Almost home

After the movies but before leaving Michigan, two nights ago I headed out to the peninsula that juts out from Dad's hometown to visit our friends the Leggetts. Although I arrived in my pajamas, I quickly stripped down to my Bum Genius and had a ball in their sandbox ...

... and scooting around their yard with Lucy as my chaffeur of her battery-powered truck (thanks to Hattie for letting me don her duds for an hour)!

Yesterday we packed up our belongings and headed to our new home state ... and I, having gone the previous week with only rare nighttime and even rarer daytime ZZZ's, finally crashed along the way and didn't wake up until we were well into the UP many hours later.

Our travels took us to GMO's and GDO's Northwoods hideaway where this morning Mom and Dad left me for the week to play around with GMO while they headed south with GDO to buy and then start moving into our new house! My summer of foreign beds is almost over!

Land of trolls: the hunt for One-Eye'd Willie edition

Just as last year, we're in Dad's hometown for the annual gathering of movie lovers. We landed here after our long flight home from Scotland and I've been busy catching up on sleep (sort of) and playing with cousins while Mom and Dad watch a lot of movies.

Tonight it was my turn, too - we were a few of the thousands who all headed downtown ...

... and over to the Open Space for the night's free outoor movie - Goonies.

Scotland sayonara

After a good night's sleep we hit the streets of Edinburgh and found a great play park in the shadows of the castle ... and after a bit of pleading ...

... Mom and Dad let me go for a spin on the horses ...

... although I wasn't content with only one ride!

We spent the rest of our final day in Scotland cruising the streets to check out the fancy buildings and churches and shops ...

... before taking a final trek down the Royal Mile and saying goodbye to Edinburgh.

Scottish tour finale

Our time in Fife came to a close as we packed up and left our b&b on the outskirts of St. Andrews in the rain and drove west to check out the historic castle in the city of Sterling ... but the ever-present rain was a bit too heavy to see much else in the city.

We escaped the downpours by heading south to the small town of Roslin and its famous chapel only to find the chapel hidden behind a restoration effort ...

... so instead of heading inside we bipedal'd around the outer wall to get a few glimpses of the church whose recent surge in popularity (thanks to the Da Vinci code) seems to be putting Roslin's crowd-control ability to the test.

Soonafter, we finally arrived at our final destination of Edinburgh and had a hard time taking a pic that didn't have a big fancy building in the background.

Scottish sun

Not one drop of rain today! Not quite sure what to do with blue skies and no threat of rain, we spent the morning checking out the St. Andrews cathedral ruins ...

... before heading next door to the St. Andrews castle ruins (the rest of the city seems built a little more sturdy than these two places).

Deciding I needed to nap, we headed on a brief road trip down the coast just as yesterday, stopping in Pittenweem ...

... Crail (the same harbor as yesterday, but in low tide) ...

... Anstruther ...

... St. Monans ...

... a fun beach in Elie that was quickly devoured by the tide ...

... before making it back to St. Andrews for a picnic dinner at the harbor and a final photo on the 18th hole of the Old Course.