Write and Peak: Scotland: Day 5: Happy 30th and Heilan Coo's

Day 5: My favorite day of any year, my birthday! What a place to start a new decade & I hope my 30's bring lots more travels! Dundee ⇸ St. Andrews {where we "hit" some balls on the driving range! Sadly, I don't think Sammy would have claimed me today}. We ventured around the town. Climbed the rocks jutting out to sea and visited the ruins of St. Andrews cathedral. ⇸ Perth, where I may have climbed over some land & fences just to touch a wee Highland Coo (hbd to me!). We ended our night with haggis, bagpipes, and Scottish dancers. 🐂 #writeandpeak

It’s no secret that birthdays are my absolute favorite holidays. They don’t even have to be my birthday. Growing up a middle child, I yearned for that special attention. Middle child syndrome is real. So my birthday was the one day that it was just about me. Even in college, I began a tradition to treat myself on my birthday. Luckily, my birthday normally falls on a holiday or a holiday weekend (Labor day).

Side note: Growing up I thought it was called Labor day because my mom went into labor. Makes sense.

This year we began my 30th birthday by going to St. Andrews. I attempted to hit golf balls on the driving range, but it turned into just me posing and pretending I was hitting them while the man beside me was an avid golfer and I was embarrassing myself. St. Andrews golf course was a dream of my father’s though. He played golf almost every day and managed not one but two hole-in-one over the course of his life. I know he would have loved to be there, but also, would have pretended he wasn’t with me because I was such an embarrassment.

My husband and I then toured the city. It was gorgeously rich, in every way. We walked the ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral, marveling at the ancient graves.

I regret not taking pictures of the Kelpies when we walked down to the beach to take pictures on the rocks. If you’re in St. Andrews, make sure you snap a picture of them!

Next we drove to Perth to visit Scone Palace, the home of the Earl and Countess of Mansfield. Here we learned about the Stone of Destiny. There is a great movie on Netflix or Amazon Prime (I can’t remember now) called the Stone of Destiny, that is a true story. It’s about a group of college students from Scotland in the 1950’s that plan a mission to bring the Stone of Destiny back to Scotland and out of England. Highly recommended!

Well we started out with a group guided tour in Scone Palace, but because my throat was hurting so bad and I could no longer breathe inside, I convinced my husband to duck out with me and go in search of some “Heilan Coo’s” outside on the grounds.

Lucky for me, I found them. I may or may not have hopped some fences to take a picture with them. I found three, what I’m guessing were the mama and daddy and baby. It wasn’t until they were walking closer that I realized a.) how big they are b.) Uh, aren’t they still bulls??? c.) what a stupid idea this was d.) That I forgot to take a picture with the cows, so it could just be any ones picture… and back I went to take a selfie.

On the plus side, the baby really liked me and even licked me. Happy Birthday to me! And yes, I convinced the baby to come to me and then to pet it. No worries though, I was on the other side of the fence at this point!

On we went to Edinburgh, we crossed over the new Forth Bridge RIGHT after the Queen opened it! It was amazing because we could see her helicopters flying over.

We arrived at our hotel (great location but not my favorite by any means), quick freshen up, and then on to the Spirit of Scotland show for my birthday dinner. My favorite birthday, in my favorite place!