Travel to Scotland Part 3

I forgot to mention in my Travel to Scotland Part 1 post that when we were walking around Edinburgh May 2nd, we came across a large group of people line dancing by the National Gallery. As it turns out, May 2nd was International Line Dance Flash Mob day. Who knew? So of course I had to jump in and take part in that. I've always wanted to see a flash mob, and now I have not only seen one but also participated in one!

International Line Dance Flash Mob 2026

Anyway, back to Part 3 of the trip. On May 5th after our full Scottish breakfast we headed to the nearby Culloden Battlefield. The famous battle took place on April 16, 1746 and it marked the end of the Jacobite Rising. In less than an hour, the British government army crushed the rebellion of Bonnie Prince Charlie, permanently ending Stuart claims to the throne and devastating traditional Scottish Highland culture.

Culloden Battlefield

From there we drove to Urquhart Castle. Situated on the shores of Loch Ness (where we did not see the Loch Ness monster!), the castle ruins are more than 1,000 years old. Once one of Scotland's largest castles, ownership passed back and forth between England and Scotland. The last of the government troops garrisoned here during the Jacobite Risings blew up the castle when they left.

Urquhart Castle

Our last destination of the day was Ardelve, where we had reservations for two nights at a lovely, small guest house with views of the Eilean Donan Castle. We chose to base here for our exploration of the Isle of Skye. The drive to Ardelve was beautiful, and our walk to a nearby town that evening for dinner took us by peaceful sheep and the castle.

Ardelve

May 6th we began our day with another wonderful Scottish breakfast, and our hostess suggested that we take the ferry to the Isle of Skye as opposed to driving across the bridge. Before driving to the ferry, we stopped for a closer look of the Eilean Donan Castle.

Eilean Donan Castle

The Glenelg Skye Ferry is unique in that it is the only remaining turntable ferry in the world. It was built in 1969 and can carry up to six cars and twelve people, though ours was the only car on board for our passage. It was a very unique experience, and I'm glad our hostess made the suggestion.

Glenelg Skye Ferry

The Isle of Skye is just as beautiful as you can imagine. Located off of Scotland's northwest coast, the island is fifty miles long, and the largest of the Inner Hebrides. It is rugged and picturesque with many ruins and coastal stops that beg to be photographed. 

Isle of Skye

We came across our first Highland cows, or hairy coos as they are affectionately called by the locals. They have shaggy, reddish-colored coats, curved horns, and a fringe of bangs over their foreheads.

hairy coos

Along the drive we visited the ruins of Duntulm Castle. During the 17th century it was the seat of the chiefs of Clan McDonald of Sleat. The McDonalds abandoned the castle around 1730 and moved to nearby Monkstadt House and later Armadale Castle in Sleat.

Duntulm Castle

After completing the loop on our agenda for the day we headed back to our inn. We took another walk into the nearby town for dinner, and enjoyed the view of Eilean Donan Castle at dusk.

Eilean A Cheo guest house and Eilean Donan Castle

Travel to Scotland Part 2

On May 4th we picked up our rental car in Edinburgh - a non-diesel, automatic, small SUV. This really helped with lower fuel prices and anxiety as we navigated narrow roads and roundabouts while driving on the opposite side of the road. Our designated stop for the night was Inverness, but we had some wonderful places to stop along the way.

A little over an hour north of Edinburgh we visited Huntingtower Castle. Formerly known as Ruthven Castle, the oldest part is a three-story, 15th-century tower and garret. The second, four-story, tower house was built in the 16th century. Built close to the first structure, the buildings were connected towards the end of the 16th century by a three-story structure containing a staircase.

Huntingtower Castle

A short, 40 minute drive north of Huntingtower Castle is Blair Castle & Gardens. Home to the Atholl family for over 750 years, its origins date back to 1269. It holds the distinction of being one of Scotland's oldest continuously inhabited castles. It is also home to Europe's last remaining private army, the Atholl Highlanders. It was well worth the drive to tour the castle and gardens.

Blair Castle & Gardens

We next drove to see the Clava Cairns, a unique collection of three stone structures. Little is known about who built them, but it is believed they date to the Bronze Age. Rumor has it that the stones were the inspiration for the stone circle where Claire falls through time in the Outlander books. It is very unique, for sure.

Clava Cairns

We finished the day by driving to our lodging in Inverness, where we were able to walk to have dinner and enjoy a little of the sights in town.

Inverness

Travel to Scotland Part 1

flying into Edinburgh

On May 2nd we had an ugly 6:40 AM flight from the Shannon Airport to Edinburgh. While it was hard to get up that early, we landed at 7:55 AM so we had the whole day ahead of us. We took a cab to the area of Old Town Edinburgh where our two bedroom flat was located. Because it was too early to check in, we found a nearby shop that had lockers to store our suitcases.

Since we were out of bed before dawn, the first thing we did was grab breakfast down the street from where we dropped the bags. From there it was an easy walk to Edinburgh Castle. Standing on Castle Rock, there has been a a royal castle on this location since the reign of Malcolm III in the 11th century The castle continued to be a royal residence until 1633. We wandered the area for a bit, but could only get tickets to tour the castle the next day.

Edinburgh Castle

We explored the Royal Mile, the historic district of Old Town, with its cobblestone streets and medieval architecture. It was a beautiful day, and the streets were packed with locals and tourists alike. St. Giles Cathedral, one of three cathedrals in Edinburgh, is incredibly beautiful. Founded in 1124 it was built on the eastern edge of Edinburgh and predates Old Town. There was a lot to see and do in the area.

Royal Mile

St. Giles Cathedral

We had grabbed some provisions at a small grocery store near our flat so that we could eat breakfast in the next morning. We had early tickets to tour the castle. The day was overcast with a light rain, so that kept some of the crowds away. The castle grounds contain over 20 buildings on about 9 acres, so we spent a couple hours looking around.

Edinburgh Castle tour

Following lunch we did the underground walking tour, which had been highly recommended to us. The below-street level experience allows you to explore a series of vaults constructed in the 1780s. They initially served as workspaces and storage, but the damp environment was not conducive to those activities. The vaults by the 1820s became densely populated slums, and were eventually sealed off. They are now a tourist attraction reportedly haunted by ghosts. We thought the tour was overrated, but perhaps it was just our guide.

Old Town sights

This was our last day in Edinburgh, so we had a nice dinner before packing our things once again. 

Travel to Ireland Part 3

Shetland pony

On May 1 we said goodbye to the animals of Ballyseede Castle and made our way to Limerick. We were hoping to see White House Bar, established in 1812. It is not only the oldest bar in town but also one with a storied literary heritage. Unfortunately it did not open until later in the day, so we just drove by for a quick photo of the outside.

We stopped by St. Mary's Cathedral, founded in 1168. It is the oldest continuously operated building in Limerick. It is a cathedral of the Church of Ireland, and is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

St. Mary's Cathedral

We also visited nearby King John's Castle. The castle construction on the River Shannon was overseen by King John, brother of Richard the Lionhearted, between 1200 and 1210. He wanted to secure British power in Ireland. It's a little hard to get a sense of the castle as they have turned the main outdoor area into a performance center, but the views from the top were definitely worth seeing.

King John's Castle

Our last stop of the day was a visit to the Cliffs of Moher. This is always on the bucket list for anyone traveling to Ireland. When I first went with my husband nearly 30 years ago, we renamed it the Cliffs of Less as it was so foggy you couldn't even see the cliffs. My sister and I visited 20 years ago and had a wonderful, if very windy, weather day. On this trip it was overcast, but still very pretty.  My observation is that Ireland has taken what was once a scenic, natural experience and turned it into a tourist trap. The huge, paid parking lot is quite a hike to get to the now-paved trails you must take to get to the viewing areas. That was somewhat disappointing to me.

Cliffs of Moher

After our visit we checked into our airport hotel and returned the rental car as we had an extremely early flight out of the Shannon Airport to Edinburgh the next morning.

 

Travel to Ireland Part 2

On April 29th, after another lovely Irish breakfast, we hailed an Uber for a ride to the location where we would pick up our rental car. Heading west, we made a stop in Athlone to see Sean's Bar. It is officially recognized by Guinness Book of Records as the oldest pub in Ireland, and widely recognized as the oldest continually operating bar in the world. Sean's was founded in 900 AD, and remains a tourist attraction to this day.

Sean's Bar

Our next stop along the road was the Rock of Cashel. This is a group of medieval buildings on a limestone outcropping in County Tipperary. There is a round tower, a 13th century Gothic cathedral, and a Romanesque Cormac's Chapel. 

Rock of Cashel

The day ended with our arrival at the Killarney Lodge, which would be our base for a night as we explored the Ring of Kerry. It was a lovely place to stay, with an included breakfast. A true bonus after driving all day was the location - walking distance to the town. We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant in town following our arrival to the area.

The next morning we loaded up the car to begin our drive of the Ring of Kerry, a beautiful 111-mile route around the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry. The roads are narrow and crowded, so it is not a quick drive. We did not cover the entire area, instead choosing to enjoy Killarney National Park. Within the park we visited historic Muckross House and Gardens as well.

Killarney National Park

Muckross House and Gardens

A highlight of the trip was our lodging on April 30th. We were able to stay at Ballyseede Castle, a four-star luxury hotel set on 30 acres in Tralee, County Kerry. The roots of the castle date back to the 16th century, followed by a 400 year residency of the Blennerhassett family. It was converted to a hotel in 1966. It was an incredible place to spend the night, and we enjoyed touring the grounds of the castle as well as the meals we had there.

Ballyseede Castle

Travel to Ireland Part 1

In April we traveled to Ireland to meet up with some friends from college. We had been planning this trip for over a year, with the intent to spend a week in Ireland and a week in Scotland. It was a trip with many moving parts, and challenging because we made all the arrangements ourselves.

Both couples left the U.S. on April 26th and arrived in Dublin on the 27th. We flew on American, and had one of the crappiest planes we have been on in a long time. It had the 3/5/3 seat configuration, but the overhead storage bins were so small that our small carryons had to be put in sideways. That meant only one suitcase could fit in each bin. The entertainment units were built into the headrests, with the remotes attached to a cable. The units used only plug-in headphones that were provided by the airline. Even though we were in supposedly larger seats with more legroom, the seats were incredibly uncomfortable for a 7 1/2 hour flight.

We stayed at the Kilronan House Bed & Breakfast. where Jim and I had stayed our first time in Dublin in 1997, and I again stayed with my sister when we went in 2005. Their location is easy walking distance to the attractions we wanted to see, so we didn't need to pick up our rental car for a couple of days.

We were able to drop our luggage off at the B & B, and then began to tour Dublin. We walked to St. Stephen's Green which has 3-acre lake with numerous waterfowl, flower gardens and sculptures. We found a pub for lunch, and just enjoyed trying to walk off our jet lag.

Dublin Day 1

When we got back to the B & B it was to find that our room was located on the top floor. LOTS of stairs and no elevator. That was not fun at all, but it did help get our legs in shape for the rest of the trip - ha!

Irish breakfast

The next day we had a lovely, full Irish breakfast before heading out again. We began at St. Patrick's Cathedral, which was founded in 1191. It is said to be located on the site where the patron saint baptized converts in the 5th century. The current Gothic structure was constructed between 1120 and 1260. It serves as the National Cathedral for the Church of Ireland. It has switched back and forth from Catholicism to Anglican faith.

Our next stop was a tour of Dublin Castle. Originally built in 1204 as a medieval fortress for King John of England, it served as the seat of British rule until 1922. Today it is a major Irish government complex.

We then visited the Irish Whisky Museum. We had a wonderful docent, and enjoyed tasting three whiskeys. From there we headed to historic Temple Bar for lunch. It was named for Sir William Temple, who built a house there in the 1600s. The bar was established in 1840 and is known for having the largest collection of whiskeys in Ireland and the largest selection of pub sandwiches in the world. We enjoyed both the sandwiches and traditional Irish music being played while we were there.

We finished the afternoon with a walk around Trinity College. We especially enjoyed seeing the library, which is the largest in Ireland. It opened in 1592 and is quite beautiful. The Book of Kells exhibit is very informative, and of course seeing the book itself is amazing.

After a little rest later in the afternoon, we went to an Italian restaurant recommended by our B & B host. It was delicious, and a fitting final supper for our time in Dublin.

sites around Dublin

Milestone Birthday Pickleball

St. Lucia

Earlier this month my husband joined me in crossing into a new decade of life. As I thought about how I would like to celebrate him on this occasion, I began to look at pickleball vacations. We have done several of these in the past, so I was looking for something that would be different from the other experiences. I came across one that was headed to St. Lucia, and I was immediately interested in it. At this point in our lives we are trying to go to destinations where we haven't traveled before, and St. Lucia fit the bill. The fact that it was being held at a Sandals with ten dedicated pickleball courts had me looking further into the details.

Elite Pickleball Retreats was offering three plus days of pickleball, with the instruction being done by three professional coaches. Their curriculum was combining skill training with drills, coached game play, film review, yoga, instruction on mastering your mindset, tips from a senior pro pickleball player, and game strategy. It was the most comprehensive pickleball training series that I have come across.

When I registered the two of us to attend, I made it clear that this was a surprise for my husband's birthday. I requested that all correspondence come only to me, and I was assured that would be the case. Jim only knew that he was going on a trip that would require his passport, and to pack for warm weather. I knew once we got to the airport he would see that we were going to St. Lucia, but he wouldn't know we were going to a Sandals or that a pickleball event was involved. Since I knew the resort had pickleball courts, I would have told him to pack his pickleball gear.

Well, a week before the event an email from the organizer went to Jim, and not to me. So much for my surprise! I guess he was surprised, just earlier than I anticipated. As it ends up, he has followed the YouTube channel of one of the coaches for several years, so he was excited to get to meet him in person.

When I booked the trip in January there was no shortage of TSA agents. Nor was there a war going on that involved the United States. So we weren't quite sure what to expect as we traveled outside the U.S. Our flight out was at 6:15 in the morning. We had an Uber pick us up at 4:00 and we were at the airport and through TSA by 4:25. Everything went smoothly at both the Charlotte airport as well as the one in Miami, where we had a connecting flight to St. Lucia. We were the only flight in at that time, so going through customs there was a breeze. We had a short wait in the Sandals lounge before taking their shuttle to the resort. Our shuttle contained only people who would be in our pickleball group, which was fun.

view from our room

There are actually three Sandals Resorts on St. Lucia, and we stayed at the Regency La Toc. It took a little over an hour to get from the airport to this resort. The roads were okay, but there was traffic to be dealt with by the driver. Once there, check in took a little longer than expected, but our room was ready. We were on the 7th floor of a seven story building, and had a wonderful ocean view. The room was huge, airy, and most importantly did not smell like mildew. The air conditioner worked very well.

The first night we all got together for a welcome dinner, and it was nice to get to know some of the participants before we began with the clinic the next morning. As it turned out, all of the other participants were from New Jersey, where the coaches have pickleball facilities. We were the only ones who learned of the retreat online. That was a little off-putting at first, but we were able to work around it. I would say most of the attendees were in their 30s-40s. There were maybe 3 couples in their 50s-60s, but Jim and I were definitely the only ones who were 70. But we didn't let that slow us down!

We learned a lot over three full days of the retreat. I tried to write down as many of the drills and tips that I could remember. But pickleball, like many things in life, is something that you have to do over and over again to commit it to your muscle memory. I hope I can put at least a few of the things I learned into practice.

I added two extra nights to our trip so that we would have some time to actually experience the resort. On Sunday we took a shuttle bus to one of the other Sandals resorts, the Grande. It is situated on a narrow strand of land that has the Caribbean Sea on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other, which makes it quite unique. We enjoyed being able to see what that resort has to offer.

Monday we stayed at our resort and finally were able to lounge by the pool and also walked the beach and stuck our feet into the ocean for the first time. It was chilly! We had dinner at the Italian restaurant, which is at the top of a hill and offers beautiful sunset views. It was a fantastic way to spend our last night on St. Lucia.

Tuesday morning we had breakfast before putting our luggage out at 9:00. We had to be out of our room by 10:00, and got the airport shuttle at 10:30. Getting through customs and security at the airport was easy, and our flight to Miami went off without a hitch. The Miami airport was quite busy, and there was no TSA pre-check lane due to the shortage of TSA agents right now. That ate up quite a bit of our 1 1/2 hour layover, but we had just enough time to grab a quick bite in the American lounge before boarding our flight back to Charlotte. We got back to our house around 11:30 p.m. It was another long day of travel, and a reminder to try and take vacations where we can get a direct flight out of Charlotte.

The vacation was great, and Jim was very appreciative of his "surprise" present, but it is really wonderful to be home!

Step It Up!

One of my New Year's goals was to join the line dancing group here in my community. I used to know quite a few of the popular line dances when I worked full-time. A group of us would go to one of the country-western bars in St. Louis and tear up the floor. Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but we definitely left a few marks on the floor.

One year we hosted a college student from Japan, and a few of us took our students to a country-western bar. They got out on the floor and were having a great time until a couple of the local men made a scene. They thought the students were making fun of them. Once we explained they were here going to school and had never seen line dancing before, the men backed off and in fact helped the students learn a few dances. 

But it's been a long time since those dancing days, and I have forgotten more than I ever learned. Except the Electric Slide, which is super easy. I decided to go to the first session in January, thinking there would be other new people joining. Nope - just me. The line dance group here meets once a week for an hour, and most of the women (with a couple men thrown in for good measure) have been going to the class for years. So it is a little intimidating to come in as a newbie.

The resident instructor invites new people to come a half hour early to refresh, so I thought that would work well. However, I soon found out that most of the members show up early just to get an extra half hour of dance in. That means there is not much opportunity for individual instruction. I almost quit after the first session. I was so lost. But people encouraged me to come back, so I did. I've gone every week, unless I have a conflict. 

It has been really helpful to me to look and see if any of the dances we are doing have a tutorial on YouTube. Then I can practice the steps before I go the next week. The problem is she rarely does the same dances two weeks in a row. But I practice anyway just in case one of them shows up. I'm getting way more comfortable, and really enjoy going each week.

In addition to that some friends of ours here asked four other couples if they would like to learn Social Swing. So every Sunday night Jim and I have been learning that style of dance. We learn two new dance moves each week, and I think we are up to 14 different ones now. Physically we are just not able to do all the moves, so we are picking and choosing which ones work for us. It has been a lot of fun, and we are hoping to show off some of our moves on our next vacation.

Trolling Around

Big Pete

Yesterday my husband caught up to me again, age-wise. To celebrate we went to see MJ The Musical Sunday after going out to dinner. But on the actual b-day we decided to go hunting for a troll in Charlotte. We had been reading about Big Pete with the big feet since he was unveiled in November of 2025. One of artist Thomas Dambo's "Trolls of America", Big Pete is the only one in Charlotte.

Dambo's dream is to have at least one troll in each state. They are made of recycled wood and other materials, and are built by local community members and placed in nature. Dambo is an artist who was born and lives in Denmark, and since 2014 he has become internationally known for his large trolls.

Big Pete is one of the larger trolls, measuring 65 feet in length. His feet are 7 feet tall! There was no one there when we visited, making it easy to get pictures of him with no one in the way. We did want a couple photos with one of us in it for scale though. That is when you can truly appreciate how large this art piece is.

Seeing Big Pete has whetted our appetite to see some of the other trolls. North Carolina has an additional five trolls in Raleigh, and another one in High Point. I sense a road trip in our future.

Lantern Time Already?

Every October for the past five years my community has entered the Mount Holly Lantern Parade. The theme for this year was announced at the end of last year's parade, and it is "The Wide World of Sports". I'm not going to lie, none of us are excited about this theme. Our goal is always to have something that engages the children along the parade route, as well as having enough lanterns for the many residents in our community who want to walk in the parade with us.

We really struggled with coming up with something that would be fun for us to work on. We actually considered not participating this year. But finally we came up with an idea that we thought would work for us. I doubt that any of our competitors read this blog, but nevertheless I will keep what we are doing a surprise. It encompasses many sports, so I think that will appeal to a lot of people.

We have begun deconstruction of our larger lanterns from last year. We repurpose the interior framing and light packs when we can. I took one last picture of all the sharks together for posterity's sake.

Baby Shark & family

Speaking of surprises, my husband will be turning 70 this year. I had planned a surprise trip for him, setting up an activity that he really enjoys. I have kept the secret, and all he knew was that he would need his passport, and to dress for warm weather. But yesterday, the group that I organized the trip through sent out an email to HIM and not to me. They were aware that this was a gift for Jim and were told not to contact him. So much for the surprise!!!

I am really aggravated about it, and am trying to get over it. They have yet to reach out to me to apologize for their error. But I don't want our trip to start out on the wrong foot, so I'll need to be gracious about it. Jim is excited about where we are going, so in the end that is all that matters.

Thyroid Void

My physician wanted me to come back to see her and have my blood retested after six weeks of taking the thyroid pill she had prescribed for me. After a slight delay due to the ice storm, I went in on January 28th. I'm not sure exactly why I had to see her in person, but I guess she wanted to make sure I was tolerating the medication okay. I told her I have not had any problems with it, and have adjusted to taking my vitamins at noon instead of first thing in the morning. 

Thyroid medication has to be taken when you first wake up, and then you need to wait 30-60 minutes before eating or drinking anything except for water. You shouldn't take certain vitamins until at least four hours after the thyroid pill because they interfere with absorption. So it has just seemed safer to take my multivitamin and calcium pills after the four hour mark.

After meeting with her, they drew blood to test the level of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in my system. This time the test showed that my TSH level is too low. This indicates that the pill she prescribed is too high of a dosage. For now she suggested that I take the pill six days a week, and skip the seventh day. Honestly, I wish she would just give me a new, lower prescription. Skipping one day is a harder routine to remember than taking a pill every day. I have to go back in six weeks and have the blood work repeated. Apparently it is pretty common to have to play around with thyroid medication until they see what works best for an individual.

Snow Birds

 

snow birds

The weekend after we had the ice storm in Charlotte we ended up with a snow storm. Honestly, we moved here from St. Louis to get away from this kind of this crummy weather! I guess these snow birds did not fly far enough south. Our part of the state got 11" of snow. At least it was a light, fluffy snow and no ice like we received the previous week.

Most of us in the community left all our snow removal equipment back in the northern states we moved from. With the lightness of the snowfall, many used their leaf blowers to just blow it away. We have a gardening shovel that we used - not ideal, but it worked.

The goodness of our community was again brought to light as many neighbors came out to clear the sidewalks and drives of those unable to accomplish the task themselves. It's one of the huge advantages of living in a 55+ community. We definitely take care of our own.

The amount of snow kept us in the neighborhood for several days as they do not plow the roads in here or the county road we have to take to get to the state highway. We planned for that, so we were fine. Now the snow is all gone, and the weather has warmed up significantly. Hopefully it will stay that way for awhile.

Mountain Island Lake sunrise

The Iceman Cometh

No, I am not referring to the all-capitalized ICE. I stay far away from making any political commentary on social media, or most places for that matter. Our area was hit with ice in the form of winter storm Bern, a system that caused much chaos and damage across a large portion of the United States over the weekend.

Forecasts for the area were grim, with predictions of up to .50" of ice for our location. When ice forms that thickly, the likelihood of trees falling and taking down power lines rises dramatically. We were so fortunate that in our neighborhood we predominantly had sleet, which tends to fall to the ground and not stick to items in its path. While we were prepared for a loss of power, that did not occur here. We are so grateful that we avoided the worst of the storm. I'll gladly take being stuck inside for a few days over having no electricity.

We had plenty of food and extra water just in case, and are lucky enough to have a gas fireplace in the house. It has a battery charger in the event of power failure, so we would at least have had that as a heat source if the power had gone off.

Making sure that the bird feeder was full before the precipitation began was good for entertainment. The birds and squirrels were very active in the yard during the storm. I never get tired of watching them, and taking pictures.

backyard critters

There is still some residual ice on the side roads and walkways, so I will stick close to home again today. In fact, I cancelled my six month dermatology appointment for this morning as the secondary road out of here is shaded and never treated. I hated to do that because it is so hard to get an appointment with my doctor, but it was not an emergency and certainly not worth the risk of an accident.

There is another storm heading this way over the weekend, and hopefully we will again be lucky and avoid the worst of it. I guess we didn't move far enough south!

New Year Involutions

Involution is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as "the regressive alterations of a body or its parts characteristic of the aging process". That seems like an appropriate word to start not only a New Year but a new decade of years in my life.

Back in late October at my annual physical my blood work came back with an elevated TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone) level. Because I had just had both the Covid booster and flu shots, we agreed to wait and retake a blood sample in four weeks to see if there was an anomaly due to the shots. With our travel I could not get in to have it redone until December 18th. I got the results later that day, and my thyroid level was even higher than before, which was not the result I was hoping to receive. The doctor put in a prescription for Levothyroxine, which is a medication for hypothyroidism. 

It is interesting that when the thyroid suppresses TSH release, too little thyroid hormone can cause your pituitary to make excess TSH. Thus the high TSH levels in the blood. It seems counterintuitive, but there it is. I began taking the medicine on December 20th, and so far have not noticed anything positive or negative about taking it. They do say it can take 4-8 weeks before you see any improvement in symptoms. Because I do not have any of the symptoms of hypothyroidism (fatigue, numbness, constipation, unexplained weight gain, depression, or being unable to tolerate cold temperatures), I have not experienced anything different.

The most annoying thing about the medicine is that they want you to take it at or near the same time each morning, waiting 30-60 minutes before eating breakfast. I don't wake up at the same moment every morning, so I keep as close to the same time as I can. Since you also should not take calcium as soon as you take this drug, I have just adjusted to taking all of my over the counter vitamins at lunch instead of first thing in the morning.

My doctor will see me again on February 3rd to see how all of this is going. I presume they will draw blood again to see if the drug is doing its job. Hopefully all will be well. I hope to stop this New Year Involution in its track.

the cold never bothered me anyway

Peru & Ecuador - Part 9

Friday, December 5th was our last full day at Kuyana Lodge. The options for excursions that morning included a hike through the jungle, which the guide said would be much longer and harder than any we had done so far, or a hike through a cave. In light of the described difficulty, my family opted to do the cave trip.

I have no fascination with caves in general, but once he said that the water would be chest-high in places, my decision was made. Chest-high water on most people equates to being over my head. I also did not relish the thought of slogging through water in knee-high boots, which would immediately be filled at that depth. While I brought water shoes for the Galapagos portion of the trip, the sand had rubbed the tops of my toes raw on the last expedition we did there. All that combined made it easy for me to say that I would remain at the resort. 

As no other guests had arrived at the lodge yet, I again had the place to myself. We had been told that more people were coming that night, and it was obvious from the staff activity that more guests were expected. I took the time to rearrange all my belongings in the suitcase and backpack for the next morning's departure before strolling around the resort snapping photos. Then I parked myself at the pool until my husband and daughter returned. They both agreed that I had made the correct choice in staying behind as the cave hike was dark, cold, and strenuous.

around the resort

The rest of my family returned in time for lunch. We then spent time at the pool. An afternoon rain shower came in, so I entertained myself by taking pictures of the rain drops on the pool water surface.

rain on the pool

For our last dinner there was a marked difference in the dining area. Now that other guests had arrived, there were different place mats, the napkins were folded all fancy, and there were candles on the tables, along with a large leaf with the guest's name on it. Those things actually made us feel pretty insignificant since we didn't have them for the other meals while we were there. Ramona was also brought out of her living quarters for the meal. From other reviews that I have read, I think this is a frequent occurrence while guests are there. She was not previously brought out to dine with us, only to join us on the one hike.

last dinner

Following dinner we returned to our cabin. We had to pack for the next morning's departure and get through one last tepid shower. In the morning we enjoyed one final delicious meal before the prearranged car arrived to pick us up for the three and a half hour drive back to Quito.

last breakfast

sunset out the hotel room window

We elected to stay at a hotel near the airport as we had a fairly early flight out the next morning. Luckily the restaurant for the included breakfast opened at 5:30 so we were able to eat before heading out on the airport shuttle. Everything went smoothly at the airport, and we left on time to Miami, where we would catch the plane for the last leg of our journey. Our daughter was on the same flight to Miami, so it was nice to have some final time with her on the plane and in the American Airlines lounge in Miami.

We all made it home safe and sound. It was an amazing adventure, and one that we will be talking about for years to come. Super big bonus was that none of us got sick, either on the trip or after we got home. That is always a concern with travel, especially in cold and flu season. Now - where to next?