We had a couple of mishaps on our way back to Inverness–nothing bad, though, so dinna fash! The first one happened when the tour bus hit a rough spot in the road and several belongings which had been stored overhead fell out of the shelves and onto the passengers. Everyone scrambled to grab their things, and all seemed well. I clutched my gray crossbody travel bag, which I had on my lap.

It wasn’t until I unzipped the bag to retrieve something when I realized it wasn’t mine! Mine was still looped around my shoulder under my raincoat! The bag I had been holding belonged to the young man sitting in front of us, and had fallen with his other things earlier! It was exactly like mine, maybe a bit bigger. I said, “This isn’t my bag!” I tapped the young man seated in front of us, and said, “Is this yours?” He laughed and took it as I told him my bag was very similar and showed him where it was under my jacket. We had a good laugh over that.

Then, before we arrived in Inverness, a huge bird flew in front of the bus, almost colliding with the windshield. I caught a glimpse of its tail feathers and hurriedly Googled it on my phone. It had to be a golden eagle, the unofficial national bird of Scotland! I asked the driver about it when we stopped, and he said he didn’t know what it was, only that he was glad he missed hitting it!

When we got back to Inverness, we decided to hit a corner grocery store called Co-op to grab some things to take back to the hotel for dinner. Trisha was still so cold and uncomfortable she wasn’t able to shop, so we hiked the three or so blocks back to the parking garage and encountered a teenaged girl in the lobby who asked to use our phone because hers was out of battery (as she said it). I didn’t understand her at first, but Trisha did, and she said no. We punched the button at the elevator for our floor as the girl explained that she needed to call her mother to pick her up. Before we entered the elevator, some friends of hers entered the lobby and she told them that she had asked these old women to use their phone but they wouldn’t let her, but she inserted some rather colorful language. I was glad to get into the elevator and see the doors close. Apparently, those kids were up to something, and it wasn’t good. I guess we looked like easy targets. She didn’t realize she was talking to a couple of seasoned schoolteachers who’d heard every scheme a kid can cook up!

We had an interesting time getting out of the garage. When I finally found the exit, we couldn’t leave because we hadn’t paid. The sign indicated that we had to pay at a kiosk on the ground floor, so I maneuvered the car back down, looking for kiosks. It wasn’t an easy task, since one of the ramps was very narrow! But I finally made it to the ground floor and we spotted the kiosks we hadn’t noticed before. I pulled into an empty space, and Trisha hopped out to pay. Then we were finally able to leave the garage. I’m not sure how we would have seen the kiosks before, because we entered the elevator in the lobby and the kiosks were in the garage part. No, Dorothy, we weren’t in Kansas anymore!

Of course, driving back to the hotel was an adventure. Neither one of us, in our weariness, were operating at maximum capacity. I missed my exit in a roundabout (imagine that!), but it was a happy accident because we ended up on a street with a Tesco (similar to a Walmart). Trisha was feeling better so we went inside and gathered goodies for a hotel room feast. We were starving!

Two kinds of soft cheese on sourdough bread, grapes, water, and fudge never tasted so good. If you haven’t tasted Mrs. Tilly’s fudge, it’s worth a trip to Scotland just for that! With full bellies we went to bed happy, ready for the next adventure.

Stay tuned for Loch Ness, Jacobite Cruises, the couple from North Carolina, and the Rosslyn Chapel. Haste ye back…

XOXO