Scotland Trip: Days 3-5

Friday, July 10
So Friday we finally had clothing and David's parents decided to take us to the shopping malls in Clydebank and Braehead. Not very unlike our American malls. We were looking to buy a few things for ourselves and start our gift shopping to bring back requests. We wanted to deposit our money into David's account but the exchange rate is horrible! We have close to $930 out and would've barely got £550 from it! We decided to wait and use some of the money we'd been given upon arriving. I was able to try a sausage roll, which were very nice!

We didn't eat much because we were having dinner with David's sister Eileen and her fiancé Paul. We had nice sausage suppers at Eileen's and rather enjoyed the company! I even tried Black Pudding...not as terrible as I expected, but not something I think I'd eat again haha. We played with their rabbit who was the sweetest thing! We got home around 11 and crashed.

This is a sausage supper. It's basically a deep fried sausage (well 2 of them) and then chips. David has cheese on his chips. This is pretty much a heart attack on a plate!

Saturday, July 11
We have been bragging about David's ability to cook and promised to cook a few meals while we're here to help out. We went down to a grocery store in Bearsden called Asda which I've been told is the UK equivalent of Walmart. We decided not to worry about the conversion rate because it was killing us to convert in our heads (it just seemed like a rip off haha), we decided just to look at things in pounds. Shockingly we weren't able to find Alfredo sauce and I was able to get a very very tiny jar of salsa - I've been ridiculously craving chips and salsa.

Of all the pictures, the corn. David loves corn, but you can't get it in anything but a package here in the UK. this corn comes from Spain.

Later that night David went out with his friends and I stayed in with Eileen and Linda. Poor Eileen is coming up on her wedding and she's had a nasty head cold. We sent her home early and then I hung out with Linda and Sam. We rather enjoyed ourselves and it was a great night. I was so happy for David to get to go out with his friends he hasn't seen in years!!

Sunday, July 12
Originally we weren't going to do anything today, but we got to the better of ourselves and decided to go to Callander to get some of our souvenirs out of the way. We took quite the scenic route around Loch Lomond and it was absolutely beautiful! Loch Lomond is the largest natural loch in Scotland. Everyone was out water skiing and boating - it was a great day!

We got to Callander and found it was rather quiet that day - apparently unusual for a Sunday. We wandered the shops and bought some yummy baked goods and had ice cream on our way out. The buildings were amazing! It was a very picturesque little town and reminded me actually a lot of Park City's Old Town. We were able to find most of the things on our list and headed home.

On the way we stopped and visited David's grandmother who was very welcoming! Because of how late we got home, we decided to stop for Chinese food for dinner...and I had Chinese food with chips...rather an interesting mix, but very good! It was an early night for all of us and we're excited for this upcoming week - we're planning a trip to Edinburgh and then we have the Highland Games on Saturday at Loch Lomond.

The beautiful view with Loch Lomond and the "mountains" in the background (for the record, I would probably actually consider these mountains...they're massive)

You can see the little tree starters at the bottom of this photo. For as much as they farm lumber, they do an amazing job at replacing the trees - and they seem to grow immediately!

This is an old rail line, it's so fascinating to see all of these things.

At times the scenery reminded me of the Pacific Northwest!

As I was taking a photo of this car, David jokingly said, "You need to ask the owner's permission first." I rolled my eyes at him and was like no I'll be fine. No sooner had I replied did the owner walk up and say, "You gonna pay me for those photos?" the timing was epic! The is a beautiful fix up! He had put so much work into it!

Walking the streets of Callander.

Just down this road is the cemetery. i was disappointed we couldn't stop to take pictures - it was amazing! But Sam jokingly said, "The cemetery is the dead center of the city". It took David some time to catch on haha.

There are a TON of sheep here!