10 Apr

Day 7 – Invergordon and the Search for the Loch Ness Monster

 

It was cold out today!  Well, chilly.

Today we were porting in Invergordon. Which means we were going to see the Loch Ness monster! Yeah baby!

We had an official excursion booked today! I had a Facebook, remember when notification, and apparently 5 years ago I was on an Alaskan cruise and taking a picture with Erin’s parents!

#wecruisealot

We had breakfast in Cabanas:

We popped outside to look at the port and take pictures.

There we are!

The tide was out!

The Scottish flag was flying!

Merida was out to welcome us to Scotland!

We’re off!

We got on our bus for the long bus ride to our first stop!

We all used Jeb on the bus. Jeb is our best friend.

Our tour guide was very nice but man she talked the entire way. First stop! Cowdor Castle!

I took a few phone pictures inside:

Here we are!

There was a maze next to the castle.

While we were on the bus, the tour guide said she would be giving a tour of the gardens in 45 minutes if anyone was interested. I was like nope!

I am sure I miss some things, but I just enjoy wandering and taking pictures on my own! Stephen said he wanted to tour, so he left us to go find the meeting point.

We went inside to find a bathroom and walked out, right at the meeting point. Where there was no one but her and Stephen. She was so excited to see us that we couldn’t say no.

So a garden tour it was!

The signs in the UK crack me up. They say what they mean. The metro is the underground. The lines that aren’t underground is the overground. The baggage pick up in the airport is the baggage reclaim. You aren’t claiming it, you’ve had it! You are reclaiming!

And the exits? Well it’s the way out!

We got back on the bus and made our way to Inverness!

This is the Culloden battlefield.

Our tour guide asked if there were any Outlander fans. Like four women (myself included) raised their hands. She said we may recognize Culloden from the books.

Then she told us she could never read such mindless drivel herself. I was like – Dude. You set us up!

This made me laugh:

Inverness!

We had about an hour and a half in Inverness to eat and explore.

We found a great café where chocolate was the highlight.

Food!

There was a little bit of hot chocolate with my whipped cream.

After we filled our bellies, we walked in Inverness.

Macarons!

We found my favorite sticker in the history of stickers:

There’s the castle!

Why did we not buy Stephen a kilt? Fail.

Then it was back on the bus and off to Loch Ness! Woot!!

I was so excited! I have loved Loch Ness monster stories since I was a child! We were going to find him. I knew it.

When we arrived, we watched a movie in the theater. I was fairly disappointed it was all historical stuff about Urquhart castle and nothing about Nessie!! Come on, people! I may have been in the minority there, but probably not right?

Then the screen raised and this was our view! Woot!

I did learn that the lake is 350 feet deep. Way deep enough for Nessie to hide.

Urquhart is kind of blocking the view of Loch Ness.

This is why you should always bring teenage girls with you. Picture opps all over.

I explored the castle before I went down to the lake!

Okay, it was time to get serious. Let’s go find her…

Wait. Wait. I feel like there is something back there. Is she back there?

Success!!!! The girls also found a duck they loved.

Then we got on the bus and headed home! Well our home for 12 nights anyway!

There was quite a line to get back on!

We were kind of late for dinner, so we just went to Cabanas!

You’ll be surprised I know, but I had steak.

We had a right proper send off from Invergordon while we ate!

In Cabanas, your Mickey bars come in the original wrapping.

After dinner we went looking for Goofy in a kilt! Just missed him. Excitement for Kilted Characters?

We went to O’Gills for a little while and had some Shirley Temples while we listened to Irish music.

Our bartender was very friendly and asked us all about our day. We told him we had found Nessie and showed him my picture. Um. He believed it. Totally.

He totally thought the picture was real and he literally could not put a coherent sentence together. Then I felt bad!!!

We quickly told him it was (Spoiler alert!!) photoshop. He was quite amused then.

We passed some beautiful scenery.

Next we went to see an old favorite – John Charles. The girls were off running around somewhere, we hadn’t seen them since dinner. I ran out during the encore because I knew we were about to miss Goofy again! Found him!

I was hungry somehow and got some pizza after that. When I got back to the room, the girls had ordered a cheese platter. This became their new nightly tradition before bed. I ordered survival cookies for the next day as well! Then we went to bed!

Thanks for reading so far!

 

The First Ever British Isles Cruise with Disney Cruise Line!

Day 1 – The Eternal Day of Travel 
Day 2 – Staying Awake in London! 
Day 3 – Back to Harry Potter World 
Day 4 – Boarding Day 
Day 5 – First Sea Day! 
Day 6 – Newcastle! 
Day 7 – Invergordon and the Search for the Loch Ness Monster 
Day 8 – Kirkwall 
Day 9 – Sea Day Part Two 
Day 10 – Edinburgh (A City to Which We Must Return) 
Day 11 – Liverpool!
Day 12 – Dublin 
Day 13 – Sea Day Part Three 
Day 14 – Sobering Day in Normandy 
Day 15 – Last Day – Guernsey