Loch Ness Connor....

I spent today making the final arrangements for our vacation. We are gradually getting closer, only two and half weeks to go. In case I haven't mentioned it (which I can't imagine), we are meeting Dan in London, and we are then going to Ireland and Scotland. We are so excited, we can't wait. Dan and I both have always wanted to see Ireland, and I can't believe we really are going to! It is definitely a very ambitious travel plan, but there was no way we could go to the United Kingdom without taking Connor to Scotland. You might not know this, but Connor tends to fixate on certain subjects, and once the fascination begins, it tends to last for quite some time. He is a great lover of the usual things little (though he's not so little anymore) boys love; dinosaurs, prehistoric mammals, and animals, just to name a few. When he was 9, we watched Walking With Prehistoric Beasts, and Raising the Mammoth more times than I can count. He spends many hours reading books on each subject, and he's usually the only kid in his class who prefers non fiction to fiction. So, it came as no shock to us when he became fascinated with the Loch Ness Monster. Of course, this entailed many trips to the library, many documentaries, and even multiple viewings of Scooby Doo and the Loch Ness Monster. All of this has just fueled his desire to go to Loch Ness. Hence our trip to Scotland. We are taking the lad to Loch Ness. He can hardly believe it. Hell, I can hardly believe it. And there is absolutely no doubt in my mind he will "see" the Loch Ness Monster. This is the boy who "saw" a Beluga Whale in the Saint John River, after all. And as luck would have it, there's been a Nessie sighting. An amateur scientist apparently caught Nessie on video. How fortuitous. We are spending an entire weekend in Inverness, the capital of the highlands. And even better, we are staying at the Loch Ness House Hotel. Of course, we are taking a boat cruise on the Loch, that is a must. We can actually take a cruise from Inverness to the ruins of Urquhart Castle, once under the control of Robert the Bruce. So, how long you think it will take Connor to see Nessie? I'd say, faster than Scooby Doo can say Drumnadrochit. But if all else fails, Katty can always act as a stand in. She is a wee monster after all.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/05/31/britain.lochness.ap/index.html

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”~~Albert Einstein