Scottish Highlands | October 12-15, 2024

As many of you know, Scotland is one of my favorite places. A few months ago, I looked at flights and noticed I could visit Inverness and the Isle of Skye for a reasonable price. So, I booked a ticket and invited some friends. One said yes, and off we went.

An unexpected stop in London

After a red-eye flight to Heathrow Airport, we promptly missed our connection due to delays taking off in Boston and a short layover. We got onto the flight to Inverness that night, left our luggage at the airport, and took the Heathrow Express into the city.

I have a photo of myself sitting in front of the lion statues in Trafalgar Square, and I was thinking of recreating it until I saw the signs forbidding people from climbing Nelson's Column. Instead, we walked down to Buckingham Palace. From there, we walked down to see Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster. Since it was Saturday, it was packed with people, so we didn't hang out for too long. Instead, we decided to walk along the River Thames before we got too hungry and had to make a stop at Pret-A-Manger. 

It was too early to head back to the airport, so we took the train to Notting Hill and looked at the colorful homes. We looked at some of the Saturday Market stalls that were open in the streets and then walked a giant circle around the area before the rain became too much, and we chose to take the bus back to Paddington Station to the Heathrow Express. 

Inverness

We eventually made it to Inverness, where we promptly dropped our suitcases off and made our way to the Hootananny Pub. A childhood friend of mine, who now lives in Germany, decided to come to Scotland as well, so we caught up with her. Even though we thought we'd only be good for one drink, we stayed out until almost 2 a.m.

Sunday

The two of us met up with my friend from Germany and her friend for breakfast at Charlie's Cafe before deciding what to do for the day. We had planned to take a bus up to Dunrobin Castle but quickly realized that some countries and cities relax on Sundays. The bus wasn't running when we needed it, and a taxi would have been too expensive, so we started walking around Inverness instead.

We walked down to Dolphin Spirit, but there were only two spaces left on the boat, so we headed to Uilebheist Distillery & Brewery for a drink instead. Afterward, we walked down to the Ness Islands before returning to the city center.

We had lunch at the Highlander (I had a delicious steak and ale pie) before the two girls caught a bus to Glasgow, where they would return home to Germany. 

The rest of the day consisted of shopping in any open souvenir shop, getting dinner at Blackfriars, returning to the Highlander for some live music, and then one last drink at Ash before heading to bed.

Monday

Today, we took the Rabbie's Skye & Eilean Donan Castle tour. This was a big reason I chose to stay in Inverness, and it did not disappoint. Our tour guide's name was Dave, and he was very knowledgeable about the area and its history. 

We stopped for photos at Loch Ness and Loch Cluanie before our first big stop at the Eilean Donan Castle. At the castle, you can pay to go over the bridge to walk the grounds or enter the castle. After grabbing some hot drinks, we only had time to walk the grounds, but we were fine with that choice. The original castle was destroyed in the 18th century as punishment for its use in the Jacobite Rebellions. Lt Colonel John Macrae-Gilstrap purchased and rebuilt it in the 20th century.

After driving over the Skye Bridge, we stopped for lunch in Portree. The two of us ate at Cuchullin, where I tried mussels for the first time. I ate a few but mainly stuck with the salmon and scallops. I also tried and enjoyed Cullen Skink, a traditional Scottish smoked haddock chowder. 

Our next stops were Kilt Rock, a view of the Old Man of Storr, and Quiraing, which offered some beautiful views. Our last stop was in Kyleakin, where we grabbed a drink at Saucy Mary's before the bus took us back to Inverness.

My only complaint was that we didn't get to pet any Highland cows. We saw some from the bus, but Dave wasn't able to find a good place to stop. 

I would have also done the Fairy Pools walk if we had toured the Isle of Skye alone. This tour didn't take us anywhere near them, which was fine, but they would have been a fun experience.

Tuesday

After checking out of our hotel but leaving our bags, we walked over to the Victorian Market for a hot drink at Milk Bar before taxiing to the Culloden Battlefield.

Dave gave us a summary of the battle during our Rabbie tour, but walking through the museum and reading about everything that happened was very informative. We saw clan grave markers and walked around the battlefield. 

There were Highland cows here, but they refused to come to the fence to be petted. I asked two cabbies if they knew anywhere nearby to pet some Highland cows, but we were out of luck on this trip.

We headed straight to Leakey's Bookshop, the largest second-hand bookshop in Scotland. Neither of us bought anything, but it was a really cool bookshop to look around in. 

We ended our trip with afternoon tea at Best Western Inverness Palace Hotel & Spa. It was delicious, but if I were to go back and had more time, I'd go a little outside of Inverness to Bunchrew House or Quila Cridhe. The Mustard Seed is a nice restaurant, and we couldn't get a table Sunday night for dinner, so we decided to have a goodbye wine to end the trip.

The Inverness Castle is closed for renovations, but we would have done that Sunday or Tuesday.

Where We Stayed

When booking our trip, we were between two hotels and decided to treat ourselves and go with the slightly more expensive Royal Highland Hotel. It was a great choice. This hotel has so much history, and it's absolutely gorgeous. We heard someone say the stairs were designed by the same architect who did them on the Titanic, and we believed it. They look very similar. 

Included with our booking was a complimentary drink and a 2-course meal ticket at the connecting restaurant Ash. When we returned from the Rabbie's tour, we got an appetizer to split, an entree each, and a dessert to split. 

It's also in the perfect location. Right next to the ScotRail, a block from the bus stops, and across the street from the Victorian Market.

Overall

It was a great trip. We could have used one more day since we ended up in London on Saturday, and a lot of stuff was closed on Sunday, but we saw everything we could in Inverness. The weather was a little chilly but not as rainy as I expected. Seeing a part of Scotland that I hadn't visited before was fun.

Salem, MA | November 10-12

A friend of mine organized a long weekend in Salem, MA, for her birthday. We rented a house and spent time exploring the downtown. We shopped, tracked down the filming locations from Hocus Pocus, and ate some great food. We were back at the house playing Who Would Rather and Jackbox Games when we weren't exploring.

What We Did:

You can't go to Salem without doing a few Halloween-related activities. We went to two different museums, both of which were quick to walk through and located right in the downtown area.

Count Orlok's Nightmare Gallery | $15

Count Orlok's Nightmare Gallery is a horror film museum in Salem, Massachusetts, that opened in September 2007. The collection is owned by James Lurgio and includes life-sized sculptures of several horror movie monsters, movie props, and life masks of various horror actors and directors.

Horror movies aren't my thing AT ALL, so I wasn't able to identify all of the characters, but I knew a decent amount. I kind of surprised myself, if I'm being honest. Some were terrifying; all were very cool.  

Halloween Museum of Salem | $10

The Halloween Museum is Salem’s premier Halloween-themed experience, with exhibits in 10 different rooms. The Histrionic Academy LLC operates the Museum. 

The museum is decorated with neon paint that leads you from room to room. It's filled with Halloween relics like old McDonald's toys and Barbies. As well as decorated house exteriors. 

What We Ate:

The Cheese Shop of Salem
Roseadela's shop and cafe
Engine House Pizza
Turner's Seafood
The Derby

Chicago, IL & Milwaukee, WI | September 1 - 5

Chicago, Illinois 

Where we stayed:

The Congress Plaza Hotel & Convention Center

This hotel is said to be haunted. One room so much so that it can only be booked by specific request. Thankfully, any ghosts in our room weren't active the night we slept there.


Day 1

Willis Tower / Skydeck & The Ledge

The Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) was the tallest building in the world from 1974 until 1998. It has 108 floors, and floor 103 is home to the Skydeck. The Skydeck is a museum that shows Chicago highlights and the process of building the Willis Tower. There is also a feature called "The Ledge," which are clear observation boxes that protrude from the building. I'm not going to lie: the first step onto The Ledge is a little bit daunting, but standing over the city (and snapping some selfies) is a really cool experience.

Gin Alley

This one we could have skipped. I saw it on TikTok and thought it was going to be bigger than it was. It's basically an outdoor shopping area in the city. We got there too early for any of the bars to be open, but my sister did make a purchase at Uncommon James. If you're staying close to Gin Alley, give it a whirl, but don't walk an extra mile like we did to essentially turn right around.

Chicago Riverwalk

Now, this is where you're going to want to walk. The Riverwalk in Chicago is gorgeous. There are places to stop to sit or drink (we stopped at more than one) and look out onto the river, which always has something happening between all of the tour boats, personal boats, kayaks, etc.

O'Brien's Riverwalk Cafe

After the Riverwalk, we went back to the hotel to rest for about an hour (my sister and I had started our days early to make our 6 a.m. flight, so it was a necessary refresh). Then we went back to the Riverwalk for dinner at O'Brien's. Some of the fastest service I've ever had. We thought we'd be there until the start of our tour, but the food came out so quickly that we had time to visit one more bar beforehand.

London House Rooftop

I love a rooftop, and anything with London in the name is going to catch my eye. Getting a dinner reservation at London House is a multi-year wait, but we could head straight up the elevator and walk right into the rooftop bar. Excellent views and pretty good drinks. We also went one floor down to LH on 21 and got one final drink inside before getting to our tour meeting spot.

Gangsters and Ghosts Tour in Chicago

This was the tour my sister found, and was very excited to walk around Chicago with a tour guide. She thought it would be more spooky ghost story-esque than it was, but it was still great. I had no idea there were so many mass deaths in Chicago (boats sinking in the river, more than one fire taking out hundreds of people at a time). And then, on top of that, the gangsters fought over territory throughout the late 1920s. Al Capone (I kept saying Pacino, but that's the actor who played Al Capone in the movie Scarface. There are too many Al's) was building a name for himself and taking out quite a few people along the way. 

Day 2

Eleven City Diner

This was recommended by a friend, and it did not disappoint. More food than we knew what to do with, but it was delicious. And diners always tend to have a fun atmosphere.

The Bean

You can't go to Chicago and not see the Bean (aka Cloud Gate). Unfortunately, a fence was around it, so we couldn't get up close and personal, but we did see it!

Shoreline Sightseeing: Architecture River Tour

In the late 1800s, most of Chicago burned to the ground. But a cool consequence of that was when they rebuilt the city, they could do so with a little bit more of a plan than they had before, which led to some really innovative architecture. Today, the Chicago skyline still embraces architecture of all kinds. Going down the river and learning about the different styles and what people did to make their buildings stand out was really interesting.  

Wrigley Field Tour

The Cubs were out of town while we were in Chicago, so we decided to tour the stadium instead, which is arguably more fun. Wrigley Field was built in 1914, making it the second oldest Major League Baseball stadium in the world (Fenway was built in 1912, and Dodger's Stadium is the third oldest and was built in 1962). And with old ballparks come some amazing stories. Wrigley Field didn't have lights for years; it was forced to adapt to the changing city around it, and its fans (especially the Bleacher Bums) are the reason behind not only Wrigley Field safety features but also played a role in the MLB "batter's eye" rule.  

Smoke Daddy BBQ

Across the street from Wrigley Field is a BBQ restaurant (discounted with our Wrigley Tour ticket!) that we stopped at before driving to Milwaukee.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin 

Milwaukee is a huge brewery city. Each one is unique in its own way, and I enjoyed all of the ones we went into, but writing about each one was getting repetitive, so I decided not to.  

Where we stayed:

My brother's apartment

Free accommodation is always a perk.

Day 1

Cafe Hollander Tosa Village

This was in Wauwatosa, which is closer to my brother's apartment. It was in the cutest downtown area. We didn't explore because we had to get to the game, but spending an extra 15/20 minutes walking around would have been nice.

American Family Field / Brewers Game

Another city, another ballpark. However, it was for a game this time because the Brewers were playing the Phillies. They unfortunately lost, but it was a fun game to watch.

FUNNY STORY: At one point, a woman came walking down the stairs holding a hot dog and asking if anyone lost it. Turns out it had slipped out of the tin foil a little boy was holding. He took it back and ate it (5-second rule; it was fine lol), but all I could imagine was having to turn to my own dad and somehow explain that the overpriced hot dog he bought me three minutes ago vanished from my hands.

The Copper Turtle Brewery & Taverne

The Explorium Brewpub Third Ward

Cafe Benelux

Blue Bat Kitchen and Tequilaria

Day 2

MOTOR Bar and Restaurant

Harley-Davidson Museum

I've never been on a motorcycle, but I know a handful of people who own them and since we were in Milwaukee, we had to stop and check out the museum. It was cool to see how motorcycles have changed over time.

National Bobblehead Hall of Fame & Museum

It's a unique museum, for sure. Lots of athletes and presidents/famous figures. So many Grittys. We didn't do it because it was more for kids and not offered to us, but there was also a scavenger hunt element.

Broken Bat Brewing Co

Great Lakes Distillery & Tasting Room

MobCraft Beer Brewery Taproom and Pizza

Shakers Cigar Bar

Day 3

Zisters

This was a good breakfast place. Located in Elm Grove, not Milwaukee. You could tell it was the first day of school because a group of moms (possibly some nannies) were all at a table together, toasting to drop-off.

Pabst Mansion

The Pabst Mansion, built in 1892, is a grand Flemish Renaissance Revival-styled house and was the home of Captain Frederick Pabst, founder of the Pabst Brewing Company. Each room has a slightly different style based on who used it and for what purpose. The street it's on used to be all mansions, but now Pabst is the only one. 

War Memorial Beer Garden

Lakefront Brewery

5 Days in Edinburgh, Scotland | What to do

Many of you know that I studied in Scotland for the 2019-2020 school year. I was a postgraduate student earning a MSc in Creative Writing. However, due to COVID, my time in Edinburgh got cut short and ever since I've been itching to go back. I finally got the chance, and some family and I went to Edinburgh in early May 2022. There were nine of us traveling together.

Where we stayed:

We got hotel rooms at the Wilde Aparthotels By Staycity Grassmarket. This location was fantastic. It's at the base of Castle Rock and on a street lined with pubs. The famous Victoria Street is at the other end and leads you straight to the Royal Mile.

We considered getting an AirBNB, but the houses that could fit all nine of us were pretty far from Old Town and my sister was concerned that there weren't enough bathrooms for us to all get ready in a decent time every morning. It was an interesting concern for her to have, but at the end of the day, it was valid. Plus, after spending all day together, it was nice to go back to a hotel room with only one other person.

What we did:

My family members had flight vouchers because they were supposed to come visit me in early June 2020. For that trip, we were planning on doing both London and Edinburgh, but since a few travel restrictions were still in place when we were planning our new trip, and we didn't want to have to take off too many days from work, we decided to only visit Edinburgh. I did my best to cram as much as possible into the short trip, and not to toot my own horn, but I think I did a pretty good job.

We really lucked out with the weather. If it rained, it was a light rain that only lasted for a little while.

Thursday:

Our red eye flights were scheduled to land in Edinburgh around 9:20am, however we ended up getting slightly delayed. No big deal, we grabbed our luggage and headed to the hotel to drop our bags.

I reserved lunch at The Three Sisters because it was one of my favorite places to go while I was at school. It has gone through some updates since 2020, but it was still great to visit and it was nice to start our day with a meal. On the way there we walked through the University of Edinburgh campus, where I had most of my classes, and stopped into the gift shop.

From there we walked to the Monkey Barrel Comedy Club because it is the meeting place for the Mountebank Comedy Walk. I knew we were all tired from traveling, and a two hour walking tour might not have sounded awesome to everyone, but I figured it was the best way to get a quick overview of Old Town and keep us from falling asleep too early. I had done the tour when my friend, Casey, came to visit me and loved how Daniel led his tour. We laughed hard while we learned about famous serial killers and the history of the Scottish national animal (it's a unicorn!). Daniel does a fantastic job of getting to know each of his tour groups enough to make them feel included, and crack jokes at their expense.

After the tour, we grabbed a drink at The Last Drop, since we had learned about it on the tour (it was where prisoners got one last drink before being hanged) before going back to the hotel to regroup.  

We ended that first day at Biddy Mulligans. 

Friday:

Friday we did the Rabbie's Loch Ness, Glencoe & the Highlands 1 day tour. This day started early, which I did partially on purpose to get us up and moving and partially because the weather that day was the best when I was scheduling this event. The tour left at 8:00am and got back to Edinburgh at 8:00pm. It was long, but it was fantastic. Our driver/tour guide Pete was amazing at storytelling - he was able to recount Scottish history while pointing out landmarks that we were driving past.

The tour stopped at Rannoch Moor, Glencoe, Great Glen, Fort Augustus, Loch Ness, Grampian Mountains, and Highland Perthshire before making one last stop to see Highland Cows. The Highland Cows were my highlight, but the longest stop was in Loch Ness where we were able to take a boat cruise on the Loch and learn about Nessie. 

When we got back to Edinburgh, we ended up grabbing some food at Mamma's American Pizza. This was unplanned, and what felt like the only open kitchen in Edinburgh by the time we got there. Afterwards, my sister and I grabbed drinks at The Black Bull.

Saturday:

My sister and I got up early to try to find a place for breakfast before dragging our whole group around the city. We walked to Em's Kitchen, which is delicious, but ultimately decided it was too far to make everyone walk to and ended up at Alba Bistro right in the Grassmarket, which was perfect.

We spent most of Saturday in Stirling. Stirling Castle is a lot of fun because it has tours and actors in costume to talk about what the castle was like when Kings and Queens lived there. After we explored the castle, we stopped at the ice cream truck that was parked outside (I got a 99 Flake), before walking towards the gin distillery. The Stirling Distillery ended up being closed for a private tour, so we walked right down the street to The Settle Inn, which is Stirling's oldest alehouse. It was the perfect Scottish pub: quaint, wood burning stove, great bartender - the works!

When we got back to Edinburgh, we grabbed dinner at City Restaurant. My friend from Grad School met us for dinner and it was great to see her again! My sister and I brought her back to her apartment and then met some of our group at The Black Bull.

Sunday:

Happy Mother's Day! At least it was for us/America. Because of this, I made a reservation at Tigerlily for brunch. We all loved it and agreed it was something we would do again if given the chance. On the walk from our hotel to Tigerlily we stopped in Princes Street Gardens to take a picture in front of the Ross Fountain.

My mom really wanted to see the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, so we walked there, but it was too early in the season and there weren't many flowers to see. We also accidentally walked to the entrance further away which added like a half hour to our walk. So all in all, not the greatest addition to our trip, but it was still nice. We could tell it would have been beautiful if it was further into the season.

We took a double decker bus back to Old Town and some of us did some shopping on the Royal Mile, while others went back to the hotel to relax before dinner. On the bus ride back, I made a reservation at The Pear Tree because they were able to show the Bruins game for us. It was a great addition to our week because it was a playoff game that was an afternoon game in Boston, so timing wise worked out great for us in Scotland.

Monday:

Our last full day. We had breakfast at Alba Bistro again, before climbing the stairs to Edinburgh Castle. Unfortunately, they weren't doing any tours at the castle the day we were there, but we spent about 2 hours walking around. From there we went to the The Scotch Whisky Experience. The experience starts with a ride in a whisky barrel and tells you how Scotch Whisky is made. Then you get to watch a short video about the different regions of Scotland and you select which Scotch you want to try. The Scotch Whisky Experience is home to the largest Scotch collection in the world, and looking at the different bottles is very interesting while you taste the Scotch.  

At the time of our trip, we needed negative COVID tests to travel back into the states. So, after we grabbed lunch at Deacon Brodies Tavern (I got a steak and ale pie - wicked good), we took a bus to a clinic right by Murrayfield Stadium. Thankfully we were all negative and got to come home with no issues the next day.

After our tests, we went to The White Hart Inn and Biddy Mulligans again.

What we didn't do:

There are plenty of more things to do in Edinburgh and surrounding areas, but of all the things I planned for, the only things we didn't do included extra walking. They were Arthur's Seat, Calton Hill, and the Meadows. Arthur's Seat and Calton Hill give great views of the city. We actually did walk to the Meadows on our way back from our COVID tests, but no one wanted to take the full lap. They would have been nice additions to our trip, but I can't really blame anyone for not wanting to do more walking.

The Wanderer by Josie Williams | Release Blitz*

Title: The Wanderer

Author: Josie Williams

Genre: YA Romance/PNR Twist

Release Date: October 7, 2021

“The Wanderer is a gut-wrenching, epic love story that I could not put down. I was addicted and rooting for Ryder and Maggie from the start.” ~ Natasha Preston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Cellar

Teenage love is epic. But falling in love with a human girl when you’re dead? Yeah, that blows.

For the last few months, Ryder has been content just to watch Maggie from afar, but one rainy night changes everything. When the girl he’s in love with is in danger, he doesn’t hesitate to save her life.

That one moment alters their destiny, and now anything is a possibility.
As the pair grow closer, Ryder struggles to keep his dark secret hidden, because there’s something Maggie doesn’t know… Ryder died five years ago.

Are they just two lonely souls, destined to be apart?

"Moving and intense" ~ Kat Ellis, Harrow Lake 

“A beautiful book about loss, longing, and love” ~ NJ Simmonds, The Path Keeper 

“Just gorgeous” ~ Cynthia Murphy, Last One To Die. 

“A gut-wrenching, epic love story” ~ Natasha Preston, The Cellar.

Nobody likes feeling alone, which is why it's so important to find someone you can confide in and enjoy being around. However, that can be tough when one of you is a dead wanderer possessing a body of a boy while the other has no idea and thinks the boy has some type of duel personality because he only talks to her when they're alone. 

That's what happens in this book. Ryder has been dead for five years wandering around. He sees Maggie for the first time when she brings her grandmother into the hospital and is immediately intrigued. When an incident happens where he figures out that he can possess the body of her classmate, Charlie, and get to talk to Maggie, he does it whenever he can. But Maggie deserves more than a dead boyfriend and Charlie, even though he's a jerk, deserves to not have his body taken over every day.

It's impossible for them to truly be together, but that doesn't take away from the relationship that they form. They're finally seen by one another, but how long can it last? Watching them navigate the limitations of each of their worlds was heartbreaking because I just wanted them to be together. Mostly I wanted Ryder to be able to give Maggie the biggest hug as himself instead of as Charlie.

This book is a highly entertaining YA paranormal romance that kept me wondering, How is this going to work out? The ending made my jaw drop. I'm still processing as you read this. 

Josie Williams is the alter ego of international bestselling author Kirsty Moseley. She lives in the UK. Is a lover of dogs, donkeys and guinea pigs. A coffee addict. A hopeless romantic, and reader of all the things.

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*This ARC was given to me as a gift, but the opinions are my own