A new adventure

 April 5, 2025

We took off for a road trip for the weekend.  We are driving to Chicago to see Brooks and Dunn in concert!  It is about a 5 hour drive and around 335 miles.  We also have an hour time change during the drive.  It was a nice pleasant drive for most of it.  We were going to stop at Cracker Barrel and have dinner as Bill was craving the chicken and dumplings.  We have passed a number of them on the way but when he decided he was hungry we couldn’t find a single one! We decided to stop at the Denny’s at the Flying J where we stopped for gas.  It was pretty good.  Note to our RV’ing friends, they don’t use the Good Sam club card any more for the discount.  

When we were about 10 miles from the hotel we ran into stopped traffic.  It took over an hour to get through that. We finally got to our hotel.  How did we travel before GPS?  We stayed at the Hyatt Place O’Hare Airport, which is right next door to the Allstate Arena which is where the show was.  Our window looked out over the runways at the hotel.  The sound proofing was pretty good and we couldn’t hear the planes.  We rested for a bit and then headed over to the concert.  I bought a bottle of water and would you believe it cost $6.50?!.  They also took the lid off so you had to be really careful not to spill it.  Our seats were ok, a little high but hey, it is music.

There were 2 opening acts.  The first was a young woman and her band.  The name was Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway.  

The music was good, mostly blue grass. They performed for about 30 minutes.  

The second act was David Lee Murphy.  

I know he is mostly known for songwriting but he also performs.  He has had a few hits.  He performed for almost an hour.  We really didn’t know the warmup acts would be for 2 hours before the headliners but once they got started it was great!  

Their backstage setup was really cool. It changed with each song and there were pyrotechnics too!

Most of the audience sang along with every song.  Good thing too as Ronnie Dunn has had strep throat and Covid.  I did notice he wasn’t holding his notes as long as normal and he had trouble hitting the high ones.  But the show was really, really good.  

After the show was walked back to the hotel. Let me tell you, that is the way to go.  Book a hotel close to the theater so you don’t have to drive there and then try to get out of the parking lot after the show is over.  We were in our room in just minutes.  It was hard to go to sleep as I was still pumped up with the music.  

Sunday morning we got up, got dressed and went down to breakfast.  It was just a standard hotel buffet breakfast, nothing special.  We went back to our room and finished packing.  We were on the road by 10.  At least we didn’t have any issues with traffic on our way home, just a long boring drive.  We did stop for lunch/dinner at Cracker Barrel, to get Bill his chicken and dumplings.  I had the chicken fried chicken but brought home half of it.  

On our way home we stopped at a rest area in Illinois, or maybe Indiana, and saw this -

Something really cool to have in a rest area.  

We arrived home just before 5:00 after stopping to fill my gas tank.  It was interesting to see how it was warm in Chicago but got progressively colder on the drive home.  We hit some minor showers in Indiana and Ohio.  We finally arrived home and dumped the suitcase.  We plan on doing the laundry tomorrow.  

That was our latest adventure.  

Scotland #6

 Sunday, June 9

We had a bit of a drive to our last hotel.  We are staying at the Cromlix which is owned by Andy Murray, a famous tennis player.  It is a small 15 bedroom manor house.  We had a small suite.  Aimee and Rory shared the bedroom and I stayed in the living room.  It was only for one night.  

Before we got to our hotel we stopped at a few locations.  The first was the Falkirk Wheel.  It is a 60 minute boat trip from one canal to another one.  Instead of using locks they invented this wheel that raises and lowers the boats from one canal to the other.  Ver ingenious.  

We also enjoyed lunch in , 100 ft tall and weighing more than 300 tons each.  Kelpies are a mythical creatures that is said to lure people into the water and then kill them.  These statues also pay homage to the heavy horse industry in Scotland.  They are really impressive.  We spent about an hour or so here.  It is in a lovely park that many people come to spend a nice day.  

Our last stop was at Stirling Castle.  It is one of Scotland’s most historically important sites and was once the favored residence of the Stuart kings.  

Finally we arrived at our hotel.  It is very beautiful.  Here are some pictures of the grounds.

We had dinner at the on-site restaurant and the food was very good.  At this point we were kinda tired of fancy food and multiple courses.  Aimee had a Caesar salad eith chicken while I had a pasta dish with romesco sauce.  Rory order the kids pasta bolognese.  It didn’t fill him up so we told him to order a second one.  A different server brought it over quickly. He devoured that.  Our regular server came and said his second dish would be right up and we laughed and told her that was the second one!  

Monday, June 10

Scott picked us up bright and early, around 7:00.  We are flying out today and our flight is scheduled for 11:00.  We had about an hour drive to the airport then had to check in and get to our gate.  Because I purchased the express passport control we got through the line quickly.  We found someplace to grab a bite for breakfast then got to our gate.  We boarded and took off with no problems.  The flight back was smooth and we took full advantage of the inflight entertainment and lunch.  They offered a second meal which I mistakenly accepted.  It was a Wellington burger.  I only ate about a third of it but it didn’t settle for me.  As we got off the plan in Chicago I didn’t feel good and barely made it to the bathroom.  Once we got through passport control I still felt awful.  Aimee was able to talk to an officer and we got a wheelchair for me to get to our next gate.  Lucky that we did as we had to collect our luggage and wheel it to a drop off point, then catch the train to another terminal, go through security again then get to our gate.  Once we finally made it to the gate I slept for about an hour and felt well enough to travel home.  Our flight was delayed about an hour or so as our pilots were late getting in from Phoenix.  We boarded and the crew finally arrived and we took off.  Nick met us in Cincinnati and got us home.  It was around 11:00 pm.  A long day but we were finally home. 

We loved our trip.  I would absolutely go back.  We didn’t have as much time for shopping and exploring as I would have liked.  I was in some pain on a few days and had to nap instead of explore the grounds but Aimee and Rory were able to do that.  There were some places I was unable to go due to steep stairs and no hand rails.  Tips - don’t plan any activities on the day you arrive or the next day.  Use those days to wander and shop and rest.  Don’t expect the same type of foods.  Make reservations for restaurants, many that we used only had availability for those with reservations.  Get a driver.  Schedule relaxing days with no plans for additional exploring around town.  Don’t pack your schedule so full you are just going from place to place.  Have fun 

Scotland #5

 Friday, June 7

Today we really didn’t have any set plans except to travel to our next hotel.  We did take a drive to Glen Etive.  It is a beautiful area that is used in many films, the most well known being James Bond’s Skyfall.  I have never seen it but will have to look it up.  The drive out there is long and the single track is bumpy.  I am not sure it is worth the drive.

We did take a drive around Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National park on our way to the hotel. We are spending the next two nights at Cameron House. It is a beautiful baronial mansion surrounded by 100acres of woodland. We were a bit disappointed in our room the first night.  It was very small with Two twin beds and a rollaway.  We barely had room to walk around. Unfortunately the hotel was booked for that night and we couldn’t change.  We spoke to our tour company and they got us booked into a small suite for the second night.  We did decide to keep both rooms and asked if that was okay.  They checked and we were able to do that so I had the first room and Aimee and Rory took the other.  It was partly my fault as I did book two rooms originally, I thought I would save a bit of money.  I won’t make that mistake again.  I told the hotel I was more than willing to pay for the second room but they didn’t charge me for it! We had dinner on site at their more casual restaurant, La Vista.  It is an Italian style restaurant.  I had a calzone that was way too big.  I did ask for a side salad and they threw together a something.  Salads are not something you find a lot in Scotland, surprisingly.  Rory had spaghetti carbonara and he loved it.  He did have dessert, a banana split but it wasn’t what we were used to.  It was a banana split in half lengthwise, then brûlées, and a scoop of ice cream.  

None of us took pictures today.

Saturday, June 8

Today was a casual day for us.  We are not leaving the hotel grounds.  We met for breakfast and Rory was not happy with the selection of food.  He can’t wait to get back home and have his dad’s scrambled eggs.  The ones here are too runny for all of us.  Aimee has mostly been having fruit for breakfast while I alternate between yougurt and porridge.  I also have fruit or granola with them.  Anyway, I asked the waiter if there was any chance they could whip up some pancakes for Rory and they obliged.  He was happy with those.  

After breakfast we headed out for our Flaconry Experience.  Our instructor was a bit late but it was worth it.  I was unable to partake because you need to use your left arm for the birds to land and that was my bad one, but the others did.  I took pictures and videos.  

It was really cool and we all enjoyed it.  There was one bird who didn’t want to listen and at one point flew away.  He had a tracker on him and the instructor was able to catch him.  

After that I took a quick nap and Aimee and Rory went to lunch then headed to the pool.  It was a really nice pool area and there were a lot of kids there.  

Dinner was in the fancier restaurant, the Cameron Grill.  Here are some more pictures around the grounds

 

Scotland #4

 Wednesday, June 5

We had a really early morning today as we have reservations on the ferry.  The trip over was smooth until about 20 minutes out when it started raining pretty good. We made it safely and were soon back on the mainland of Scotland. Our destination today was Glencoe.  Scott played the Glencoe Massacre song by the Coories for us.  It is a really haunting song. Rory liked it so much he downloaded a copy to his phone.  We discussed what we knew about the massacre during the drive. Our first stop was at Inverlochy Castle for tea.  It is a really beautiful castle/manor.  It is also a hotel and restaurant.  Tea was very nice but Rory wasn’t impressed.  So we made a quick run through McDonald’s to get him a happy meal. I liked everything they served us but Aimee and I felt the servers were a bit snooty.  I thought it was a bit odd that we were seated around a coffee table instead of a dining table  

After tea we headed towards Fort William to ride the Nevis Range Mountain Gondola.  We had a bit of a wait so had hot chocolate in the cafe. As we were waiting a bus load of Japanese tourists arrived.  They caused a bit of a backup.  At one point one of them told us to,go in front of them but then they started pushing us.  I almost got separated from Aimee and Rory. When it was time for us to get on the gondola I almost couldn’t as there was no place for me to grab with my right hand and the gondola didn’t stop moving!  I did finally get on but when we got to the top I decided it was safer for me to just stay on and not try to re-board for the return trip.  They got off and explored while I returned to the bottom.  There was snow on the top of the mountain or Monroe.  It is a little over 4000 feet tall.  

We also went to a visitors center that had a lot of info on the local mountains and climbing.  They also had a mock-up of a thatched hut.  

Soon we arrived at our hotel for the next 2 nights.  Let me tell you, this was our favorite hotel. I don’t know exactly how much we paid for it but it was fabulous!  We stayed at Glencoe House.  We were met at the door by James, our porter/houseman in full Scottish regalia.  He had a fabulous accent too.  He showed us to our suite.  My goodness!  We had a sitting room, a dining room, two bathrooms and two bedrooms.  

This is the view of Loch Lomond from our setting room.  

We were served our meals in our dining room, dinners and breakfasts.  Each course was brought in and served individually.  The first night Aimee selected langostinos for her appetizer.  They were served whole.  It took a bit to figure out how to eat the.  Rory liked them so much he ordered them the second night.  We were so spoiled.  I could live there. 

Thursday, June 6

After talking with Scott last night we decided to skip our planned activities.  He took us on a driving tour of the Three Sisters Mountain and Glencoe.  We spent some time in the afternoon enjoying our suite at the hotel.  Between rain Aimee and Rory did some walking around the grounds.  

Dinner tonight was also in our room.  Last night of being pampered.  Time o repack to get ready to move tomorrow.