Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

I know, we are a bit behind the times in not having seen this when it was out in the theaters, but we finally sat down and watched Rogue One:  A Star Wars Story.

My kids and I loved it!  My wife, on the other hand, was more or less 'meh' on it.  LOL!  She's never seen the originals (Episodes 4, 5, and 6).  She's only seen Episode 2, which I took her to in the theater and she was scarred for life.  Episode 2 is not very good and the absolute wrong movie to watch first in the Star Wars franchise.  Actually, we did see Episode 7 in the theater, but watching Episode 2 first probably but a bad taste in her mouth as it relates to Star Wars.

I really don't have much else to say other than to watch Rogue One.  It details how the Death Star blueprints were obtained, which lead to the destruction of the Death Star in Episode 4.  In Episode 4 we know the rebels have the blueprints, but are never told how they were obtained.  Rogue One is the story of how they were obtained.  Rogue One also contains a very strong female lead which is good to see in movies.  

Scotland - Ormond Castle

While visiting the Black Isle in Scotland, we ended the day with a pleasant hike to the top of a hill to see the ruins of Ormond Castle.  This is not to be confused with Castle Ormond in Ireland.  These are two VERY different castles.  Whereas the castle in Ireland is a standing castle, the castle in Scotland is a set of ruins with just a few stones remaining.  Ormond Castle in Scotland was destroyed in 1650 and the materials were used to build a castle in Iverness.  So what does it look like at the top of this hill?  Our pictures below cover this nicely.

In addition to a few stones left over, there is a breathtaking view of Avoch, down below.  

Getting to Ormond Castle is a bit tricky.  The walk itself is easy, but to figure out where to walk is the tricky part.  The trail itself begins on private property.  It's someone's farm and the trail starts by walking along their fenced property.  On the day we visited one of the farm's horses greeted us at the fence! Walking up to and along the farm is legal, but you can't park on their property, nor can you park at the end of their driveway.  You have to park down in Avoch, walk along the road up the hill to the end of the farm's driveway, walk up the driveway, and then finally access the trail.  Here's a link describing the access point in more detail.

Hike to Ormond Castle

Let me put this hike in perspective.  We cheated a bit.  My wife dropped my oldest daughter and I up by the driveway and we walked from there.  The two of them looked for seashells on the beach while my oldest daughter and I took the short hike.  It probably would have taken us 30 minutes to walk from the town to the top of the hill.  We walked back from the top to the town in 19 minutes.  Again, not a hard hike at all once you figure out how to get there!  

The hike to Ormond Castle provides a bit of history, beautiful scenery, and a great way to end another amazing day in Scotland.

Republic Wireless Review

Let me start by saying I'm not being paid by Republic Wireless to say this.  Let me also start by saying that today's post is focused on saving money and not so much on science.  However, finding ways to save money is a form of science, in my opinion.  My wife and I have been customers of Verizon Wireless for 14 years.  She was a customer a few years prior to that before I purchased my first cell phone.  Over the years the monthly costs have gone up as texting became more common and data plans were introduced.  We often look at our finances to see if there are ways to save money.  The cell phone bill is a big chunk of change each month, coming in at about $140/month.  We spent a couple of months investigating low cost carriers as a way to save money each month and eventually decided to make the leap and leave Verizon to join Republic Wireless.

Republic Wireless is a low cost carrier that uses wireless networks for phone calls as opposed to a cellular network.  Whenever your phone is connected to a wireless network and you make a call, that call is made using that wireless network.  If you move off a wireless network, you can still make phone calls as your phone will switch to T-mobile's cellular network.  The phone will make the switch even if you are currently on a call.  I've tested this out by starting a call when on a wireless network and walking out of wireless range.  The phone call remained connected with no interruption.
So what are the advantages?  I have a smartphone that does exactly what I was doing on my smartphone with Verizon.  My wife and I now have two phone plans that total (and this is the true cost) $45/month.  That's a savings of $95/month!!!  We have the same amount of data.  On Verizon we had a shared plan of 2 GB/month.  Now we each have our own plans with 1 GB/month.  No contracts or 2 year plans either.

What are the disadvantages?  Phone calls are probably a bit less reliable, but I've had no phone calls dropped thus far.  On top of that, making phone calls is not the primary use of my phone.  Phone choices are limited to about 7 to 8 phone choices and all are Androids.  There are a few top of the line choices, however.  I went with a mid-level phone, Moto 5G+.  Works as well as my previous top of the line phones.  If you are a big iPhone user, you are out of luck.  I've never had an iPhone and I consider them highly overrated.  The Verizon coverage map is quite large.  It was very rare I found myself in an area with no coverage, although there were times this was the case, particularly in West Virginia.  With Republic Wireless using a T-mobile coverage map, I have found myself, when in rural areas geocaching, with spotty cellular coverage.  So this is something to consider depending on where you live.  Another possible disadvantage is that there is no real-time customer support.  If you have a support question, you go to their website and fill out a form.  To be honest, this really doesn't concern me.  Whenever I had a issue with Verizon, I always went online and searched forums to find my answer.  Calling Verizon was always a pain in the butt and rarely helpful.

Most of the disadvantages above are not really disadvantages in my opinion.  The only real disadvantage to me is the smaller coverage maps when not on a wireless network.  But with a savings of $95/month, I'm more than willing to accept spotty coverage in areas I don't often find myself.  It's well worth the trade off in my opinion.  Republic Wireless is not necessarily a good fit for everyone, but if you are looking for ways to save money each month, taking a look at your cell phone expenses is a great start.  A savings of $95/month is nothing to sneeze at.  I've been on Republic for about a month now with no complaints.

Scotland - Black Isle

After going for a nice hike to Loch nam Bonnach, we had lunch at the Bad Girl Bakery, which was an excellent cafe!  Then we hopped in the car and took a drive along the coast of the Black Isle, just north of Inverness.  The Black Isle is a piece of land that juts out into a couple of firths, as shown in the map below.

We drove along the south side, stopping in Avoch, Rosemarkie, and Cromarty.  All three are neat little villages with beautiful scenery of the firth.  The little bit of land that juts out on the map near Rosemarkie is a must drive.  At the end is a nice viewing spot of the firth.  It's also a prime viewing spot for dolphins.  Cromarty is another great viewing spot for dolphins.  After our hike in the morning, we took it easy driving around the Black Isle, enjoying the scenery, and looking for dolphins.  We didn't spot any dolphins, but the views were breathtaking nonetheless.  Here are a few of our pictures.

Near Avoch one also find the ruins to Ormond Castle, but more on that in the next Scotland post.  

This Blog's History: Edinburgh Castle

In case you missed it last month, for This Friday in This Blog's History, I point you back to the post I wrote on our family visit to Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.  Simply amazing!  If you haven't caught on by now, I highly encourage everyone to visit Scotland.  So much to see and do!  For more details and pictures, check the original post, linked below.

Scotland - Edinburgh Castle

Scotland: Loch nam Bonnach (Beauly)

On our first full day in Beauly, Scotland, we took the advice of the owner of the house we rented and took a wonderful walk/hike to Loch nam Bonnach.

In the image above you see Beauly on the right.  The loch is the body of water on the left side of the map.  The start of the path to the loch was very close to our house and started as a logging road through a forest.  It was interesting seeing where the forest was logged and how the landscape differed along the walk.  There were areas of old forest, new forest, and areas recently logged with barely any new growth yet.

On the way there the hike was mostly uphill, although not a steep uphill climb.  The hike offered some excellent views of Beauly from above.  After about 60 to 90 minutes we made it to the loch and were well rewarded with some beautiful views!  Here are a few of our pictures along this hike.

We spent some time skipping rocks on the shore of the loch.  Above is a picture of me, in action, skipping a rock, as well as one of my oldest daughter.  This quickly became a theme on our trip.  Whenever we stopped at a body of water, there was a competition as to who could get the most skips from a single rock!  LOL!

The other nice thing about this walk is you are off the beaten path.  There was no one else along this hike, both there and back.  The hike itself is not a tourist hotspot and is mostly visited by locals out for a nice walk (or horse ride).  If you find yourself in Beauly, you can't go wrong on this relatively short hike.  It's quicker coming back as you are walking downhill.  I think in total we were gone for about 2.5 hours.  A very nice morning hike to kick off our day.  

We Saw a Total Solar Eclipse!!!

The title says it all.  My wife, two daughters, and I saw a total solar eclipse and it was AMAZING!!!  We drove to Bowling Green, KY this past Sunday and stayed the night in a hotel.  We booked the hotel back in January when there were still rooms.  Needless to say, EVERY hotel room anywhere within a 90 minute drive was booked!  On the morning of the eclipse we woke up early and drove to Russellville, KY, about 30 minutes to the southwest of Bowling Green.  Bowling Green was in the path of totality, but at the very edge, with a totality time of only 53 seconds.  We wanted the full totality time, thus the short drive to Russellville.  In Russellville totality was 2 minutes and 27 seconds.  Although not at the very middle of the totality path, Russellville was close enough to see an excellent total eclipse.

How to describe our experience?  I can't!  And that's the truth!  I knew exactly what to expect.  I knew the sky would darken.  I knew street lamps would come on.  I knew insect noise volume would drop.  I knew the temperature would drop a bit.  I knew a slight uptick in wind speed would occur.  I knew the solar corona would become visible.  I knew Venus and a few of the brightest stars would appear.  I knew all of this, but saying this does not fully describe the experience of directly witnessing a total solar eclipse!  The only way to truly understand a total solar eclipse is to witness it.  I had chills and goosebumps during totality.  It was simply an amazing, AMAZING experience!

The drive home, however, was not the same exciting experience.  What should have been a 4 hour 15 minute drive in normal conditions, took 8 hours!  But we saw a total solar eclipse so it was worth it!  While driving, it was interesting to see the large diversity of license plates.  In Kentucky you expect to see more Kentucky license plates than any other state, but that was not the case.  We saw license plates from so many different states, including Canada.  At one stop light we looked around and saw Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, and Ontario, Canada plates.  And that was at just one stop!

In Russellville we stationed ourselves at the Logan County Public Library.  I want to give a huge thanks to the library staff who did a wonderful job.  They opened up their doors to the cool air, bathrooms, and had crafts available for kids.  Outside they had cool mist fans and plenty of bottled water.  They also had plenty of solar eclipse glasses available for anyone who didn't already have a pair.  An absolute amazing job!  They also had a world map and everyone was asked to place a small star sticker where they live.  People at this library for the eclipse came from many states, including Florida, Alaska, and Hawaii.  Many countries were represented, including Australia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and several European countries.

Wow!  That's all I can say and that doesn't do this experience justice.  If you missed this total solar eclipse, the next one is July 2, 2019, cutting through the southern part of South America.  The next total solar eclipse to hit the US is on April 8, 2024.  This one extends from Texas, through the eastern midwest, and up to Maine.  Another great opportunity that I can't wait for.  I currently live in the path of totality of this upcoming eclipse!  Fingers crossed for clear skies!

If you ever have a chance to view a total solar eclipse, take advantage.  Fight the traffic, book a hotel early, do what you need to do to see it.  It is a bucket list worthy event and I am so glad I was able to experience it and experience it with my family.  Amazing!

Scotland: Stirling Castle

On our way from Edinburgh to Beauly, we first stopped at Blackness Castle, discussed in a post last week, and then we stopped for lunch in Stirling and visited Stirling Castle.  I'll begin by saying Stirling Castle was an amazing castle!  I think we were there close to three hours before finally deciding that we needed to get going if we were going to reach Beauly at a reasonable time.  We could have stayed at Stirling a bit longer.  I would argue Stirling Castle was more impressive than Edinburgh Castle.  Stirling Castle also offered a short, 30 minute kids tour for free which was very interesting.  Below are a few of our pictures.

There's a lot to see in Scotland, but I'd argue Stirling Castle is a a MUST-SEE, especially if you purchased the Explorer's Pass ahead of time.  Stirling is also a neat little village with several restaurants.  We had lunch at the Darnley Coffee House before heading to the castle.  They served excellent toasties.  Highly recommend them if you are in need of food.

I'd plan on at least two, if not three hours or more at Stirling.  There is that much to see.  In the three hours there, there were one or two areas we didn't get to see.  In the pictures above, there's a tall tower off in the distance in one of them.  This is the Wallace Monument.  You can climb to the top, although we had to skip this on our trip.  Also in the pictures above is a statue of Robert the Bruce, who played an integral role in the history of Stirling Castle.  

Solar Eclipse Day - Have Fun and Be Safe!!!

For those of us living in the United States, we've waited 38 years for this!  The last total solar eclipse to touch the United States was in 1979.  That's a long time to wait!  This is a super exciting day and I hope everyone out there has clear skies.  Fingers crossed!  Have fun today and remember to be safe.  Do not view the eclipse without proper eye protection.  Don't do it!  I know you'll be tempted, but don't do it!  Use those solar eclipse glasses and protect your eyes!  Also, and this should be obvious, but don't try to observe the eclipse while driving.  Pull over.  Be safe!

I'll report how things went for my family later this week!  Exciting...or disappointing if it's cloudy.  Oh please don't be cloudy!  :-)

This Blog's History: CampQuest Camping

In case you missed it last month, I point you back to the long post I wrote on my daughter's experiences camping at CampQuest last month.  To sum it up, she had an AWESOME time!  For more details on CampQuest and her specific experiences, please view the original post, linked below.

Camping at CampQuest

Despicable Me 3

While my oldest daughter was at CampQuest, I took my youngest daughter out to the movies to see Despicable Me 3.

It wasn't the best of the Despicable Me movies but it was still a fun movie to watch.  I shouldn't have to refute the bad science in the movie given that it is a superhero/villain cartoon movie, but we live in a world in which climate change is considered a hoax by our President and dismissed by much of the GOP.  We also live in a world in which life saving vaccines are openly attacked and for some reason the flat earth movement is slowly growing.  So let me just say a few things about this movie so everyone is clear.

Bubble gum bombs that lift parts of a city into space DO NOT EXIST!  Villains from the 1980s with cheesy 1980s mustaches DO exist.  :-)  Go out and enjoy this movie!

Wonder Woman

Prior to leaving for Scotland we took the kids to see Wonder Woman in the movie theater.  We went in the evening, which is very rare for us, but that was the only available time before leaving for two weeks and we really wanted to see the movie.  Typically we go to the movies on Sunday mornings as our local theater has deep discounts on movies before noon on Sunday's.  When you're buying 4 tickets plus popcorn (I know, I could skip this, but movie theater popcorn is SOOOO good!) the costs add up fast, so the deep discounts are what we go for.

Here's how I'd best sum up Wonder Woman.  AMAZING!  Loved it!  It was great to see DC Comics finally put together a good movie after several sub-par attempts.  It was also great to see a superhero movie with a strong female lead that isn't tied into a male superhero leaving as well.  It's a great message to all girls (and boys too) that women are just as powerful as men, even in a fictional universe.

If you haven't yet watched it, I recommend you do and let your kids watch it.  My kids are 10 and 6 and although there is violence in the movie it is not bloody/gory violence.  People are shot, but no blood or wounds are shown.  People do die, but I didn't find the scenes inappropriate for kids the ages of my kids.  My 6 year old (now 7 as she recently had her birthday) really loved the movie!

Scotland: Blackness Castle

After spending two full days in Edinburgh, we hopped in the car and headed north to Beauly, near Inverness, in the northern highlands of Scotland.  We took our time and stopped at several places along the way, including Blackness Castle, just on the northern outskirts of Edinburgh.  Blackness Castle is a smaller castle than Edinburgh Castle, but much less populated with tourists.  Despite being smaller, it was no less interesting.  It's cheaper to visit, although if you purchase the Explorer's Pass at the start of your trip, you don't have to worry about the cost of visiting many of Scotland's Castles and historic sites.

The tower seen in the images above is open and you can take the stairs to the top for some very good views of the surroundings.  This castle is located on the shore, so you get some great views, including those of the very impressive bridges nearby that carry cars and trains across the waterway, as opposed to having to drive all the way around.  

If in the area on your visit to Scotland, Blackness is another great castle to visit, especially if you have that Explorer's Pass.  Hint hint.  By now it should be clear to you that I'm a big fan of the Explorer's Pass.  :-)

Scotland: Arthur's Seat

After a fun first day in Scotland (in Edinburgh), we spent the second day visiting the other end of the Royal Mile and took a climb to the top of Arthur's Seat.  Arthur's Seat is the highest of a set of hills near Edinburgh.  You can walk to it relatively easily from the end of the Royal Mile opposite Edinburgh castle.  Or you can take a bus (great bus system!) and get pretty close to Arthur's Seat.

It's a relatively steep climb to the top in places, but there are built in stairs.  You can reach the top from several different angles, so don't worry about being on the right side of the hill/mountain when you start.  There are several clear trails all over the place that lead to the top.  

Be aware that it gets extremely windy at the top, especially on an already windy day as it was for us!  The reward, however, is amazing!  Fantastic views from the top and beautiful scenery in all directions.  It's certainly not a disappointment when you get to the top!  There are many, many things to do in Edinburgh.  Arthur's Seat is just one of them, but one that I highly recommend if you are visiting.