Rocky Mountain High

Tuesday 1 July 2014

Today looks like the last sunny and dry day here.  Forecast for today was 70 and mostly sunny, tomorrow is 60 and 100% chance of rain.  Similar for the rest of the week.  Which means we were out hiking today!  We drove to a trail head--Dog Falls in the Glen Affric National Nature Reserve about 45 minutes to an hour from where we are staying.  Randy found a website that has trail maps, including topographical maps for hiking anywhere in Scotland--you just type in the area.  They even have composing toilets, car parks, and trail maps available!  We chose to combine the three trails for the area-- the Viewpoint, Dog Falls, and Coire Loch trails.  Separately, they are 2 miles, 2 miles, and 3.25 miles.  But combining them together, they ended up being about 5-6 miles.  It was a moderate trail grade--hilly, but not horribly  strenuous.  It was sunny, partially in sun, the rest in forest.  The River Affric runs through the area--with one falls--you guessed it, the Dog Falls.  For much of it, I felt like I was in Colorado--in the Rocky Mountains.  There were pine trees everywhere!  And you won't believe this, but they are Scots Pine trees!  Who would've thought?  The midges, however, were ferocious, landing and biting.  Even moving your arm did not dislodge them.  Because of them, we kept walking and decided not to stop and eat our lunch anywhere on the trail.  Here are some photos of what we saw:

Here's the map of the three trails.

The River Affric

On the trail--a map of all of the nearby mountains

The actual mountains

"Interpretive signs" along the trail about the wildlife

Coire Loch

These three photos are the roots of a pine tree on top of the soil.

A small footbridge

The River Affric

Pine trees

Dog Falls

River Affric

When we arrived back at the car park, Joshua and Shelby, of course, had to go down by the rocks next to the river (they were also there before we left).  Well, not surprisingly, Joshua fell in--to his waist.  After the shock, he got right out, but his iPod and camera were in his cargo pockets.  We went to the car and had him strip to the waist.  The bottom few inches of his shirt were wet but covered his boy parts, so he sat in the car with his sweatshirt over his lap.  This incident meant no more hiking, of course, or stopping at an historical cairn I saw a sign for.  We ate our lunch (oranges, peaches, carrots, crisps, and water) as we drove further down the tiny road in the Glen Affric area.  Many of the roads we are on are barely large enough for a compact car to fit--but are for cars going both directions.  Many of them have periodic widenings with signs indicating "Passing Place".  Very cute!  The passing place is a way for cars going opposite directions to pass because with the stone walls, hedges, and steep drop-offs, there is no way to pull out more.  The scary part is that the roads are very twisty and you never know who is pulling around them from the opposite direction!

Loch Beinn a' Mheadhain (another Lake)

When we got back, we wrapped sweatshirts around Joshua to protect his modesty getting from the car park to our apartment.  His pants, shirt, socks, undies, and shoes are still drying, as are his iPod and camera.  We're hoping for the best with those.  We took the SD card and battery out of the camera, but are being careful not to turn them on for a day or so--hoping for the best!   The children are now swimming and we will have a late dinner.  Last night we played cards, so tonight is a movie night (we all huddle around someone's laptop with the volume all the way up!  Sorry, I know, but it's a family thing!  Rentals we've had on previous trips have come with a VCR or DVD player and a few movies, but none of these have.  Well, at least we have wifi!

I've read several blogs of people traveling with babies and small children, but there is the experience of traveling with two teens and a pre-teen.  It can be fun, exciting, funny, exhausting, and maddening.  One day driving around in the Lakes District to "see the nature,"  I had to confiscate Shelby's book and Joshua's iPod during the ride.  They thought I was joking!  When they found I was serious (because we came all this way for them to SEE and EXPERIENCE this!), they were upset and couldn't believe I would do that.  Shelby was more graceful than Joshua in this.  He has recently entered puberty with all of it's moodiness, crabbiness, childish joy, and feelings right at the surface.  That is exhausting, lucky us.  We've talked about it, but he is still having trouble managing his strong emotions.  He and I have always been very close and we are often butting heads right now which makes me sad (though angry at the time).   He is tending to spend more time with Randy, though, which is good.  Like most married couples, our personalities are quite different and hopefully Randy's will be what he needs right now.  Or a combination of the two of us.  I look at Anneliese (who will be legally an adult next week) and keep telling myself we can get through this!  Anneliese can also be quite moody still, but we have figured out how to deal with it when it happens (basically just leaving her alone for awhile, then talking to her when she's back to normal). We're still working on that with Joshua.  Shelby is less moody; when she's extremely hormonal, she get giddy, but this is less common.  She is pretty even-keeled and goes with the flow.  We just have to keep on her about constantly texting her friends, especially her boyfriend, constantly whenever she has wifi.  Teenagers are lower-physical maintenance than infants and toddlers and you can reason with them when they're not hormonal, but are emotionally pretty high-maintenance.  I love my children more than I can ever say; traveling with them can be exhausting, though in other ways a great experience.   It is hard and takes a lot of planning, but we build a lot of family memories.  OK, I need to be a little less philosophical so that I can upload the photos and finish this!