Not Your Average Gal

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Archives for November 2014

Edinburgh, Scotland: Part 4 – Arthur’s Seat & The Ghost Tour

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Last year, we traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland for a quick mini-moon after our wedding in Somerset, England. We spent 4 days exploring old castles, climbing rolling hills and of course, sharing some Scottish whiskey with friends. I want to keep each part of these Trip Reports as short and sweet (and maybe picture-filled) as I can, so you can easily pick out the major details.

This Part 4 in a series about our trip to Scotland.  Stay tuned for more.

Arthur's Seat

Edinburgh, Scotland –  Trip Report Index

Part 1 - Planning & Introduction

Part 2 - Flight & Accommodation

Part 3 - Edinburgh Castle & The Whiskey Tour

Part 4 – Arthur’s Seat & The Ghost Tour

Part 5 - St. Andrews, Castle Course

Part 6 - Conclusion

Arthur’s Seat

Arthur’s Seat (as in King Arthur, from King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table) is part of the large and gorgeous, Holyrood Park. Arthur’s Seat is often mentioned as one of the possible locations for Camelot. It’s less than a mile from Edinburgh Castle and you can just walk the Royal Mile to get there!

Arthur's Seat
You can buy “Nessi” hats on the Royal Mile

You’ll pass Parliament.

Then, Holyrood House (say hello to the Queen for me, she often stays there).

Holyrood Palace

And in no time you’ll be at the bottom of this beautiful extinct volcano.

Arthur's Seat

The first time my newbie-hubster and I tried the trek up Arthur’s Seat, we only made it a little over half-way up. Remember how friggin’ sick I was? Yeah, it’s sort of hard to breathe with no functioning nostrils when you’re hiking.

After we left and had a few pints of Guinness, I was feeling bummed we didn’t go all the way.

Huh, huh. Go all the way…

So when my friend, Phil (affectionately called Philbert) said he wanted to try it the next day, we were totally up for tackling it again. This guy has hiked the Inca Trail in Peru to Machu Picchu!

Soooooo, basically, they were waiting for my sick ass to catch up a lot.

IMG_1002

But we made it!

Arthur's Seat

It’s a really fun memory for me. I can’t tell you how much it fills my heart to travel and discover things with friends. This trek meant a lot.

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The Ghost Tour

Have I ever talked about how I don’t “do” haunted houses or haunted corn mazes or haunted…anything. I love scary movies, but “real life” experiences? NO THANKS. Edinburgh is known for it’s scary tales, haunted alleys and ghostly folklore.

So, what I’m trying to say is,  I have 1 picture of this tour. Mostly because I drank enough to make myself feel pretty okay to go on it (excellent coping skills, Caroline) and also because most of it is in the dark, underground, in freakin’ haunted vaults. Therefore, picture taking was not encouraged.

ghost tour edinburgh
Here’s my ghost hunter pal, Jill. She’s acting like she enjoys being scared.

 

What I can say is that I had a fun time. (Thanks, pints ofGuinness!) This is something you should definitely do with friends as it made the whole tour a lot more fun and full of immature giggles. (Thanks again, pints of Guinness!)

Caroline, Devorah, Philbert, Jill, Steve, Newbie-Hubster
Caroline, Devorah, Philbert, Jill, Steve, Newbie-Hubster

There are several ghost tours you can take in Edinburgh. I would recommend the Mercat Tours as that’s the one we did. But you honestly can’t go wrong with most of them.

Next up, perhaps my favorite part of the trip – Seeing my newbie-hubster play a round at St. Andrew’s.

Until next time, travel buds!

Sobertober Conclusion

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It’s November! Sobertober is over. I made it.

The hubster has a 30-hour shift on call today (and part of tomorrow), so to celebrate my achievement, I’m finishing off a box of wine while watching Lifetime alone.

Jokes.

By the time October ended, I forgot I hadn’t had a glass of wine in a month.

More jokes!

sobertober
That’s me at 12:05 am on November 1st

I had half a glass of wine and shortly after wanted to go home and sleep. I’M A WILD AND CRAZY-FUN TIME, KIDS.

I won’t lie, it was delicious. But, I also won’t lie that this month of not having alcohol has certainly made me revaluate my habits—the good and the bad.

The good

  • My skin has improved a bit. I’m usually the pinkish-red gal in photos. Blame my Scotch-Irish heritage, but it seems regardless of the foundation I use, I’m red. Full disclosure: I have a bit of Rosacea on one of my cheeks (yes, only one…) Not drinking has has taken that down enough for me to notice. Score!
  • I’ve banked 24 miles running the last 3 weeks of October alone. Not feeling like crap in the mornings helped me get my bum out of bed.

A pretty 5 miles this morning. #halfmarathontraining

A photo posted by Caroline (@carolinemadethis) on

  • In general, I feel healthier. This could be a mental thing, but hey, who ever said I wasn’t mental? (hey-o!)
  • That bill at the restaurant? Cut in half. Nooooo, we don’t order tons to drink…usually. Have you SEEN prices in South Florida? That martini I ordered is the same price as my tacos. Mmmmm…tacos.
  • That glass of wine or nice bit of whiskey after a long, stressed-filled day at work was freakin’ “too easy.” And I’m glad this month made me realize that. Initially, I distracted myself by diving into writing or just whipping up dinner. But quicker than I realized, I didn’t need that distraction. It just became a habit to not use my go-to liquid relaxation.
  • Those crazy ideas and inventions that I come up with and usually blame on alcohol? I still have them sober. Luck you guys!
  • Call me a control freak, but I enjoyed being in control of my schedule and not letting alcohol dictate it.

The bad

  • My bad ass alma mater, Michigan State, won a pretty big rivalry game and I wanted to make all Spartans proud by having horribly cheap beer to celebrate. It just felt so right. But, I didn’t.
sobertober
He was a good sport about the loss. GO GREEN!
  • The peer pressure is bad, you guys. I’m in my 30’s and you people have a knack for making it be “weird” to not drink. I survived though. Drinking water during happy hour also meant explaining I’m not pregnant without immediately wanting to flip the bird.
Sobertober
You can cherish portraits of Bill Murray at the bar while sober.
  • I broke a nasty habit of drinking diet soda a few years ago. It’s back as a replacement. Not as bad as it used to be, but the very last bottle of Diet Coke is in my fridge right now. Back to carbonated water for me.
  • I didn’t lose a pound. Shocking, right? Things fit better, but I wasn’t counting on any major weight loss anyway. It’s par for the course for me.

My takeaway

I think it’s a good reality check to rebalance some thing every once and a while. After a tapas and wine filled vacation to Spain and Portugal, I listened to my body and tried something I thought may help. I’m glad I did because it definitely brought some perspective. I’m going to integrate not reaching for a glass of wine just because I want one when I’m tired and stressed. I can go out with friends and not drink and still have a good time and laugh…especially at explaining that I’m not pregnant for the umpteenth time.

Being in control is a powerful thing. I like that.

I also like tapas and wine.

tapas

A fine balance is key.

What do you guys think? Is it something you would try for a month? How did my sober gals do this month?

Previous posts:

Sobertober

Sobertober Update