Lake Windermere...

As long as you're staying within an 8 iron of the lake, why not spend the day experiencing 4 boats, 1 castle, a 4 mile lakeside hiking trail and some amazing pubs (enjoyed by Charles Dickens) and pub food (winner of most pig food on a pizza) along the way. Praise the Lord for healthy enough hips and knees and a non rainy day to experience all this joy!

A Casual Cragwood House Morning

Just a few photos of our English "cottage"...

Perhaps the weather will hold out as we plan a few ferries around the lake with a short 4 mile shoreline walk.

Lochs to Lakes!

Time to head out of Scotland Lochs and into the Lakes District of England. We're staying on Windermere Lake, and before arriving at the Cragwood Country Estate, we stopped for lunch(and an amazing hot chocolate) and a quick visit to the "Decoy Bride" castle...ask my kids!)

No I in Team, no E in Whisky!

A Great afternoon experiencing a classic whisky, though still not up my alley. Great family time, nonetheless! And as is obvious? from the photo, Kevin may, or may not, have enjoyed the portion allocated for C.J.

Great values for any company...especially unpeated!

Each column reflects different oak barrels and each bottle an additional year of aging. American wood on the left, the best...European, on the right. The display is legit, determined scientifically after questioning their marketing executive(he might just have been our guide)...

This Is Us....Loch Lomond style!

Clouds breaking just a bit for our 35 minute ferry to one of the many islands...the lovely town of Luss.

Bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond...

Leaving Edinburgh this morning with the feeling that we saw so much in such a short time, we took the under 2 hour drive to the Oak Tree Inn on Loch Lomond.
Our lodging is water side and has a lot of Scottish charm!

Edinburgh Hop On Stay On., my speed!

A beautiful, partial sunny day greeted us this morning and throughout the sightseeing adventures. Double decker bus, great views, Sir Walter Scott and Adam Smith statues, Edinburgh castle on the hill..what more could you want?

Then it was time for dinner. I know Peggy and Caleb were up to something. Probably trying to get me eating Haggis(1st photo), but I stayed faithful to no internal organ eating(except foie gras)..and went for the crispy bangers and mash! Strong choice!

Connecting with Caleb...and other family members!

Shuttle to Frankfurt's main airport, then a bus to Ryan Air's airport about an hour and a half away, 4 hour wait, extra hour to board and a full hour to get through customs(no global entry benefit yet)..but through it all..look what awaited:

Nailed the opposite side driving, thankfully late Sunday night had pretty empty streets! Mama and Caleb needed a break after being a superstar on the flight..so Ben, Kevin mom and I hit the local pub....great times.

,

Dinner in Durkheim!

Saying goodbye after 10 days together is tough, only managed by great people, great food and white wine!

Since this is a shorter post, let me leave you with 2 local wine jokes:
1) What wine quantity does it take to get to the legal limit of .08 % blood alcohol? Three days of no drinking.
2) In the neighboring town three large glasses of wine makes you a drunk, in this village, three large glasses of wine makes you the designated driver!

A Great Day in Bad Durkheim!

The morning started with a great outdoor breakfast, where Peggy found out that my dad blessed Sam with my mom's car as a gift. A classic "face of Peg".

A circular walk around a walled city launched another Riesling wine tasting at a dear friend of Scott's...Kurt Wolf...

White Wine Capital of Germany...but we don't like white wine...

Scott and Jana, set up a great tour extension for 3 days in Bad Durkheim...where Scott wine-interned for 2 years. First evening we walked around an amazing salt producing building that gave the area its micro climate. The vineyards and parks were lovely as well.

Dinner was held at an outdoor weinstub...wine garden...and both our food and our hosts were amazing.

 Here's a collection of photos from the monastery ruins, the giant wine barrel restaurant(was built as a real barrel that could hold 1.7 million liters)...and the sign says, "there are more old drinkers than there are old doctors"...love it!

The tractor driven vineyard tour in the afternoon, and the final dinner to include a dark beer..finally, included almost 20 different wines to taste, and yes...almost all were white wines, with one or two pinots to add to the mix. It was super fun and even more beautiful traveling the vineyards by tractor pulled wagons. Scott's wine making brother, Rudolph, serenaded us with John Denver tunes!