Graduation Trip Extravaganza

After being in Houston for about a month and a half, I was back in the air and traveling with my family back to the UK for my graduation ceremony.  We decided to make a nice holiday out of it, and so eight of us (yup, 8... Grandparents, Mom, Roland, Uncle Bret, Stacey and Kelley and me) took off and spent almost three weeks traveling Scotland and Ireland.  A week in the Scottish Highlands, a week working our way all around Ireland with the world's greatest tour guide, Eamon, and then back to St Andrews for some fun party nights and a graduation ceremony full of traditions and colorful robes.  I wish I could show you all that we saw, or talk about every place we went, but there is just too much.  Here is a collection of some of the highlights.  I cannot encourage anyone that wants to travel to get out there and go.  Outside airfare, there are so many options for saving money and having a great time, and the sights and memories are worth so much more.

Changing planes in London

Family portrait in Glencoe

How cute is this mother/daughter duo?

Mom, Roland, and the world's largest bottle of Scotch

Our hotel in the Highlands

Moving across to the other island, we have Ireland:

Trinity College Library

Guinness Factory

Exactly

When you get a free pint at the rooftop bar and you are in a large group

 

Mother/Daughter... matching tops, neither really drank any, but too cute not to photograph

Panoramic of Dublin 

Kilkenny castle

 

How cute is the family?

How our day started at the Cliffs of Moher

By the time we left the fog had rolled back out

Even on a grey day in winter, they were still beautiful

 

A view of County Sligo, where Grandpa's family is from

 

Sibling cheese

 

Grandma at Blarney Castle

The view from where you hang off to kiss the Blarney stone

So happy that Mom was able to climb up and kiss the Blarney Stone... her knee surgery has been a huge blessing

View from the top of the Blarney Castle

Borrowed from Stacey... but here is our Ireland guide Eamon... this man was incredible!

 Back to Scotland to round out the trip

Grandpa on the green outside the Royal and Ancient Golf Club

Uncle Bret at the Royal and Ancient

Grandpa, Mom, Me and Bret on THE bridge

St Andrews' town cat has his own statue

Grandparents and William Wallace outside the Edinburgh Castle

Our last night in Edinburgh before coming back to the States was spent at the Christmas market