I had the great opportunity to learn from and know more about a great friend of the EMC, John Cohn, over the past several years.  One of the stories John shared to us a while ago told touched our hearts.  In short, pulled from his website, this is the short story:

Sam was an exuberant boy with a 1000 watt smile. He loved his friends, family, dog, and bird deeply. Sam was passionate about guitar, snowboarding, lacrosse, and having fun. Yes, having fun was important to Sam.

Springtime meant lacrosse for Sam and a time to play hard with his buddies. Ultimate frisbee at the park were memorable times for Sam and he would come home with a big smile on his face and grass stains on his body. Summers you could find Sam floating down the rivers, swinging from a rope swing, biking, or just hanging with friends. A summer would be complete with time spent at Camp Abnaki and jamming at Burlington Rock Camp. Fall would be the season Sam would try and stretch summer out a little bit more until the snow started to come. That time was then spent at Bolton Valley Resort on his snowboard. He enjoyed ariel tricks and hitting the rails. Mostly he enjoyed just hanging with his friends and little brother Gabe.

Sam loved music and was always plugged into some song. Guitar was second nature to Sam. He could play “Asturias” on his classical guitar to heavy metal on his Gibson. He enjoyed playing bass and wailing on the drums. His favorite times were when he would jamming with one of his friends, or his big brother Max.
It is hard to capture Sam’s true spirit in a few paragraphs. He taught us so much. Mostly he taught us to have fun, ease up, and to be there for each other. He is a true best friend to many and deeply missed.

Sam was born on May 28, 1992. He was hit by a car on November 20, 2006 in Florida while visiting friends. His beautiful body stayed strong long enough for organ donation. He gave his heart, liver, kidney, and kidney-pancreas so that four others would live. His spirit continues on through them and surrounds us today. Sam lived his life to its fullest on this planet.

To help with Sam's passing, John and his family create what are called SamStones.  Here's a short description, found on his website, of what they are:

SamStones are made with love by Sam’s friends and family. Our intent with these stones is to pass on some of that love.  If you have found a SamStone please feel free to keep it, move it or pass it on. We hope that you will pause and feel the love that is being passed on to you. 

If you would like to know more about Sam Stones, you can find out more here:  http://www.samestone.org/.  Corinn and I wanted to contribute, so we were given a bag of stones from Diane, John's wife, and will now bring them on our McBe Adventures.  My goal is to, as accurately as possible, track where I placed them with a photos of the location and to document that location within something like Google Maps.  So if you see future posts of SamStones, you'll know that we've traveled recently.  Below is our first map of where we placed many Sam Stones while in the UK.  Click on each marker, as the map is interactive, to learn more about the location we placed the stone and a short story of the site.  You can even change the terrain, move the map around, and zoom in and out!

Below are photos where we visited with Sam being part of the shots.  We tried placing Sam where we though he'd have a great view of the locations we visited.  Some shots were difficult to obtain while others we though were really great.  We figured this would be good to compliment the map above as a way to visually see more of where we traveled with him.  Hope you enjoy them! 

In my travels, I enjoy observing phrases, graphics or signs that can be interpreted in ways not originally intended, the context is lost when observed from a different culture, or are just plain hilarious.  The photos taken below are just a few I was able to capture.

Apparently this town hates pink...

I disagree... I think it looks like a ton of fun!

Disputably one of my favorite FYI's I've ever seen outside a home.  

 

I just thought this was cute.

Just in case you had no idea where to find Pottery... I took this for Joe Manley figuring he'd appreciate it quite a bit.

I hate it when my defences have depleted!

Just in case you were looking for some Fire Action, this might satisfy your need.

Whiskey often needs patiences and this sign reafirms that need.

The Appocolypse is near!

Wait for it... wait for it...

...Now things make sense!

I don't know why, but this sign caught my eye... Mostly because I don't think I've had a pink olive before...?

It's a long story, but I got kicked off the boat...

I don't know why I find this funny... Maybe it's because the store is call the Green Welly?

If you look carefully, the two signs litterally put me in two different areas, not far appart from each other; which one do I go to?  Does it matter?!?!

Mind the gap with such grace!

Sadly, today is our last day in Scotland.  Just as with most of the things we've done on this trip, we feel like we certainly could have spent more time in this gorgeous country.  After a full Scottish Breakfast (well, for Ray, anyway) including blood pudding we repacked our bags and loaded up our hire car one last time.  We started our day by backtracking a little bit; we drove south, down the west side of Loch Ness, to visit Urquhart Castle.  The history of the castle goes back as far as the 6th Century, but the castle was (intentionally) exploded by "loyal" Scots in 1692, to prevent the Jacobites using it as a strong hold in the first uprising. Ray and I spent the surprisingly sunny and warm day exploring the castle, which is situated on the edge of Loch Ness and offered some gorgeous views.   Ray and I climbed to the top of the highest remaining tour to take advantage of the views.  It was a two-directional spiral staircase that was probably only big enough for one direction.... so Ray sent me down, while he continued to snap a few shots - turns out we even got some of each other!

After lunch in the sunshine we hopped back in the car for the scenic view up Loch Ness, back through Inverness, and over to Culloden Battlefield.  The Battle of Culloden was the last battle fought on Brittish soil and it was the final battle of the second Jacobite uprising in 1745.  It was a decisive victory for the crown and began a siege that ended the highland way of life forever.  It was a fitting last stop in the Scottish leg of our vacation.  I have been to Culloden twice before, but never fully understood what it was all about.  In recent years the National Trust has built an incredibly impressive and high-tech visitor center, explaining not only about the Battle of Culloden, but the events leading up to the Jacobite uprising, the battle and the aftermath.  Probably the most impressive part was the room that had images of the battle re-enactment projected on all four walls, it was like being immersed into the actual battle.  After the visitors center we wandered out on to the battlefield to view the monument and the clan stones.

At 3:00 we pilled into the car for the last time.  Fortunately, I had thought to ask in the gift shop, where the closest gas station was.  It wasn't too far off the beaten path, but it certainly was not on the way to the airport!  We returned the car and boarded our flight to London without much incident!

The flight to London was pretty quick, Ray spent most of the time HDR-ing the photos he had been taking and I did a bit of reading.  We arrived at Gatwick and settled down in a coffee shop to wait for Mary Ann to arrive.  Mary Ann one of Charles and Mary's daughters; she is practically my big sister and was so helpful in planning our trip.  Mary Ann now lives in Sussex, which we found out is super close to Gatwick.  Actually, Mary Ann said that it took her longer to find parking at the airport than it took her to drive there!  We had a quick (but wonderful) visit and then Mary Ann set us on the train into London.

To add to the amazingness of the Nasmyths, Mary Ann had also arranged for us to stay in the spare room of the London flat she and her husband own!  Armed with keys, descriptions and a good map, we lugged our bags from the train station (all of 1.5 blocks) to the posh bachelor flat.  Mary Ann's husband works in London, and the commute is too long to make every day.  The purchased the flat so that he can stay there during the week, and it has many of the trappings of a man's palace, complete with overly complicated electronics (including the light switches/panels) and the fact that the bathroom light turns itself on and off!

We made a quick stop to drop off the luggage and the wandered the neighborhood to find a suitable pub for dinner.  Our plans in London are pretty soft, we have a short list of things we want to do, but there is far too much to do for us to get too ambitious!

After a long day traveling around Skye, we had dinner in Portree and went back to the B&B. Due to my “in the moment”, spontaneous nature, I decided that even though it was 9PM, we needed to experience a night out in Skye.  Without much convincing, I was able to get Corinn back into the car and we headed north towards what is called the Quiraing.

If you didn’t know already, the Quiraing is an area where you can only get to on a single-track road, out in the middle of no where. It’s not on a primary road, nor is it traveled much, but will give us one of many authentic reasons as to why Skye is so awesome.  I only heard about this location through Corinn, never have I seen actual photos, but this was a great opportunity for me to experience first hand.

Oh, and I forgot to mention two more things: 

• Some of the tallest points in the Quiraing are cliffs that range between 200 to 500+ meters above sea level.
  
• I have a severe, fear of heights.
  

During our travels, we hit the spot where I started to feel my palms sweat.  This was the road that winds down to the lower part of the Quiraing, but before we went down, we got out of the car to take a moment in.  And when I say got out, it’s really an average of Corinn's enthusiasm of jumping out with excitement and me cowardly and slowly clinging onto the car door as I stepped out.  Corinn immediately ran up the cliff and took a look out while throwing out her arms and exclaimed, “THIS IS SO FRIGGIN’ AWESOME!” Meanwhile, I’m clinging to the ground telling her to get down because I was afraid she might slip and fall!  I was definitely freaking out.  What’s better?  She momentarily forgets about my fear of heights and suggests I take a photo at the top of the cliff.  I attempted to walk up the steep, slippery path, but I couldn’t go much farther before the height and the midges got to me.

Yep... Beautiful, but frightfully scary!!! 

If you don’t know what midges are, imagine tiny mosquitoes in dense, constantly biting swarms though they don’t leave marks.  However, when they get into a swarm, it’s best that you’re not in the middle of it, much like I was.  Corinn ended up fleeing to the car while I attempted to get a panoramic view of the valley and cliffs we observed.  I was biting my lip because the stinging pain of the midges got worse as I tried to stay still in one spot.  They got into my ears, eyes, hair, beard, nose, etc.  It was horrible; it very much felt like my whole face expanded and was on fire with pain.  Best of all, we brought midge repellent for a day/night like this, but the only night where we needed it badly, we forgot to take it with us as it was left back in the B&B.  Once I got the photos, we left the scene after one more shot of us with the view in the background.

As we headed down the road, I clung onto the door.  Strange, but as you went further down the single-track road, the cliffs didn’t look as bad as they did when looking down them.  Maybe that’s always the case; I had the same memories of when I was looking up at the high dive in a pool vs. looking down from a high dive, which always felt worse.

Despite the midge attacks, the view and experience was incredible.  Once we got out further, I jumped out of the car to look back and take several photos of some awesome moon shot opportunities behind us.  As I was setting up and taking photos, Corinn stayed in the car, facing me, laughing with the windows up.  I couldn’t hear, tell or understand why she was laughing, but I thought it was hilarious that when she did laugh, she would sometimes sync up with the hundreds of sheep in the land, baaing in the night.  After almost 30 minutes go by as I was taking photos, Corinn points behind me and when I finally took the hint, about 11 sheep were standing no more than 10 feet behind me, staring.  They snuck up while I was busy and I didn’t think much of the possibility of sheep around me until just now.  The sheep stared at me with almost blank, yet curious looks on their faces.  Some torqued their head much like a curious puppy would. Eventually, I chased after them for fun and they stumbled a bit and then ran off.  Corinn loved this, but didn’t have her small camera with her to preserve the memory of this night.  She dubbed this “phenomena”as “sheep creep”.

Here are some of the shots I took during the sheep creep to share of the unusual, surreal beauty that the Quiraing shares. 

Last, but not least, what I looked like after heading back to the B&B, hours after the midge attack:

Today we awoke at our wonderful B&B, Ben Tianavaig, and to a yummy breakfast prepared for us by Bill and Charlotte, the owners.  Bill made introductions for us all around the room, and we were able to enjoy some pleasant conversation with our fellow guests.

Unfortunately these photos are a bit deceiving, while Ray has just recently taken them this evening, our morning weather was rainy.  Our original plan was to drive up the North East coast and take in the sites of the The Old Man of Stoor and Kilt Rock before heading over the Quiraing, a single-track road we've been told has wonderful views.  Bill informed us that what is true of the mainland Scottish weather, is also true on Skye, so just because it was raining in Portree didn't mean it was raining in the West.  So we cut the North East portion of our day trip out for now and headed for the West coast and Dunvegan Castle.  Dunvegan Castle has been home to the Chief of Clan MacLeod for over 800 years, and is (I believe) the oldest castle that is still inhabited. Once again, we were not able to take photos on the inside, but the castle houses many different pieces of the clan history, a facinating history and some killer views of Loch Dunvegan, which is really part of the sea. The Castle also has some extensive gardens, which we only had a brief opportunity to explore, before the Corinn-needs-feeding monster began to rear her head. So we opted for a take away lunch of sandwiches and headed down a very narrow, very busy single track road to find the coral beaches, not far from the Castle.  Well the drive was a bit harrowing, as it was my first single track road, and then the parking was a whole other experience, because we weren't the only ones with the same idea, but fortunately we had taken the full coverage out on the car, so parking in the mud and bushes seemed less of a concern than it might have otherwise.  I did fail to notice the "1 Mile to Coral Beach" sign we passed on our stroll out... and wondered why it took us so long to arrive... Can you see it off in the distance? And... because apparently we don't have cows in Vermont.... Ray took this photo.... The weather did improve, and we had a lovely drive home this evening.  Here is one of Ray's (very cool) HDR photos.... not sure what he does to make them, but I know he takes a series of 3 photos at different exposures?  Maybe?  And then somehow compiles them.  Any way he does it, they turn out AMAZINGLY!