I am going to Gretna Green!

Saturday, May 30th

Gretna Green and Edinburgh, Scotland

Hey all!

We are EXHAUSTED, which seems to be a typical feeling now. 

We did have a lovely night's sleep at the Premier Inn, as they advertised. We wanted to stay there forever. We had a continental breakfast of the same sort of fare we've been having, so I just had bacon, eggs, grilled tomatoes, and yogurt with granola and berries. Yogurt tastes completely different. Runnier and less sugary or sweet. Still good though.

Tiny elevator selfie!

We left right after breakfast for Gretna Green. We got to see the angel Moroni of the Preston temple as we drove up the M61, which was really cool.

Driving up the M6 into the north was gorgeous. Less trees than we'd seen but lots of hills and mountains, and lots of sheep. Scotland is amazingly gorgeous. 

The first of many, many Scottish drive by pictures.

Scotland is my favorite!

Sheep!!! They have accents there, you know.

Too pretty. Ugh.

I couldn't look around fast enough!

Gretna Green was an adorable little stop. The history of the place is that couples have been running away to get married there for hundreds of years because the laws in Scotland were way less strict than in England, basically anyone could perform a wedding, so the blacksmiths on the edge of town usually did, and Gretna is the first town across the border. We saw the Olde Blacksmith Shop where weddings and elopements have been taking place for hundreds of years. Lots of shopping and pictures. No special rings, but we did find husbands. Sort of.

GRETNA! WE ARE SAVED!

Such a cute little place!

Not quite husbands, but it was the best we could do.

We got into Edinburgh around 2:00, and we couldn't check in until after 3:00, so we hit the town. First stop was Edinburgh castle. We found a free tour inside and it was fascinating. So much history and neat facts! The Scottish Crown Jewels were amazing, the buildings were so cool, and despite the crowd, we had a great time. But there were too many Asians! They had a war memorial for all of the Scotsmen who died in the First World War, and that was surprisingly emotional. Then we saw the National War Museum, and that was way cool. Classic uniforms and weaponry, history, etc. Very, very cool.

Oh, that? Just a castle on a hill...

The long, slow migration to the castle...

And looking back towards the city.

What an incredible view from the top! We got so lucky this day.

Love that flag waving so proudly at the top.

After the castle, we went shopping on the royal mile. We went a little crazy there, but we couldn't help it! Getting all of our souvenirs back should be interesting...

The Royal Mile... A challenge in its very name.

We had dinner at the Filling Station, which is not a Scottish place, but that's okay. I had the Mac n Jack.... Macaroni and cheese with bacon and spices (SO GOOD!) and then some ginger beer to drink. So good. I love that.

GOODNESS GRACIOUS GIVE IT TO ME.

Ginger beer in the middle of the street... So what?

We wandered and shopped a bit more, listened to some awesome street musicians, and enjoyed the fact that it was a partly cloudy and slightly warm day in Scotland -- UNHEARD OF! Great day.

Our hotel tonight is a house that was made over, each room is large and family sized. We're sharing a room, and there's a double bed and 3 twins, so lots of space.

Cutest hotel!

The "family" rooms. So many beds!

Tomorrow is driving up to Balmoral Castle, the Queen's residence, and more wandering of Edinburgh! I'm almost done with souvenirs for everyone, which is great because there is almost no room in the inn!

This is an awesome trip and I love it. If I came more often, I wouldn't need to get so many things!