean factory outside of Belfast.  There isn't much to see there now, but he still snapped a few pictures.  We needed to get down to Dublin to return our car and catch a flight for Edinburgh just after noon. It started to rain just as we were arriving there-- the first rainy weather of our trip!  We actually had to walk out onto the tarmac and climb up the steps into our plane, so everyone got soaked in the process.  Our suitcases were returned to us wet as well!

When we went to pick up our next rental car in Edinburgh, there was a problem-- they had a vehicle for us that Terry's scooter wouldn't fit into!  We had to trade for the only available alternative. 

 Meet Goliath, the Volkswagen Transporter van.  It's a beast, but everything fits in it.  That's our cabin in the background, near the town of Aberfeldy.

The view is amazing, and the cabin has all the amenities we could want.  It's a perfect home base for exploring Scotland.