St. Andrews

Ever since Jordan started golfing a few years ago, he has wanted to golf at the famous Old Course in St. Andrews. Not only is this course said to be Tiger Woods' favorite course, it is also the first golf course EVER... literally, where golf started! 

My Mom drew Jordan's name for our family Christmas drawing this year, and she helped make this dream come true for him by getting us an amazing bed & breakfast right by the course and covering his club rentals and green fee for the course. The only tricky part was that Jordan had to get up really early in the morning (he was out the door by 4:45am!) to try and get his name on the list to be added to a group of golfers, and there were no guarantees that he'd even get to golf at all. It was Easter weekend, and we were told the chances were slim...

He was so anxious to get to golf the course, but we were both pretty nervous he wouldn't make it on. Can you imagine...? That would be like staring at the best chocolate cake in the world and not getting to eat it!

I wandered down to the course around 8:15 that morning to keep him company in case he was still waiting in line. I thought I saw him sitting on one of the benches, and my heart sank as I prepared my encouraging speech to convince him he'd get to play the next day. The closer I got, I realized it wasn't him... I finally reached the booth where the golfers check in, and I asked the guy behind the counter if he knew whether or not Jordan got on. He gave me the great news and told me he had teed off with a group about a half hour earlier!!! I don't know where the reaction came from, but I immediately got all choked up and could hardly talk. I'm not the most emotional person, but when I am it is usually in awkward, unexpected situations. You can only imagine the look I got from the guy behind the counter, followed by a confused, "Uh... are you okay?" I was just so excited for Jordan that he was getting to fulfill one of his biggest dreams...

HE GOT TO PLAY THE OLD COURSE AT ST. ANDREWS!!!

The course runs right between the ocean and the city of St. Andrews, so I was able to meet up with Jord at the 17th hole and get some pictures. Here are the guys he played with, one of whom happened to be an ex-caddy of the course!

One of the most recognizable and famous parts of the Old Course is this bridge leading to the 18th hole, called the Swilcan Bridge. It is completely authentic from when the golf course was created hundreds of years ago!

It was so neat to be able to watch Jordan golf the last couple holes of the course. He actually shot one of the best games of his life!

Like I said, the course runs through the city, and there is even a pedestrian crossing right in the middle of the fairway of the 18th hole! Okay, I'm not quite sure if "fairway" is the right term, but you know what I mean... I haven't brushed up on my golf glossary lately! :)

Shaking hands with his fellow golfers after the game...

Jordan posing at the famous 18th hole -- look for Tiger Woods here at the British Open in 2010!

One of the caddies was nice enough to take our picture in front of the club house right by the 18th hole. This was the first club house in golf's history, and is still very authentic and traditional -- case and point, they still only allow men inside! Don't even get me started...

Since Jordan was able to play the course so early, we had the rest of the weekend to RELAX and enjoy St. Andrews, which was so wonderful. St. Andrews is a mix between three things: 1) a ritzy golf town, 2) a cute beach town, and 3) a total college town (Prince William actually went to college in St. Andrews!) 

We did a lot of wandering, which didn't take too long because the town really isn't that big. :) There were some really neat cathedral and castle ruins right near the water in St. Andrews.

I love this picture of Jordan looking out over the water.

The castle ruins are right on the point next to the water. For some reason, Jordan and I both felt like this castle seemed more historical than the ones we've seen that are completely refurbished. It's as if the history was simply left intact rather than all cleaned up for the public.

Like I said, one identity of St. Andrews: cute beach town!

Even though it was still a little chilly, we had gorgeous, sunny weather all weekend. The beach at St. Andrews kind of reminded me of the Oregon coast.

Every Sunday the Old Course is closed for golf but open to the public to walk the course. Yep, you guessed it, that's exactly what we did! :) It was fun to get the play-by-play of Jordan's golf round and to see the course in its entirety. 

Here is Jord on the Swilcan Bridge with the 18th hole and the club house in the background.

Last but not least, here is Jordan in "the bunker of death," as he likes to call it. :) There are bunkers like this all throughout the course, but this was the one that gave him a little trouble on the 17th hole.

St. Andrews is definitely a place we could see ourselves returning to in the future -- they actually have packages where you can golf all seven of the courses in the city (yes, I did say seven!) And I also heard they have some great spas... :)

To see all of our pictures from St. Andrews, click here. 

Thanks again, Mom, for making this dream a reality for Jordan, and for giving us a fun and relaxing weekend in beautiful St. Andrews!

P.S. Most of you might not know this about my Dad, but he is a walking Encyclopedia. In my last post about Edinburgh, I mentioned how all the buildings looked charred and blackened, but I wasn't sure why... well, he sent me an email this morning with the answer! This is what it said: 

"Hi Whit, Just was reading your blog and you made a comment about some of the older buildings being black. When we were in London 20 years ago, there was a massive clean up effort on the older buildings that were black as you described. They got that way from the days when everyone used coal for heat and the soot turned the buildings black. Shades of Mary Poppins." 

This is only one of the many reasons I love my Dad -- he knows the answers to everything! :)

Edinburgh

We flew straight from Dublin to Edinburgh, which is the capital of Scotland, and I have to say, both Jordan and I were pleasantly surprised. If you would have asked me a month ago, I would have thought I would have liked Ireland much more than Scotland, but it turned out the opposite!

Edinburgh is such a majestic city with so much character. The Edinburgh Castle sits on top of a big hill overlooking the entire city. Actually, it's almost as if there are two cities in one because the castle and all of the older, more historical-looking buildings and shops are up on the hill (which is called "The Royal Mile"), and then down below in the valley are the more modern buildings and shops that make up the city.

This is up near the castle where the Royal Mile actually begins. It is a full mile from the top to the bottom, hence the name. :)

The first thing we did when we got to Edinburgh was tour the castle. Out of all the castles we've seen so far, I think this one takes the cake, hands down! 

Here are a few shots from inside the castle walls...

Did I mention that the castle overlooks all of Edinburgh?! :) It is absolutely beautiful from up there, and as you can see, we had a gorgeous day!

Not only was it neat to see the castle itself, but there was loads of history about Scotland inside as well. Everything from Mary Queen of Scots, to the Crown Jewels of Scotland, to old war weapons...

A few reoccurring themes we continued to find in Scotland included: Scotch Whisky, West Highland Terriers (which is the same breed that our dog, Maggie, is!), a lot of kilts and bagpipes, and an undeniable pride in their national hero, William Wallace (aka: "Braveheart"). 

Yeah, apparently Braveheart and I are friends. Try not to be too jealous... :)

Here is a view of the "lower" part of the city of Edinburgh. The older buildings all had a gothic look to them, and they all looked charred or blackened, for lack of better words. We never found out what this was caused by, but it gave them a very historical and ancient look.

I simply could not get over how amazing the Edinburgh Castle was. It is literally built into the mountain -- not kidding, it goes right from rock to the castle walls. Things like this and how they were possibly built actually hurt my brain to think about, so I prefer not to!

Here is a view looking up at the castle from a park down below.

Looking down into the city from a hillside near the Edinburgh Castle...

This is one of the main cathedrals in Edinburgh up on the Royal Mile, called St. Giles' Cathedral. The architecture is completely unique and absolutely stunning.

Our favorite thing to do while we were in Edinburgh was to grab a warm drink from Starbucks and just walk up and down the Royal Mile looking at different shops and sites. Let me tell you though, it was much more fun walking down than it was walking back up!

One of the days we were in Edinburgh, we decided to take a day tour to see Stirling Castle and Loch Lomond ("loch" means "lake" in Scotland). The lake was a little disappointing, but getting to see the Scottish Highlands and countryside on the way was so worth it! Our driver pulled over on one of the back roads, and we were able to get up close to these Scottish Highland Cows!

I love them! It's almost as if they are so ugly that they're cute!! :)

We finally arrived at Stirling Castle, which was definitely worth the trip. The castle was kind of similar to the Edinburgh Castle since it was built up on a hill overlooking the whole countryside. William Wallace actually fought here to defend the castle, so it was neat to see all that Scottish history.

Either Scottish people back in the day were short, or I am HUGE!! I'm hoping they were short...

I love this picture of Jordan looking out over the castle walls into the countryside. 

I fell in love with this tree that was inside the castle walls in one of the gardens. 

On our last day in Edinburgh, we decided to hike up one of the main hillsides at the end of the Royal Mile overlooking the whole city. It was such a magnificent view!

All in all, we LOVED Edinburgh! To see all of our pictures from Edinburgh, click here.

Ireland

It's hard to believe that we left for Dublin a little over three weeks ago to mark the beginning of our two-week spring break! 

Dublin was one of the most surprising cities to us, in both positive and negative ways. I think we both expected more of a historical atmosphere, but we actually found more of a modern, everyday city. Although Dublin is Ireland's biggest city, it really is not as big as you'd think. It's interesting because you can walk 10 minutes outside the city center and find more of a "small town" vibe -- like this cute alleyway we walked by with laundry hanging out to dry.

Our first major stop in Dublin was the Guinness Storehouse, which I'm pretty sure is the main brewery for Guinness in the world. They have made it into a total tourist destination where you can walk through and see how Guinness is made... and of course you can taste-test different beers. :) 

Neither Jordan or I are big fans of Guinness (to put it bluntly, we both think it's gross), but it was actually a really neat experience to find out step-by-step how their beer is made. At the very end of the tour, you end up in a circular bar made of solid windows overlooking the entire city of Dublin.

The Irish take a lot of pride in their Guinness, especially since it was founded in Dublin! And no, don't worry, these are not our empty glasses. :) 

As we were walking away from the Storehouse, we turned around and saw this view and had to laugh. Please tell me you see the irony...?!

Next we visited the historical jail in Dublin, called the Kilmainham Gaol. Good luck with that pronunciation! Again, like the Guinness Storehouse, this wasn't something I was that excited about going into it, but it turned out to be absolutely fascinating. This jail is hundreds of years old and played a big role in Ireland's revolution by holding prisoners who later became major leaders there. This is a picture of one of the old wings of the jail.

This is the "new wing" of the jail, which totally reminded me of the jail in the movie The Shawshank Redemption. I know it sounds a little creepy, but it was so interesting walking through this jail and learning about the conditions the prisoners lived in here.

The next day we went on a full-day tour to see the famous Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are actually on the opposite side of Ireland from where we were, so it took us literally all day to get there and back. We had a great recommendation from Theresa Donovan McCollum for this tour, and it was definitely worth every penny... thanks, Theresa! :)

We made a pit stop before arriving at the Cliffs of Moher to walk around this huge rock shoreline that used to be covered by the ocean before the tectonic plates split. Or something like that...

This was our transportation for the trip! The tour we took was through Paddywagon Tours, which was a great way to see a good chunk of Ireland.

We finally arrived at the Cliffs of Moher, and we were absolutely blown away. I wish my pictures did them justice -- they are breathtaking and so massive! At the tallest point they are 750 feet tall. 

There is a castle on one of the main points of the cliff -- you can barely make it out in this picture.

We hiked all along the cliffs...

7-Up is actually doing a campaign in Ireland to try and get the Cliffs of Moher to become one of the natural wonders of the world. There are signs EVERYWHERE in Ireland about it. 

To see the rest of our pictures from the Cliffs of Moher, click here.

The only drawback of doing the organized day tour was that I didn't get to take any good pictures of the Irish countryside. I can't even tell you how beautiful and GREEN it is. There are fields after fields of solid green, filled with sheep, separated by old rock walls and fences -- it is exactly what you'd picture Ireland to look like. I seriously almost faked an illness to get our tour guide to pull the bus over so I could take some pictures! :)

In my desperate attempt to get a picture of a green field, I got this one, which was near the Cliffs of Moher.

Our last day in Dublin we explored the city, and wandered down to the trendy Temple Bar area where we got to enjoy some live traditional Irish music. 

All in all, Dublin was not our number one favorite city. We definitely enjoyed our time there, and absolutely LOVED our trip to see the Cliffs of Moher and the Irish countryside, but we decided that the best way to do Ireland would be a big road trip around the country stopping for a day or two in each city. Dublin was fun and the people there were really friendly (and had the coolest accents!), but it was outrageously overpriced and lacked any character we thought it might have. This makes me believe Dublin is probably not an accurate portrayal of the rest of Ireland!

To see all of our pictures from Dublin, click here.

P.S. I am trying my best to get caught up on the blog, so don't be surprised if there are multiple posts in the next few days. :)