Another smoke free day. I don't talk about the no smoking much anymore. I like to keep my mind off of that fact since it has become easier with the passage of time. I try to stay busy and keep my mind and hands occupied because the thoughts that do hit are hard and intense, but thankfully infrequent now. That does help a lot. Almost to day 50! Had a nice lovely blog all typed out, then my computer froze and I had to restart and lost the whole darn thing 
So I cleaned tons of crap off of the computer. Then came back to blog again.
TL:DR- Some of my family is originally from Scotland way back in the day. The another part of me is German. Now you can skip to the pics 
So a few years ago, I got the opportunity to take my ultimate dream vacation, a road trip through Scotland. A line of my family is originally from Scotland, sent to North Carolina after the second Jacobite Rebellion in 1745. They were Jacobites, sentenced to transportation (aka deportation) rather than execution as many Scots were. Aren't I glad? My, I believe, 6th great-grandfather Henry Moir was a physician from Fife. He and his brother, a minister, was convicted of being Jacobites and were sent to the colonies landing in North Carolina as many of the Scottish immigrants did. Henry went toward the mountains and his brother ended up near the coast. He and his wife had a daughter, Susannah (wonder where I get my name from??) and she married my 5th great-grandfather Jacob, a German boy of an immigrant family that had immigrated to Pennsylvania then moved southward. The rest is history and here I am. I am a big genealogy buff. Hope I got all that right. Trying to do it from memory. I also have a family line that goes back to the MacDonalds of Skye, but that one has been harder to trace. I want to visit Germany and the Alsace-Lorraine region between France and Germany. I have several family lines from Germany especially the Alsace region. Enough family history, on to photos!
Have been going through some of my pictures trying to find the most beautimous (yes that is a word. A Susan word) ones. They are all special to me. So hard to pick. I decided on the Isle of Skye today. Skye is one of my favorite places in Scotland. Very peaceful and still very rugged and unspoiled. I didn't have time to go to the Fairy Pools or Dunvegan but they are on my list if I ever make it back to Skye. I only had one full day on Skye as I had just kind of penciled it in last minute between Stirling and Inverness. Just a little side trip. Glad I didn't miss it.
Enjoy!
The bridge that takes you onto Skye. For a long time the only way to reach Skye was by ferry. This is the only bridge leading to Skye and there are still ferries available to get to different parts of the island.
No picture could ever do the mountains and ranges justice. They are massive and huge and totally breathtaking all at the same time. This was some (basalt I believe) cliffs at the northern end of the island.
The Quiraing lies on the eastern side of Skye on the Trotternish Ridge. It is a very popular hiking destination and features the Old Man of Storr which is actually in this picture, but I couldn't get a good angle from where I was to be able to isolate it. I didn't hike that day as it was cold, windy and rainy. Beautiful area of basalt formations.
One of my most beloved pictures. I even had it reprinted on a canvas and it hangs in my home office. This is Kilt Rock (in the distance) and Mealt Falls (in the foreground). The sound from the falls sounds like you are standing beside a train. There were several people at the overlook that has a chainlink fence barrier around it. There was a man from Oman who wanted to take a picture so badly but he was terrified of heights to the point he was almost in tears. Bless him. I held his hand while he got a snap. My good deed for the trip. Then the small group that was there stood and cheered for him and laughed with him. It was great and one of my most memorable time on this trip
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Our last stop on Skye ends in Portree. I stayed in a small B&B above the bay with a gorgeous view from the parking lot. Sadly I was on the back side of the building so I didn't get an awesome room view.
The coloring of the sky in these pictures was magnificent timing on my part. I had forgotten something in the car so I went to get it. Thankfully I had my phone because the sky was absolutely stunning and didn't last long. One of these days I think I am going to repaint one of these photos. Just the use of so many colors in the sky makes me want to paint it.
I hoped you enjoyed our brief journey through Skye. Although I took tons of photos these are my favorites from the Isle. Now I must decide where we are going tomorrow!
Have a great evening,
Susan 
