Falkirk Wheel

The Falkirk wheel was one of the items I was really looking forward to in our trip to Scotland, but I was not expecting it to be so cool.  The whole site is made to be a fun get away with a water course and a playground for the kids.  However, the nerd  and designer in me was freaking out with the wheel itself.  It is a fairly simple design in that the wings of the Falkirk wheel are always equalized because they are displacing water.  

It takes two barges for the wheel to turn.  There is one on either wing; one is going up while the other is coming down.  

There is also a tunnel that we have to go through on the upper deck.  I expect something like this would NEVER be built in the US because it would never be economically justified.  It did replace some very old locks and reopened the canal system.  It is historical....  And stuff. 

But that does NOT detract from its coolness.  The wheel serves only tourist traffic.  Below is a picture of us at the top heading into the wheel.  The river ends in the SKY!

One of the "other" things they had were these giant balls.  I may need some of these come winter so the kids can get outside and wear themselves out.  It is a bit freaky to let your kid out in a giant bubble on this murky water, but at least they are tied off.  They had a great time, but I suspect I had the most fun just catching them.  

Edinburgh

In Edinburgh, we stayed in Leith, which is a suburb.  Leith has this really fantastic looking waterfront area that was at one time a very important in Scottish history and dated back to the medieval times.  Now, it is a sleeping area with a few cool bars and restaurants and probably some of the most spectacular looking sunsets.  

We went to a cool bar called "the lioness".  The decorations were eclectic and they had a Madonna poster (Desperately seeking Susan) in their bathroom.  I finally found a pale ale that was not terrible.  It is brewed down the road from here.  

Here a few pictures of our walk to the waterfront.  

Behind is the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was one of the Queen's ships that has been retired.  The enormous mall that is just outside of the ship really incorporates the Britannia into it.  

It was an easy commute into the city on their big double decker bus.  Mr. T and I went on a great four mile run to this really fantastic overlook called Calton Hill.  I could see the Firth of Forth and the Edinburgh castle, and I could see for miles in all directions.  There were a lot of people just sitting on top of the mountain drinking and waiting for the sun to go down.  It was 9:00 at night and still super bright.  

Old Town Edinburgh was beautiful.  They have cobblestone streets and tons of historic architecture.  Not surprisingly, it is pretty easy to find someone in a kilt.  I suspect most of them are American's or part of the tourist trade.  

On of the "must do's" is taking a tour of Edinburgh Castle.  We all found something we enjoyed, and I think that the curators tried to balance the history the best they could.  I am sure over the years, the way they have explained the history of the castle has changed dramatically.  We toured the castle on our tourist pass, which was well worth the money we paid for it.  

This is the view of Edinburgh from the castle.  

One of the things they discussed was the one o'clock cannon, which was used to set the time.  Not surprisingly, BabyP was obsessed with the idea.  

Edinburgh is built up on a big hill and flows down from the Edinburgh Castle.  As such, when we did our tourist tour, we did a lot of hiking up and down the old alley ways through the city.  

We saw Greyfriars Bobby, and we also took a tour of Mary King's Close.  We tried to track where some of the streets had moved, and enjoyed prying into the different parts of history.  We even contemplated a tour of the ultra modern Parliament house!  

The whole trip was a blast, and I am so glad we were able to do it.  I think traveling to Scotland made my kids able to put into context the sites they see around DC.  I often hear them comparing them to something else they saw overseas.  

New Gig.

I  switched jobs to a new organization, and I am surprised by how good of a move it has been.  I know that one of the big reasons I feel so much better at my new job is that it is permanent as opposed to transitional.  However, another reason is that I feel valued for the work I do.

By training, I am an engineer, but it has been a long time since I have turned out a design for engineering.  Much of career was spent either managing someone else's design or getting a design to a place that others could work out the details.  As such, I am not good at the details of engineering.  I became VERY aware of this when I started looking for a new job.  It is strange to look at engineering jobs when you don't really have a lot of applied experience as a designer.  I think if I was 20 years old and happen to stumble across my blog and read what I just wrote, I would be appalled. However, having an additional 20 years under my belt, I realize that it can easily happen, and my talents are not in actually designing, it is in knowing how to direct a design.  

So my new job is very good.  I am very happy.  I feel like I "get" to go to work.  Everyday I feel lucky to work with the people I do and the organization I do.  When I left Arkansas, I left a group of very supportive and extremely intelligent women.  These are women that I would go to first if I had a question.  When I moved to DC, I was not able to replicate those relationships.  I had a lot of male friends, but I was at a different point in my life than a lot of the people I used to work with.  At my new job, I am with a group of people that really do help one another out.  It feels like a team working towards a purpose.

So here's to many more!  It is nice to be someplace where I feel valued, and I am not bringing my stress home to my family.  Here's to feeling secure.  Here's to seeing the sun!  Here's to watching my jobs be built!  Here's to the good friends I miss, and to the good friends I have made.  

Night Out with the Nationals!

I am getting my posts all mixed up, BUT in August, we finally made it to a National's game.  We must be their good luck charm, because they WON!

The park is near an area that is being developed.  We enjoyed walking around the park and fountains after the game taking in the sites.  

We happened upon movie night at the park.  This was a special movie night because the local bike share organization was celebrating a birthday!  We ended up scoring some free popcorn and blankets!  We also ended up going home very late, but we had a great outing.