Soraidh, bràmair

Supposedly, that's Scottish Gaelic for "farewell, friends." At least according to the internet, where everything you read is true.

What IS true is that we'll be in Scotland for almost two weeks to visit these:

The Kelpies at Falkirk

Of course, we'll also sleep in a castle, tour Holyrood Palace, and have plenty of tea. My hubby will golf one day. I will ride a horse. Here's my Pinterest page with all the places we'll stay and visit, etc.

http://www.pinterest.com/gaylecarline/scotland-2014/

I'll be back on September 8, and as soon as the jet lag wears off, I'll give you all the highlights.

P.S. If you're reading this thinking, hmm, they're gonna be gone so their house is ripe for breaking and entering, let me assure you of three things: 1) We have two dogs that love to bark at strangers, 2) We have a friend housesitting for us so our house is not vacant, and 3) We have absolutely nothing that's worth anything.

Geez, where has this chick been?

Yes, I got back from Carmel on Sunday and I feel horrid I haven't posted anything since Thursday so it looks like I'm still in Carmel which I guess I am mentally but I truly meant to post something else anything else before now but I had my weekly column to write and a post for tomorrow's Crime Fiction Collective (I'm reviewing Michele Scott's latest - check it out on Thursday) so I had the teeniest of excuses.

Annnyyyywwwhhooo...

Here's a bunch of pictures we took on our vacation, to tide you over until I think of something to say.

We stayed at Svendsgaard's Inn, which is easier to say than to spell. It's located down the street from the Hog's Breath Inn (Clint Eastwood's restaurant), and across the street from Brophy's Tavern, which serves good beer, food, and has several TVs to watch all the sports that were on all weekend.

It's beautifully landscaped with TONS of flowers. Color everywhere!

This is the view from our room. I'd love for my backyard to look like this, if I could grow anything.

From our home base, we ventured out on Thursday to walk around the town...



I SO want these dishes!



Went on a horseback ride out on Pebble Beach.

Pumpkin has to wear a muzzle because she eats too much.

Then drove up to Seaside to visit a local brewery. Beer tasting, wow!

Friday was wine tasting down along the 101. We began in Greenville at Scheid, then headed north to hit Paraiso, Hahn, Wrath, and finished it with Pessagno. Total count: 16 bottles. (One was free because we joined a wine club.)

Saturday was Monterey day. We met our lovely niece, Ashley, at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. She had a friend who loaned us their day passes to get into the aquarium. Score! The aquarium was having a special weekend about eating sustainable fish and seafood, so there was a different chef there, every hour, giving a cooking demo, followed by a free tasting. Double Score! I bought a cookbook by Barton Seaver, For Cod and Country. It's a really pretty book, but I bought it partly because Barton used the word "deleterious" in his presentation. Ya gotta love a man who throws around two-dollar words like he can afford it.

Dale's camera was taking FABulous pictures!

Inside the aquarium we also saw beautiful jellyfish, sea dragons, sea turtles, and weird sunfish. We saw a lot more, and took tons of pix, but I won't post them all here.

On Sunday, it was time to kiss the Central Coast good-bye and head home. It's only been 3 days, but I'm finally getting back into the swing of normal. I should be back to posting about writerly stuff soon.