Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics. You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded. Because the elements, the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars. And the only way they could get into your body is if the stars were kind enough to explode. So forget Jesus. The stars died so you could be here today.
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June 30, 2011
With all the smoke from the forest fires about an hour North it was a hazy sunset last Thursday! Working outside all day was NOT fun.
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June 16, 2011
Reflection of the sunset on clouds in the East at Carolina Beach, NC :)
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June 14, 2011 in Denver, NC
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June 3, 2011
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Recent Update:
For the past month or so, since exams ended, everyone has been heading home. I am the last of all of my friends to go and the insane accumulation of stuff is evidence for that. It is now being passed on to some of our Scottish friends. I’ve been the last one here for about 4 days now and the time has flown by. This whole trip has flown by.
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Isle of Skye
Well, thank goodness I’m making this post a good month since I actually went to Skye! and days before I head back home.
The Isle of Skye is…..precious. just presh. It’s like an enchanted ancient adventure with cliffs and sheep and clouds and ocean and rainbows and unicorns!
We headed off to Skye for April 8-10 as a roomie weekend getaway :) Lindsay and Kat worked together to get us a hook-up with a tour company owned by a classmates boyfriend (or something like that) and it ended up working out perfectly. We left early on Friday and it took roughly 6-7 hours to arrive at Skye. Along the way we stopped at various places to take touristy pictures, etc.
First Stop was TAKE A WILD GUESS! The Firth of Forth bridges again!! This game is called ‘How many times can you see the forth bridges’. We won.
It was good to stop soon after we left though because it helped us wake up a little bit. We continued our journey north towards the highlands enjoy the scenery that we had previously seen on other tours…just as beautiful this time of course. The next stop was around Hermitage I think, but I honestly don’t remember the exact name of the river and stuff. I just know there was a battle with naked men here at one time.
So, by now we have a good sense of what the tour guide, Bill, is like. He talks a lot and tells stories non-stop and is NOT a good driver. But, he is funny and you can tell he just really likes his job. He also has good taste in music! Next stop was Dunkheld, making it the 3rd visit for Me and maybe Kat and Ali. This is the place I went to earlier with my class to see the Beatrix Potter thing and ate at the really good sandwich shop, which I hit up again. We all got lunch and went over towards the river next to the abbey and enjoyed our meals :) Ali’s drink came in a bottle with a cap that would not come off, so we spent a lot of time working on that and eventually we just punctured through the top haha
Soooo, leaving Dunkheld for the last time while in Scotland, we kept going up towards Skye (npi) and stopped at little random places for breaks and food. The landscape started to change and instead of green pastures for animals it started to get a little more rigid and mostly covered with dead heather-hence the brown color. Also…hills and mountains and stuff.
We stopped to view Loch Garry, which translates into Loch Scotland named after it’s resemblance to the shape of Scotland on a map. Since being in Scotland, we have noticed that there is lack in creativity when it comes to naming things haha
Next Stop: Eilean Donan Castle! Tourist favorite! and still privately owned meaning lots of grandchildren for me to marry and have a castle on my own.
Just around the corner from the castle is the bridge to Skye, so it took us no time at all to get there after this stop. Just a wee drive and we ended up in the small town of Portree.
That night we just laid low and rested up. Oh, and watched Aristocats. The next morning we woke up bright and early to begin our tour of Skye. We travelled along the East Coast of the Isle and I fell in love with how inhabited the whole place. With the exception of a gajillion tourist each year, the people on Skye live a pretty awesome life. Imagine seeing all of this everyday. Also, I keep wanting to type ‘skype’.
THIS… is a Cute little boat in a pond and from here we viewed “The Storr”. It’s basically just a famous pinnacle, which is a word that reminds me of whipped cream vodka, so that makes it cool.
Drove a wee bit…
We then headed to Kilt Rock and stopped once more before getting there. Here are some selected pictures including the SMASHING once of me right below. 
We finally got to Kilt Rock, which is probably the most seen land feature on Skye. It is really pretty indeed, plus DINOSAUR FOSSILS have been found here and I think that’s the coolest part because I love old stuff.
Next was this giant and beautiful area called the Quiraing. The view was just so vast these picture don’t do it justice, but we hung out there for a while just roaming the land with sheep. There is a pic of our group and of some guy parasailing over the cliffs. AMAZING.
Then Ali and I walked up the hill (to the right in the pic above). There you can maybe see us and get an idea of how big this place was.
Next was the magical Fairy Glen!!!! I can’t remember the story he told us about this place except for a piper hearing that fairies here could give you eternal life and he played for years and years and his fingers bled and the fairies ended up being evil, but he escaped….or something. It’s really just a cool land feature with hills that remind me of the chocolate mountains in the phillipines.
THE MAGIC.
We started to head back towards Portree around this point and we stopped at River Sligeachan aka river of everlasting beauty water if you put your face in it for 7 seconds. Of courseeee we did it because who wants to be ugly?
To end our 2nd day of touring we rested and watched Anastasia instead of Aristocats!
The next morning we woke for our last day of touring-this time starting off with the West coast and heading through a different part of the highlands and checking out Loch Ness. BYE SKYE!
Loch Nessss! I spotted the monster immediately!!
Turns out it was just a duck.
We went to Glencoe next, which I lovedddd
and from here we went straight to Edinburgh.
SOOOOO, in summary the trip was really good and although I didn’t have many stories to share (mostly because they’re all ‘you had to be there’ stories) I do have a few things to say:
1) I would be a horrible tour guide because half of this has a story, but not a very good one and honestly I just think it looks cool. and I would probably say that to a tour group if I had one.
2) Hostels are just not for me. Or at least the one we stayed in.
3) Aristocats is still just as great 15 years later.
4) I never want to see the Forth Bridges again.
5) Everyone should go to the Isle of Skye. It really is just beautiful and full of history that makes you think about a lot. It’s just so old and geologically interesting. I wish you could all hear the way Bill spoke also. The way he said ‘glacier’ will never be forgotten.
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