Hadrian's Wall and on to Edinburgh

Day long drive to Edinburgh. Traveling through beautiful rolling hillsides with sheep everywhere. Stopped at one point to climb on Hadrian's Wall (ancient Roman wall stretching some 75 miles across Northern England). Moved on across the border to Scotland where a bagpiper was playing. And shortly later stopping at Lochcarron textile mills (www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/selkirk/lochcarron/) where you can fit yourself into a fine kilt! Saw cashmere sweaters for $225 Scottish pounds - about $340 dollars. Had a nice tour of the factory there and had lentil soup and sandwiches - tasty stuff.

On to Edinburgh where we checked into the Crowne Plaza and then with 30 minutes before dinner I decided to hike up a steep hill behind the hotel. Steep is an understatement. About halfway up it seemed a coronary was probably in my near future . Beautiful 360 degree view of the city though. Had about 5 minutes at the top and then hoofed it back down to slip on a sport coat and head for a dinner show called "Pride of Scotland" (or something similar). Good dinner - had pork belly with bubbles and squeaks. Yep, you'll have to google that one for sure!

Many glasses of wine later we all headed to the Conan Doyle pub where we had a wee pint or two (or three). Good times here. Think all fams should have a pre-drunk built in vs a pre-night stay.

Bumped into a bunch of folks back at the hotel from the National Health Services who invited us to sit with them and over a few hard ciders had a great time discussing Donald Trump. It goes without saying that they were horrified at the prospect of such a person being elected and they were totally unanimous about it. Getting on 2 am, decided that I was toast and headed for the sackRead more