Loch Lomond National Park, Scotland

Yesterday was such a busy day so we all slept in today until about 9:30 - it was really nice! 

We had a small breakfast, just a piece of toast with butter and tea. And headed off for Loch Lomond National Park.

I asked Laura what exactly loch means and she said from her understanding that a loch is a lake, but a lake is man made and a loch is natural. 

It was about an hour drive from Strathaven. It is just North of Glasgow. 

Once we got into Loch Lomond park area we stopped at Duck Bay Marina and got tea and chocolate cake and ice cream. Kevin got a sandwich. There was a restaurant there but Laura said it was "very posh" meaning fancy and expensive, kind of country club like. It cost £20 just for the cake , tea, ice cream and sandwich, oh and a beer :) 

The view was breathtaking!!!!! We watched a seaplane take off and land. 

After Duck Bay we stopped into a small village (in the Loch Lomond park and on the Loch) called Luss.

We parked the car and were able to walk the main part of the village that's how small it is. 

We walked down to the water and it was so crystal clear. It's fresh water and the smell down by the loch is refreshing, the air is crisp and lovely. The weather was beautiful today. It was sunny blue skies and warm in the sun and slightly cool in the shade. 

Then we walked up to the small church and through the cemetery. 

We then made the small loop through the village and walked down to the glebe- basically a stream- it is pronounced "gleeb"

We skipped a few stones and put our feet in the water. It felt like springs in Florida, temperature wise. 

Kevin found a heart shaped rock in the glebe :) 

This is a Celtic cross that was a short walk up a path just past the glebe in Luss. 

Next we went to have lunch at the Lodge at Loch Lomond and we sat out on the deck. We shared appetizers and entrees so that we could taste a bit of everything. For appetizers we got Stovies (it was AMAZING)- which is meat and potatoes - and the other appetizer was smoked salmon. Kevin had a whiskey. The pour here is 25 mL, not quite an ounce. After dinner he got Macallan 18 year old Scotch which would cost about 25 bucks for about the pour Kevin got. It only cost £4.50 here. He was so excited. :) I tried a beer called Desperado imported from the Netherlands. Laura recommended it. For lunch we had fish and chips- battered haddock, and steak and mushroom pie. Both were DELICIOUS!!! Our bill total with everything was £56. Tipping is not mandatory but it is nice. Laura said only tip at restaurants and bars (sometimes taxis, sometimes beauticians) and only 10%. Again it's not necessary but it has become something they do to be nice. 

After lunch we went up to a whiskey bar. Because if you haven't noticed from the previous posts Kevin's drink of choice is whiskey. This whiskey bar has 200 different types of whiskey so Kevin tried 2 kinds of whiskey that you can't get in the states. 

I had a raspberry daiquiri which was raspberry purée , fresh raspberries and chambord. At the whiskey bar there was a huge German Shepherd that was 118 lbs. His tiny owner loved him very much and she fed him biscuits and had him do tricks so I could get a good picture. :) 

On the way home we stopped at the mall because I was curious what it looked liked and I wanted to get a few more pairs of leggings from Primark. They are so comfortable! 

After the mall we stopped into a place called Braehead Xscape- it's an indoor ski slope, we watched them ski for a bit. I thought it was a tourist attraction but Laura said it isn't. It's a local thing. Laura and Kevin played pool.

We stopped at the grocery store on the way home to get a few things because tomorrow morning Laura is making a Scottish fry up for breakfast and she needed to pick up a few things. There grocery store is really cute, here's a picture. 

Once we got home it was about 10pm and we had a fire on the front porch. It is pretty cold out tonight. I'm only warm by the fire in fleece pants and a jacket. It's cloudy out and I can't see any stars unfortunately. 

Side story* in Scotland they call rednecks or white trash "neds" it stands for non-educated delinquents. I thought that was funny and I wanted to share :)