Inverness – Scotland

Our next stop on our road-trip through Scotland was Inverness.We hadn’t really done much research about the the city before arriving – it was more a one night pit stop on our road trip. However, it turned out to be much more charming that I had imagined. Driving to Inverness was gorgeous… There were places to pull over on the side of the road everywhere and we took advantage of it! We had planned to stop at the Eilean Donan castle and I am so glad we did! It is a gorgeous castle that sits on a lake with a beautiful stone bridge leading to it gates.

I am often swept up in the romantic notion that every castle should come with an epic love story. However, here that was not the case….

Over the centuries the castle changed in size and occupancy. For much of 200 years the castle lay in ruins and was abandoned until Lt Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap bought the island in 1911 and spent a good 20 years restoring the castle to its full glory!

The remaining portion of the drive was along Loch Ness – we kept an eye out, but saw no monster! They really play up the lore for the Loch Ness monster!

Once we got to Inverness we found a place to park in the city, bundled up since it was pouring and hit the streets to wander around for a bit until we were able to check into our hostel.

We stumbled upon So CoCo – a wonderful coffee and chocolate shop. I had an americano and dark chocolate covered orange peels. I am a sucker for anything chocolate and love a nice hot cup of joe on a cold stormy day. We sat on some comfy couches and chatted for a bit to get out of the rain. A big focus of this trip was to visit coffee shops – Julia and Ernest have plans to open their own coffee shop in Denver and they were getting inspiration from many European shops. While we sat in So CoCo we listened as they talked to us a little more about some ideas they have been coming up with. I love listening to the dreams of others! They are both visionary people with a beautiful dream for their shop that is community focused. It’s an amazing process to witness! CLICK HERE to read more about the numerous coffee shops they explored in the UK during our travels.

While this trip was very much about travel and exploring – to me it is also about bonding and growing friendships through a shared love of adventure. I am very blessed by the friendship that Julia and I have cultivated in the past months and spending this time together as married couples has been both fruitful and interesting. We have had many #marriedlife moments!! It’s great traveling with another like-minded young couple!

Since it was so rainy we decided to head to our guesthouse early and relax, but of course on our walk back we stopped a few times! I LOVE all of the pink trees!!

We had gotten sandwich stuff earlier that day at a market and gathered around the heater in the common room of the house to have a ‘picnic’! Great friends and good conversation is one life’s greatest blessings and I thankful to have such a rich source.

Here are some iPhone shots…

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I apologize for my lack of blogging this month – It has been quite an interesting task catching up on work with wedding season in full swing after returning. However, I will be blogging much more consistently! Stay tuned next Tuesday for the next post of our travel adventure!