SUCCESS!!!

Well, I guess it pays to get up at 3:30 AM, walk a couple blocks to the car to get your clubs with your wife practically in her pajamas and her teeth barely brushed, and walk four more blocks to sit outside in the cold to find you are third in line after another American couple for two hours until the starter for the Old Course at St. Andrews Golf Links shows up at 6:00 AM...all to see if there is even a possibility of walking on that day since you didn't have a tee time that you made in advance one year ahead and also couldn't enter the lottery to play as a single player.

I guess all that pays off because....HE GOT TO PLAY! :-)

And I got to walk the course with him!

That's us while he waits to tee off at Hole 17. This is the most nervewracking shot for him because he has to hit the ball over a portion of the hotel are posing in front of. 

Getting to play St. Andrews was a big deal to Mike because its basically the "home of golf". We came all the way over here hoping he would be able to get on, but not knowing for sure. To reserve a tee time at St. Andrews you need to book it one year ahead, but one year ago Mike had just ruptured his quad tendon and we didn't know for sure when he would be playing again. So he didn't make a tee time then. The next option would have been to enter a lottery a couple days ahead to get a time, but you can't enter the lottery as a single player. So the last option is to show up early the day you want to play and see if they can fit you in a slot, first come-first serve. 

We showed up in line at 4:00AM behind a nice young couple from St. Louis, Missouri which put Mike third in line. It was a fun wait...we were all Americans so we sat and swapped stories bat our experiences so far in the UK. After us came a man who grew up in Monterey and is in the Air Force. He ended up being in Mike's group later on and his wife and I walked with them as they played all 18.

He joined a foursome. Mike, the US Air Force guy from the early morning line, a German girl who is attending school in St. Andrews, and the girl's mother visiting from Germany. 

Here are some shots:

The back of the starter hut.

Mike getting ready at the first tee.

The view of the city of St. Andrews from about the second or third hole.

I loved how the ground was so rolly.

Mike with his caddy, John. Very nice man.

Mike's ball almost went into this bunker, but landed just above it.

Some caddies waiting to pick up a bag posed for me outside the caddie pavilion. :-)

So now that's checked off the list. Yay!

Last stop, St. Andrews!

We travelled across Scotland from Troon to St. Andrews which took between two to two and a half hours. We drove across this bridge:

...and while we did we spied this bridge across the way for trains:

We would later go across that red bridge when taking the train from the St. Andrews area to Edinburgh (but more on that later).

Still no Highland coos...but pretty views along the way. OMG you can see my foot in the mirror! LOL

Here we are!

The outside of our B&B...

The view down our street towards some of the many colleges of The University of St. Andrews (if you follow the royal stuff, this is the school where Prince William and Princess Kate went).

The stairs leading up to our room inside Aslar House.

I loved that we have a little couch so I am putting a pic of that. I sit here a lot on this couch (the thing will all the bags on it).

The other side of the room...

Tea "tray"!

Possibly my most favorite pic of our whole trip...eating lunch our first day in St. Andrews before Mike goes off to play at Carnoustie.

He's back with his logo ball! He said Carnoustie was the toughest course of the whole trip.

While Mike golfed at Carnoustie I did a little shopping on Market Street. I put an X on the map where the B&B is. This town is awesome. There are shops, a movie theatre, tons of golf, lots of places to eat, and the collegiate atmosphere mixed with all the golf nuts from around the world is just FUN. St. Andrews has been our favorite place so far during this entire trip.

Never saw this little guy, but I loved this ad in one of the brochures here. The seagulls in this town are CRAZY! They are so loud and territorial and sometimes sound like humans crying or cats meowing. We witnessed one steal and entire sandwich out of a guy's hand!! 

This place has THE BEST hot chocolate. They have a little sign inside that says "This is where Kate dumped Wills." Or something like that, I can't remember exactly!

Next post...does Mike get onto The Old Course at St. Andrews Links?

More Troon

Here are some pictures of the rest of our time in Troon:

Mike standing at the back of the clubhouse at Royal Troon golf course.

A set of really old clubs inside the Royal Troon clubhouse.

The front of the clubhouse at Royal Troon golf course.

This is just a couple miles or so away from our B&B in Troon. As we were heading to see Dundonald Castle, we discovered this view accidentally by looking in the rear view mirror. In the water in the distance is Ailsa Craig (that big rock).

Then this would be the rest of the view to the right as we pan over to show you the Isle of Arran. 

At Dundonald Castle just outside of Troon.

Behind the castle.

Closer up front again.

Then we took a drive to check out the beach back at Troon near sunset. Loved the picket fence. :-). There are so many beautiful wild flowers in Scotland. They are everywhere...and all different types and colors.

Mike heading to the beach.

There it is. Love the grass.

The sun sets...at about 9:30-10:00. Long days here!

Arriving in Troon, Scotland

We left the Yorkshire area and finally began the four hour drive to Troon, Scotland. Scotland was the part of our trip we'd been eagerly waiting for. Neither of us had been to Scotland and while Mike was daydreaming about Prestwick, Troon, Carnoustie, and possible getting onto The Old Course at St. Andrews, my goal was getting a glimpse of the ever so cute Highland cow (pronounced 'heel and coo' round these parts).

Well, these are NOT the Highland cows. I've yet to see one. But I'm still looking! Isn't the scenery pretty?

This is one of the highways that took us to Scotland and we had a near disaster! I was dozing on and off (as the passenger, of course!) when I happened to open my eyes and there was a body lying in the road right in front of me! I made a horrible noise, because I fully expected our car to run over this person and I did not want to witness that. Mike, only several days in to this backward UK driving stuff, expertly swerved around her all the while staying in his lane. What happened was, there was a group of cyclists on the highway and a semi truck in front of us possibly forced a gust if wind that overtook one of the cyclists (or she could have hit something in the side of the road) and she started to wobble and lost control and fell onto the highway. Once we realized we didn't hit her, we saw in the rearview mirrors that her friend dragged her out of the road to safety. Whew! The truck driver in front of us pulled over, and we did, too, flagging down the cyclists she was riding with who were ahead of them and didn't see what happened. They checked on her and said shed cut her leg but otherwise was okay and we could go on because they were traveling with a van. That was SCARY!!!

We arrived in Troon, Scotland and Mike headed straight to golf at Prestwick.

But this is the B&B we stayed at called No. 2 Troon.  We were greeted by Rita. She was so good to me, helping me find an urgent care nearby and later a pharmacy open late on Sunday which was no easy feat in this part of the country. After a quick call to my doctor in Hollister, he had urged me to seek medical attention for my legs without delay.

These little cuties also live at No. 2 Troon Road. :-)

"Let me come home with you, guys!"

Our room at No. 2...the only room we've had with 2 twins. But with the whole leg situation the timing was perfect because I was knocked out for the good part of Monday once my medicine kicked in and the itching subsided. I had lost a lot of sleep the two nights before. These were the most comfortable beds on the whole trip other than the first place in London, Lilac Door. They tie for first. :-)

Tea tray!

Mike in front of the Prestwick golf course in Troon.

Look how amazingly narrow this hole is.

Just had to put up a picture of the hospital where the urgent care center is in Kilmarnock where I went and got free care. Thank you, people of Scotland. The legs still look angry, but I think they are improving. Gotta keep an eye on it.