One of Alex's favorite days ever is April 11, 2004. He went to the Masters Tournament at Augusta for the first time and was spoiled with one of the most memorable days in Masters history. Since then, he set a goal to attend all 4 of the PGA majors. He's been to the Masters twice, PGA championship 3 times, and now, he's going to mark off The Open. But it couldn't just be any Open. He wanted to attend the 150th anniversary at St. Andrew's in 2021. Then Covid happened and it was postponed a year. Conveniently, 2022 is also our 20th Anniversary (and our bestie's 20th anniversary too!) which made for a perfect opportunity to celebrate our anniversary and attend The Open!
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| Celebrating 20 years with our besties! |
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| We drove to Chicago for a direct flight to Edinburgh. |
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| Literally only one seat open on the flight & it was next to me! Perfect for a long overnight flight. |
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| We left Chicago Saturday evening and watched Sunday dawning as we crossed the Atlantic. |
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| Edinburgh, Scotland |
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| We all packed rain jackets and were fully prepared for several rainy days on our trip. Being greeted to sunshine as we stepped out of the airport was a perfect indication of how amazing our trip was going to be! |
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| Meet Scarlett, our rental car for the trip! It took the guys a minute to figure out a modern stick-shift and adjust to driving on the other side of the road. The boys were also a little shocked when they spotted Brandel Chamblee (golf analyst) jumping in a taxi as we left the parking lot. |
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| We left the airport and drove 3 hours north to the Highlands! Our first castle spotting- Atholl Palace. |
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| We stopped for a quick lunch to eat on the way so we wouldn't be late for our tour. I love trying new snacks when we travel. The Crunchie bar was good! The center is honeycomb. |
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| Taking a tour of Loch Ness! |
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| Just a tad bit windy on the tour. |
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But the sunshine was amazing!
God blessed us with a beautiful 76° and clear skies!
Loch Ness is the largest body of fresh water in the UK.
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| A view of our hotel as we left on the tour. Our room was on the back side, small but newly renovated. |
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| We stopped for a visit at Urquhart Castle. |
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| Loch Ness was chilly! |
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| We had to get a picture with Nessie for Beilyn! |
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| As an Outlander fan, I was geeking out most of the day! This is Inverness and it's beautiful! I saw lots of signs with Fraser, MacKenzie, and more. After reading/seeing the show, my knowledge and interest in European history has definitely increased. I saw a sign for Ft. William and we went by Culloden! |
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| Traveled to Scotland and ordered Mediterranean food. :) |
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| Dinner on the rooftop at The Black Isle. |
A little tired, but we all handled the jet lag ok and loved our first day in Scotland!
