Miss Nessie

We drove up towards the highlands and hit Loch Ness. We weren't planning on going up there but I'm glad we did. Despite the shops around the lake that are loaded with "nessie" gear, the area is quite charming and peaceful. Its a big, deep and very dark lake with forests on both sides and wheat fields on the ends. We found a hike that followed a military road up through the trees. It was nice but kind of weird. All of the pine tree forests that I've seen are all planted for harvesting. I could definitely tell that forest wasn't natural. The parts of the country side that aren't used for grazing and wheat fields are covered with a very unnatural looking forest. The trees are planted in neat rows and they harvest them in perfect squares and then they plant new ones. I wonder how long the soil will be able to support that... It's completely gorgeous, but a tiny bit of me is sad about it.
I got off track with that. Point of the story: we did a hike and I GOT A TICK! What is it with me and parasites in foreign countries? It was on my stomach... gross. Hopefully thats the only one.
We saw some Pictish stones that I was really excited to see. I was expecting this huge site will heaps of different rock formations and carvings. I guess after driving all day to see something your expectations get a bit skewed. There were 4 carved stone formations (from 700 AD!) in the rainy country side of Angus (where Angus beef comes from). It was pretty neat but probably not worth driving 4 hours to see.
We're in Edinburgh now and leaving for Dubin tomorrow morning. Apparently my dad NEEDED to do some laundry, so shortly after finding a hotel near the airport we went on a mad goose chase to find a "landrette" of which (as we later found out) are rare in the city. We finally found a dry cleaner who, we thought, could point us in the right direction. We started chatting with the lady who was more than friendly and in the end she not only helped us find our way back into the city but also told us she would do our laundry and drop it off at our hotel when she was done! And on top of that she didn't want us to pay her! My dad forced 20 pounds on her in the end. People are so incredibly friendly here. Always interested in where we're from, where were going and where we've been.
I just spoke with Jackie a bit ago. She's decided to come to Europe. She wants to meet in London and travel from there. She also wants to stay for 3 weeks. Its going to be fun.