This will be me & my husband's first trip to Scotland. We are mid & late 20-somethings, have been married for 7 years (but never had a honeymoon), from Louisiana US, and have three small children that will not be coming along. It will be a nice getaway for us.
We are planning on spending 9 days next summer (probably June) in the UK, splitting our time between Scotland and staying with friends in London.
We are interested in seeing the most beautiful scenery, some castles, a distillery, and some history (I am halfway through the Outlander series and would like to see Culloden).
Possible plans:
(After a few days in London) From London fly or take an overnight train to Inverness
Day 1: Rent a car (or should we use public transportation?) and see surrounding areas like Culloden, Loch Ness, etc..); stay the night somewhere in the area.
Day 2: Drive to Skye that morning, spend the day and night there
Day 3: See Skye some more and then drive back to Inverness and then fly or take the overnight train back to London.
(is this too much driving?)
or
Instead should we spend our time in Edinburgh and those surrounding areas? (Is it a bad idea to visit Scotland and not see Edinburgh at all?)
or
A different plan? We still have a long time to plan.
What is the best way for our money and time to be spent? Thanks for any advice you can give me .

Depends on what you prefer: urban or rural. With only three days, if you do Edinburgh, it really doesn't make much sense to try to do a day trip, in my opinion, as there is plenty to see in the city.

If you want to do the rural bit, I'd suggest that you could see Culloden on the day you arrive at Inverness, then drive to Skye via Loch Ness (the loch is really just a drive by opportunity--there is not that much to it other than to say that you saw Loch Ness). You could see Urqhart Castle and Eilean Donan (a drive by site) on the way. Then you'd have pretty much two full days to explore Skye before heading back to Inverness.

Skye is a good bet. There are excellent walks and for something different have a look at the Aquaexplore tours. If you would like a more plush accomodation check out Ord House in Ord on Skye. Talisker Distillery is there and don't forget the home of Drambuie at the Broadford House. There are castles to see, gorgeous scenery, and much to see and do. Cheap flights are available between London and Inverness and a car rental from Hertz at Inverness Airport book through the US site is darn cheap (less than $175 for mid-size car this June for 4 days).

Thank you both for the tips! Rural sounds more appealing to me. We just want some time to explore and see the beautiful scenery.

Fly to Inverness, pick up Culloden and Clava Cairns and Brodie or Cawdor castles. If you take the early flight, there'll be plenty of time to get to Skye and stay over. Whip round Skye day two; stay over; go up the west coast as far as Ullapool and back to Inverness and catch the evening flight south again. Robert is your mother's brother.

Thanks Sheila, that sounds like a great plan for us. I can't wait to go!