Scotland 2009 rev

Scotland 2009

For my 60th birthday, Mike took me to Scotland to play a little golf. We played three times on the east coast at St. Andrews, Carnoustie, and back again in St. Andrews. We then drove to the west coast and played Old Prestwick, the course where the first Open was played in 1860.

Leaving DC, August 20, 2009 -- nice beard, Mike!

After landing in Glasgow, we picked up our motorized roller-skate and found our way to our first hotel in Edinburgh.

The Malmaison!

These are the streets we drove on in Edinburgh. This is a two-way street!

We woke up the next morning, Saturday and headed to the Edinburgh Castle. The Scots seemed to have consistently build

their castles on the highest hill.

We had to park a ½ mile down the road and walk up hill.

The walk to the top of the mountain went up these stairs. This photo is taken because I needed an excuse to stop– had to rest!

This is what the street looked like when we arrived at the top.

These lucky folks took a bus! (Scottish buses kinda look like insects!)

Starting into the castle . . .

Lots of statutes . . .

Mike shaved! Couldn’t stand the beard . . .

. . . not me, I can’t stand to shave!

A view from inside the castle . . . looking north toward St. Andrews and Carnoustie.

Another view from inside the castle looking at the North Sea. . .

Even inside the castle, you had to walk up hill. Ugh!

To where those people are looking out at the North Sea too . . .

Mike as a guard!

A bagpiper inside . . .

One of the buildings inside the castle

Cannons aimed downhill. . .

Looking out to the North Sea . . .

Another building inside . . . where they kept the crown jewels of Scotland: one crown, a sword, a scepter and a rock with a chain

attached to it!

. . . still another . . .

A map of the whole castle grounds

Here is what the street looked like when we were leaving.

Fringe festival on the street leading up to the castle and throughout the whole castle district. The must have been close

to 100,000 people on the streets below . . .

So we decided to leave . . .

The following day, Sunday, we headed up the coast toward Carnoustie. Low tide!

Looking back toward Edinburgh . . .

Here’s our ride. Check out the 12” wheels! But this little roller-skate took us over 500 miles

across Scotland.

Although it’s a little rainy, we decided to stop by St. Andrews on our way to Carnoustie.

Old buildings everywhere . . .

. . . And they bury you in the backyard!

Weather’s not looking good . . . Ugh!

Now it’s raining . . .

But we made it to St. Andrews!

What a spot!

The rain didn’t stop people from playing golf. This is Scotland!

So we played our first round . . . It only rained on six of the holes! We were kinda dry by the time we took these photos.

We played the New Course at St. Andrews, was built in 1897. Since Mike was giving me 10 strokes, he bought dinner Sunday

night! I didn’t object since he made me walk!

This was our hotel at the course at Carnoustie!

Monday morning was beautiful. We got up early and headed to the course.

We finished! Mike made me walk this course too!

But he had to buy dinner again. This was an incredibly hard course – lots of pot bunkers!

We headed out, back to St. Andrews to eat dinner.

A view from our hotel at St. Andrews: the 18th green on the Old Course, and the clubhouse.

The weather was so nice, we decided to play another of the six courses at St. Andrews on Tuesday morning –

Jubilee Course built in 1897.

The second hole at Jubilee is called “Whinny Knowe”, a 352 yard par four from the yellow tees. Mike hit his drive five feet on the front left edge of the green! The pin was a couple feet up a ridge and back left. He three putted

for a par . . .

We stopped play on the Jubilee course for this photo . . .

Mike only gave me seven strokes, so I had to buy dinner Tuesday night!

We finished playing on the east coast and headed out to the west coast to see hurricane “Bill”, due to arrive Wednesday

morning.

The hurricane didn’t blow down this old castle south of Ayr; it blew itself out by the time we arrived. Just a little rain was left

on Wednesday!

Scotland’s idea of a skate-board park!

The Atlantic . . .

. . . And still more castles!

The castle grounds. . .

We walked down to the beach to see the castle’s beach house! Nice!

Further down the beach, we discovered that the Indians made their way to Scotland too!

Leaving the castle, we drove north to our hotel at Troon. Nice spot! I drove for the first time in Scotland and managed to leave the lights on in our car when I parked. . . A dead battery was quickly fixed by Scotland’s version of AAA! Mike didn’t let me drive again . . .

We drove around Troon charging up the car battery.

But got back to the hotel to rest up for our last day of golf on Thursday morning . . .

Here’s the first tee at Prestwick, home of the first Open in 1860. What a course!

Had to walk again, but this time I got an electric pull cart to help me around Prestwick. I had to buy dinner again!

Downtown Glasgow -- out last night in Scotland

A Scottish Police Car

Leaving Scotland, Friday, August 28, 2009

Flying into Heathrow, London, UK