Rosie's Ride - The Scottish Countryside

My first year of school turned out to be more intense than expected (I got A's!), so we didn't get outside Edinburgh to explore very much. We made it to Newcastle Upon Tyne, I did a conference in Glasgow, and Stan made it to Fife and Falkirk, but that was about it. Our friends Rosie and Dick generously decided to do something about that.
     Of course, their free weekend was the weekend of my Picture Hooks workshop (more on that soon), so Rosie decided to take us on a weekday outing herself. Here is our gracious hostess behind the wheel: We had no idea where she was planning to take us - it was a surprise as it unfolded. But here is the route as it ended up (click the image to see it larger in a new window):We went west out of Edinburgh towards Falkirk. We passed The Kelpies which tower over the main road, although I didn't grab my phone in time to snap a pic. Phone now out, we continued along A84 into The Trossachs National Park, through Callander, Strathyre, with a left turn at Balquhidder. That took us down a country road along Loch Voil - my first big Loch (!!) -and the road to Mhor.We never would have found this place on our own. It was truly way, way out of the beautiful way. Rosie made reservations for lunch at the lovely restaurant there. We arrived a bit early so sat outside and enjoyed the view before lunch. It was such a perfectly gorgeous day, we wandered the grounds. They were lovely too.

See the dog sleeping in the sun? That's Tinker. Tinker became my bud after a happy belly rub. The other one pretty much never moved. And lunch? Lunch was so good, some people arrived by helicopter to enjoy it.Yes, it was amazing and we were so grateful to Rosie and the beautiful weather. Scotland is truly gorgeous and we got to see some of it in its best light!
The ride home was also picture-worthy, but in a different way. Coming soon...