Our trip to the Highlands was on Sunday, a day so gorgeous even our guide was impressed. As wonderful as the whole trip was, and as lovely and majestic as the Highlands were, our tour guide was the best part. Will (in the picture on the left), was hilarious, weaving his stories, jokes, and commentary with folk songs and music that illustrated and reinforced his points. I expected to spend several hours on a bus reading and staring out the window, but I didn't even pick up my book and I was never bored. He was also a native Highlander, from the Isle of Skye.

One of the first things he taught us was that Scots rarely say "yes." They say "aye" instead. It was early in the morning though, so when he asked us if we were ready to get going, we were a little weak in our responses. "Great!" he responded. "I have a bus full of sleepy pirates!" It only got better from there.

We left from St. Giles Cathedral, leaving Edinburgh via the Forth Road Bridge, which crosses the Firth of Forth (a fjord) and runs alongside the Forth Railway Bridge. Got it? It is a nice scenic trip, and Will plunged right in, telling us all about the history of the bridge. The rail bridge is considered an engineering marvel and is may one day become a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was finished in 1890 and is still in use today, shown on postcards as an international symbol of Scotland's position at the forefront of engineering and industry.

Our first stop was in the small village of Pitlochry. Most of the stores were closed on Sunday morning, but I got a picture of myself with a garden sculpture and a photo of "The Sheep Shop." We all walked around the town to stretch our legs and grab some food, then moved on. The scenery was beautiful the whole way. Will assured us that it was rarely so sunny in the Highlands and we found out later that it had poured all day back in Edinburgh. How lucky is that?

We continued north with Will telling stories and pointing out the sites as we rode by in the bus. We were moving into some serious mountains, formed when two tectonic plates crashed together millions of years ago. The mountains are covered with forests, a major Highland industry. There was a distillery off to one side, then some mountains that were tall enough to still have some snow on top.

We stopped at a hill overlooking a loch (not "lock", more like "lohkh") to stretch our legs and put our cameras to work. I got some impressive pictures because we were able to look in every direction. Everything is pretty in the pictures that have people in them, but you'd swear you were the only person in the world when you look at the ones with just the land. There is just nothing: no power lines, no houses, nothing but unspoiled land as far as the eye can see. There was a rock that was perfectly placed so that we could stand on top and look across the loch. After I had taken a bunch of pictures, I looked down and saw a little plaque. A man and his son are buried right there, about 10 feet apart, overlooking all that beautiful scenery forever.

The views were breathtaking as we moved through the valleys and farther into the Highlands. We stopped at a little store and coffee shop to get lunch and visit the restrooms before we went on to Loch Ness (NESS, Ness, ness...as Will always said). I could hardly believe the day had passed so quickly, but I couldn't wait to arrive at Loch Ness for the boat ride.