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After an early home cooked breakfast of eggs, potato pancake, tomatoes and toast, we check out of our hotel and walked along the footpath of the river. It was a relaxing walk…at one point the river had a little island in it and the footpath had a bridge connecting to it where we walked among the trees and hiking trails. We continued to follow the path back off the island to the other side of the river and into the downtown area of Inverness. Our first stop was a whisky shop…they had hundreds of types of whisky’s specializing in the single malt options from various Scotland distilleries. We bought a unique bottle (we will share when we get home) and kept walking through town.
We walked into a large open warehouse type building called the Victoria Market which housed various vendors. It had antiques, wool items and touristy trinkets. After browsing we meandered around the small town a little more before getting in the car to drive north to the Isle of Skye (Isle of Mist)
Within a few minutes of leaving Inverness we found ourselves on one of Scotland’s most beautiful drives along the Loch Ness (there are no lakes in Scotland…they are called Lochs). This is the Loch in which the famous Loch Ness Monster allegedly lives. We drove the winding road along the mountains and Loch until we saw a castle right on the water. It was the Urquhart Castle (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urquhart_Castle ). We parked and bought tickets…this was one of the iconic castles of Scotland and what was left were well-preserved ruins.
We started the castle tour with a short film on its history and when the film ended the projector screen lifted to reveal a huge glass window showing the castle and water. Once outside, we took tons of pictures and read the various signs describing what had once been where we were standing many years ago.
Back in the car, we were heading straight for Skye. It was raining and we wanted to find the B&B before it got dark. The drive was beautiful even in the grey fog and rain. We saw another castle standing tall and took a picture as it passed by. Then there was a point where the terrain became unfamiliar. It was like Mars meets Hawaii. The landscape was this rocky volcanic, misty backdrop with waterfalls everywhere you looked. The grass was a mix of moss and tall clumps of beach grass…the mountains were stunning with the thick fog smothering the highest peaks. There is something magical about this place, it’s like nothing we’ve seen before…
As we started to get closer to our B&B we looked at the directions the owner had emailed us since our navigator could not find the house. We got to a tiny road with a blue sign stating, “single track road with passing places”. This road looked like a long driveway or private road but the directions told us to follow it. As we drove, we saw sheep and lambs everywhere. They were the cutest little baby lambs ever. They were white with black faces and blk/wht striped legs…it was enough to stop me from ever eating a lamb for dinner! The road was indeed a single lane and when another car came, one of us had to pull off the road.
After some searching through the farmland, we finally found our B&B-The Grasmhor ( http://www.grasmhor.co.uk ). There was a metal gate in front of it that had to be manually opened and as the owner reminded us…it also had to be shut behind us so the cows wouldn’t come in. After a quick check in, we went down to the tiny village of Portree to find dinner.
We settled in at the Cafe Arriba ( http://www.cafearriba.co.uk ) per the recommendation we were given. It was a quaint restaurant upstairs overlooking the pastel colored houses on the harbor. There were no menus, the food was only listed on the blackboard where each day the menu changes. On the other side of the restaurant, the blackboard listed the drinks and desserts. The 10 tables were full when we arrived so we were told to “start a queue outside”. We figured out that meant to start a line outside in the hall as there was a queue sign outside the doors and as people arrived they took their place behind us. It was definitely worth the wait. We ordered a crawfish lasagna and a chicken roasted in garlic served with warm brie and pine nuts. We also found a beer we really liked, Black Cuillin which was a dark beer brewed with oats and honey and made locally. We bought a small tub of local ice cream to go and drove back to our B&B where we relaxed a bit and got a good night sleep.
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Published by Brandey Kabat
What I like: Dark chocolate, yoga, fresh squeezed juice, laughing, hiking, wine, travel, food, lush products, being warm, having long hair, the ritual of drinking something hot first thing in the morning…
What I don’t like: When people smell their fingers, pushing elevator buttons, confrontational situations, not being able to fall asleep quickly at bedtime…
Most random job ever: Plastic surgery consultant
As for my love life: I met my husband mid way through my junior year in college, as soon as I laid my eyes on him I was attracted to him. In fact, I made the first move which was a bit out of character but there was something about him…probably the fact that he was smokin’ hot!!
Where from and where to: I grew up in NY, went to college at The Ohio State University and then headed to CA after graduation. My boyfriend (Giff) and I had a map, a borrowed van and used stuff from his mom’s basement aka a vacuum, silverware, old Christmas ornaments etc., and about $1000 each. We thought it would be a good idea to head straight to CA since neither of us had been. Being we didn’t know anyone there nor did we have a job or job interviews set up or a place to live…I would say we did it the hard way! However with a bit of help from Giff’s mom who flew out to put us up in a hotel, bought me a suit for interviewing and co-signed a lease to get us a place to live we eventually found jobs and an apartment and have been in CA for 10 years.
Our story: After moving out to CA and living together for about 3 years we got engaged. He popped the question while down on one knee on the beach at sunset after we finished our picnic he had packed of bread, cheese, shrimp cocktail and wine. He even had the ring in a box that had a light shining down on it when opened so as it was getting dark, this amazing man was asking me to be his wife as he handed me a huge rock…Yes! Yes! Yes!
In 2005 we were married (I am biased but our wedding was absolutely amazing). By the end of 2005 we were new home owners. 2006-2009- we were both happily married, attached to our 3 cats and were focused on building our careers.
Giff and I got pregnant mid year 2009 with our first baby but what should have been one of the highlights of our life was soon distracted by the news I received at the doctor’s office.
The lump in my breast that had been dismissed the year before as nothing was now being diagnosed by a different doctor as breast cancer. Thankfully Giff is a persistent person and when we went in for our ultrasound (to hear our baby’s heartbeat) he brought up the request for testing to be done on the lump rather than dismissing it based on feeling it.
The going gets rough: Things began to move so quickly at that point, it was hard to breathe. I was 30, pregnant with my first child and going into surgery to remove breast cancer. I was about to go through what would be the worst year of my life. The plan had been discussed, we were going with the most aggressive regimen possible- double mastectomy, port surgically placed in my chest, chemotherapy, drug therapy and radiation. We also had to terminate the pregnancy. This cancer was estrogen positive and the hormones were actually feeding the cancer. That little angel whom was the cause of our going into the doctor saved my life.
Giff was my rock through every step…interviewing a team of the best doctors, memorizing which medicines I needed to take and when, driving me to chemotherapy and sitting next to me while I was so scared, telling me I was beautiful when I was bald, and so many other things…words cannot express. When you say your vows, in sickness and in health…you would never guess sickness of this magnitude at this age would be in the near future. In addition to this hardship, Giff’s dad died of a complicated prostate cancer the day we came home from my surgery. I could not hold my husband as he mourned for his dad because of the pain I was in from the mastectomy. How did Giff handle all of this pain at one time? How was he so strong for me? He is amazing. Giff’s dad was one of those people whom you naturally wanted to be around…his smile was contagious, his love for life was invigorating and he listened so intently when you talked in a conversation with him. He made you feel special. We think about him often and will miss him so much.
My family and friends were also by my side…my mom flying out from NY several times to help us with cooking and cleaning and holding my hand. It must be one of the most awful things in the world to watch your baby girl be diagnosed with breast cancer. My girlfriends also flew out to take care of me and help with anything they could. Other friends living closer would come by just to sit and talk or watch movies. There were so many cards, letters, flowers, cookies, and other gifts that came from all over the country. It’s amazing to have such great people in my life. In addition to my amazing circle of friends and family, there were the strangers with whom crossed our path. Whether it was a letter in the mail from a breast cancer survivor, the anesthesiologist who called Giff during my surgery crying happy tears that the cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes, or our fertility doctor who promised to watch over our frozen embryos as if they were her own. There were so many small gestures that made such a big impact on our lives.
Looking at the bright side: Thankfully this was caught in stage 1, had it been caught a year prior by the first doctor I had gone into about the lump, it may have been caught at stage 0. Please learn from my lesson…insist the lump be tested – a lump cannot be diagnosed by touch. They were able to cut all the cancer out and after I finish the entire regimen including a pill I take over the next 5 years, they said there is a 95% chance the cancer will never come back.
Our exciting future: We’ve decided to re-prioritize, we are taking 400 days starting February 7th of 2011 to travel the world! We will travel to new places, eat new foods, taste new wines and meet new people. We will focus on healing ourselves both physically and mentally. This will be one of the best years of our lives.
View all posts by Brandey Kabat
Spinning Around The World 
So did you see the Lochness Monster??? And did you have lamb for dinner???
Let’s see you take pictures of the cute little lamb and then bam…it’s dead on your plate…no thanks! Poor little babies. Nope the Lochness Monster decided to hide from us this time.
Youd dad and I went to Loch Ness and loved every moment of our trip in upper Scotland. I think the white sheep grazing against the background of green grass hillsides and lavender heather was one of the prettiest, most serene sights I have ever witnessed. Do you know you can hike over anyone’s land (or trek as they say on Scotland? There are no trespassing laws.
There also is no land for sale- mostly government controlled. When a couple marries, they often have to live with family or rent for many, many years because of how rarely property is sold.