Oban

How fitting that the first and last weekend we took a group trips. We headed out to Oban, which takes about four hours by train. A neat town by the ocean that smells like seafood the instant you walk out of the train station. I am not a fan of seafood, but everyone that was loved it. We stayed in a really nice hostel. After we were all settled we went to a restaurant called Cuan Mor. The staff did not seem to like us much but the food was delicious.

Natalie, Sierra and I were hoping to go mountain biking but the rental shop was all out of bikes. So we headed up to McCaigs Tower, which is not really a tower and not as exciting as it sounds. After exploring some shops we did not have much else to do so we decided to start exploring the pubs. Some of them had interesting names, one was the Cellar Bar which was small. O'Donnnels was the coolest pub, there was live music and it kind of reminded me of a bar in Athens. We got to dance a lot. I tried haggis for the first time that night. It tastes just like meatloaf. Natalie and I split it, but she said that she had had better and that there weren't enough neeps in our dish.

On Saturday, Natalie and I woke up early to meet her parents. Along with the Buckleys, we all went to Dunstaffnage Castle. It is not a preserved castle so it was in ruins and very cool to explore. There was an old well and it was mostly used for housing. I found a golf ball hidden in the crack and written on it was: Please leave for Simon to find again. There was also a small chapel. There were graves in one room that were as early as 1975. It was a little eerie and this contraption in the middle looked somewhat like an old incinerator. The area around the castle was beautiful. We found a bog that we ran across and all began sinking. There were two beaches, well the shore was rocks. We found a tree swing. Peter and Ingrid were the best pushers. It was so fun.

After the castle we went on an hour long boat tour that showed us more spectacular views. We got to see a bunch of seals on this little island. Natalie said they looked like huge slugs, but they were adorable. One of the pups was only two weeks old. The Foys and I spent some time in the Oban chocolate factory, which had incredible truffles. Then it was time to head home.

Admittedly I think I would have preferred to spend the weekend in Glasgow or Inverness, but Oban was beautiful and fun to explore. A small town, perfect for one night. I wish the weather would have been better so we could have gone to the Isle of Mull.