Tag: tourist spot

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Dry Tortugas National Park

Yesterday we drove about 6 hours down to Sugarloaf Key. We woke up early today to make it to the Yankee Freedom ferry – about a 2.5 hour ferry to the Dry Tortugas National Park. We got a guided tour of Fort Jefferson before wandering around by ourselves. We actually saw a raft of refugees arriving as we were about to depart – a pretty common occurrence as this is the southernmost point. When we got back to the campground that night, there was a big hubbub as there were manatees just chilling at the docks – people were giving it some hose water to play with.

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Disney World/Epcot

Momma strategized all the lines and timings so we could hit the big ones, including the new Guardian of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. We walked around the International Festival of the Holidays at the different countries, eating a buffet lunch at Germany’s Biergarten Restaurant and dinner in China at Lotus Blossom Cafe. We caught the processional show with narration, orchestra, and singers, and ending the night watching the laser/firework/water show called Harmonious.

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St. Andrews

Day trip to St. Andrews; luckily we missed the chaos of the big open last week, but there were still some tents set up in a field and you could see the patches of grass where the other hundred tents were. I had an amazing strawberry tart (and hot chocolate) for breakfast; we mostly just walked around shopping and wandering on the beach since none of us could really care less about golf (though literally every other store was a golf store). I did almost have to throw hands with a seagull as it swooped down to get my crumbs as I went to the trash can – I literally almost punched it in the beak before it would leave me alone.

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Wallace Monument & Folk Night

Went back up to the Wallace Monument to actually go inside; the views from the top were quite good but more welcomed was the breeze cooling me off from the Scottish heat wave (80 deg) – which doesn’t seem like much but is actually pretty serious because Scotland is not equipped for weather above like 70, and we actually had to have class online today because our teacher couldn’t get here because the train lines are melting. Then we went to the Birds and Bees pub where we ate and enjoyed a Scottish and Irish Folk band, and taught us a wee dance.

Folk Night Band Video

Folk Night Dance Video 1

Folk Night Dance Video 2

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Loch Ness

Last day on the highlands so we made a few stops on the way back to Stirling: Invermoriston Falls, Loch Ness (a lot skinnier and less swampy than I preconceived, but an impressive 800 ft deep almost everywhere), Lagan Dam, and a short hike through Reelig Glen – where the tallest tree in Britain used to be (till it got struck by lightning and fell over and broke the sign talking about how tall it was).

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Isle of Skye

We drove all around the Isle of Skye today. Everything felt straight out of Lord of the Rings, hiking through the mist and this big rocks slowly coming into view as you pass, it was an awesome feeling. We started out at the Fairy Pools, then went to some statue of some mountaineers to have a picnic for lunch. Then we hiked up the Old Man of Storr (which was quite the hike and accidentally took the long way round coming back down), saw Kilt Rock, the Quaraing, and finally the Faerie Glen.

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Highland Tour Day 1

This morning we started on our weekend tour to the Isle of Skye; when we started off we were finally getting some of the classic Scottish rain, but it cleared up as we went north so we could see all the mountains and lochs lining the roads. I definitely don’t remember all the names of the mountains we stopped at, but I do know that on the way we drove through the Loch Lommond & Trossachs National Park, and Glenco, and saw the Three Sisters, Glenfinnan Viaduct (Harry Potter bridge), and Eileen Donan Castle. Oh, and I finally saw my Highland cows! We stayed at a hostel in Stromeferry; pretty janky – we could only have power on either the first or second floor and (spoiler  alert) the second night the showers stopped working all together, but you get what you pay for and we were pretty much only there to sleep.

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Glasgow

Today’s ISS day trip was into Glasgow. Saw the Duke of Wellington Statue in the square, which has apparently had a cone on its head since the 90s, and whenever it gets taken off it just gets replaced quickly. Then we went onto the Kelvingrove Art Museum; of course all the paintings were beautiful but I was really taken away by the hanging heads – I couldn’t find a plaque so I have no idea what the story is behind them, but it’s quite alarming to be exploring the beautiful old castle like architecture then turn the corner and suddenly there’s a bunch of bipolar heads screaming in the air (spookily lit up I might add). We continued to the Botanical Gardens, and for somebody who cannot keep plants alive, I was really in my happy place walking among these towering plants. Glasgow’s a cute enough town, but not a whole lot to do, so we went around shopping for the rest of the afternoon after eating lunch at Wellingtons, which is apparently a very British and very popular chain, like a Mcdonald’s the way it’s on every corner. We also had our first hint of the classic Scottish rain, but it only lasted maybe 5 minutes.