As snow turned to rain, and little bodies were showing signs of sluggishness, we left the mountains and headed north towards the North Sea. First stop was Duffus Castle, which is in ruins, of course. Would we ever pass up a good set of ruins?! Of course not!
In 1150, it was originally built in wood, then replaced by stone in 1305. Then, the stone began to slide down the hill, forcing the lord to abandon his stronghold.
I love having a reader in the house! From behind me, I heard, “I am going into the prison pit!” I was like…what?! Low and behold…my big guy was right where he belonged!
I know there’s not much to these sites, but that is why I love them. Usually, we have them completely to ourselves. The kids can run and explore, and I am only marginally worried about losing them. And given their strategic placement, there is oftentimes a great view to reward a long climb uphill!
Afterwards, we headed to Elgin Cathedral, also in tatters. Originally built in 1224, it still has many legible headstones, which satisfied the kids’ strange curiosity with graves. T2: “Is someone really in there? How do they live in there?” Clearly, we still have some conceptual development to grow into!
Joe and I had a good chuckle about being here, because the first thing he ever said to me was, “Are you from Elgin, Oklahoma?” I gave him a resounding “no” and went back to studying my dive tables. (I was wearing an Elgin High School t-shirt. But NOT from Oklahoma.) Who knew there were so many Elgin’s in this world?! This one is certainly more stunning than the one I’m associated with!
Use Your Accent 