One of many fields we passed by. I say again without hyperbole, if I stopped every time I wanted to take a photo… we would have never gotten very far.
We took a random road on our way back to the city, and it was one of the most enjoyable moments so far. Small roads, lots of small houses and farms.
Looking back, I absolutely love everything about driving in Scotland – particularly outside of the main cities. Getting lost and wandering around, I could have done this for hours on end.
It was actually difficult for us to stop walking, as we were looking for a “lookout” spot… but never quite convinced we passed it. There always seemed to be something more just around the next corner, something worth walking another 100 yards just to see.
Big travel day today. We had an early breakfast, then made our way to the ferry at Port Ellen for the 2 hour journey back to the mainland. And from there, we had another 1.5 hours to get to Oban for a 4PM tasting.
We waited so long, in fact, that we were at risk of missing our ferry to Jura (it’s a short distance, but we wanted to get over to the island for as much of the day as possible). I really hauled on the drive from Bruichladdich to Port Askaig – and just floored it on the straightaways (where it was just a single lane, and I could clearly see no one else was around).
This tasting was one of the most enjoyable ones of our whole trip. Many of the casks in this particular warehouse were “experimental,” and the whole tasting process/group was friendly and fun and really enjoyable.
Today: a big travel day for us. We have a series of ferries to catch, and two islands to visit, as we make our way to our next hotel.
Each bottle represents a single year. What I noticed was the color change, as the years progressed. What I missed was the volume of alcohol that evaporates, year to year (also referred to as “the angels’ share”).
Tour and tasting at Auchentoshan Distillery.
Our rental car for the next two weeks: it was a 20 minute drive from the airport to our B&B, but it was my first time driving overseas. I kept telling myself “Left Left Left Left” over and over, to try to remind myself to stay in the left lane.
Shortly after we both logged off of work, and shortly before we got into a car to get to the airport: a shared dram on the back porch. Looking out over the backyard, and also at the arbor (which we’re aiming to paint once we return).
I was walking to UPS today, and came across a driver just kind of sitting at a stop sign. There were no other cars around, but he seemed to be just looking in the distance. And not moving.
One catch though: the pencils came with this horrible protrusion that lets you affix them to shirt pockets I guess? I ended up doing this rather insane/obsessive thing: I’d break the thing off. Then I’d take a pair of pliers and rip off as much as I could. Then I’d take a nail file, and file the area smooth.
This does not feel like a normal thing for a high school kid to do.
Rather than grow them directly in the soil, she is uses these specialized bags that allow for a custom mixture of soil (and also allow the water to drain if overfull).
It’s been ages since I’ve really listened to this song (or any of Croce’s work, really). But I used to listen to it all the time, when I made the drive from Indianapolis to Bloomington and back.