Day #15 - We're Home - Last Post

Writing on 14 July 2009 18:55 EST
Posted at 23:45 CST from home! (it is 6:45 in Scotland!)

Today has been a very long day, long, but uneventful. We were up around 7, had breakfast at 8 and we were in the airport around 09:45 GMT. In CST that translates to up by 01:00 and in the airport by 03:45. We're in Newark as I type and on to Minneapolis / St. Paul at 20:00.

Continental did a great job taking care of us from Edinburgh to Newark. We didn't get emergency row and we tried three separate times (can you say annoying?), but they fed us well and there was plenty of entertainment via individual consoles for each seat, from movies (we both watched Duplicity & I watched Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid) to TV shows, games (Beth played Alchemy) and music. It was a slick set up.

Prior to the flight we spent some time debating whether we should be honest on the customs form and declare every single thing and the total costs. The form ended up dictating some of it for us, it was too short to list all of the goodies individually and we didn't convert the amounts from pounds and just listed the pound amount as dollars (lessening the amount we declared, as the conversion rate is about 1 pound to $1.78). In the end I think the customs officials we spent time with looked at the form for about one minute and all went just fine. I'm hopeful that everything is intact when we get it back from Continental in Minneapolis.

One of things we had fun with on the trip was learning new words or expressions. We thought we'd try to keep some of these in use as we return to the US. Here are couple we heard and used in Scotland:

For hire - to rent
Queue - get in line - we saw this with road construction too - "Queues likely;" as opposed to the "Possible delays ahead" signs we see at home
Cheers - we heard cheers used as a greeting, for a toast, as a thank you and as a good bye
Give Way - Yield, The road signs say "Give Way" instead of yield, there are lots of 'Give Way" signs and very few stop signs
Chips - French Fries; fish and chips being the most popular
Crisps - potato chips
Dual Carriageway - a 4 lane highway (2 lanes each way)
Petrol - fuel
Haar (pronounced Haah) - thick fog from the Firth of Forth (and other coastal areas as well)
Water Closet (abbreviated WC) - Toilet
Close - an alley
Loch - Lake
The boot - trunk of the car
Mobile (long i) phone - cell phone
Pub - bar
Ring you up or phone you - call you
Knock us Up - at a B&B the note said "Knock us up if there is an emergency"

If it isn't clear from our posts that we had a wonderful time let it be clear - we had a wonderful time! We're excited to come home, see the boys, relax in our home, sleep in our bed and reconnect with all of you. Thanks for reading and thanks for the comments.

23:45 - We got home to a clean house and two very happy dogs! Thanks to Callie and Maggie for dogsitting the boys and to Sean for mowing the lawn. Thanks to Todd for being our airport shuttle!

Day #14 - Ready to Go!

Posted on 14 July 07:36

Our bags are packed and we are ready to head down for breakfast and then out the door to the airport. We've decided to splurge and take a taxi. The bus line is close by, but the number of bags we're bringing home have grown and we're hopeful that we haven't exceeded the weight limit on our largest bag.

We have about 16 hours of travel ahead of us and as of yet no emergency row seating! We hope to remedy this at the airport with an early check-in.

We'll post one more update later today or tomorrow. Cheers!

Day # 13 Our last day in Scotland

We woke up to a room filled with sunshine, had a terrific breakfast, which included home made scones and it was a great start to our last day. Lefty (the car) got dropped off and we spent most the rest of the day on foot in the city. All of we wanted to do was visit some shops and enjoy Edinburgh. The sunny skies changed about an hour after we left the house without rain jackets and we got to duck in and out of shops with a little more frequency. When we had first arrived in Edinburgh and visited various shoppes we saw a wide variety of things that we liked or thought others would like, but we thought we'd set things aside and pick up later - today was the day that we'd tried to remember where things were.

Cadenhead's is one of the shoppes we popped in to, Maggie (a Scottie) was sleeping in the window (she is the spot of gray hair in the lower left). We didn't get to take Maggie with us, but we did some more whisky and we have plenty to share!

Our return to the guest house in the afternoon was well timed because the heavens opened for a full bore thunderstorm, which Beth tried to capture in several photos. We found a new restaurant down the block, enjoyed our last pints in Scotland and spent the evening packing. This trip was a long awaited trip and it was long overdue - we've had several discussions about our next trip and we've also discussed remodeling the basement to look like a pub. When we got married we said we would travel to Scotland for our fifth anniversary and we made it on our 11th anniversary! This was been a wonderful experiences and we look forward to sharing more stories and photos.

Thank you for reading!

Day #12 - On the road again.

This probably won't rank up there as the most exciting blog post you ever read. We had breakfast on the Isle of Skye, navigated our stuff back down the two flights of twisty, carpeted steps, loaded Lefty (the car), said good morning to Roger and made tracks for Edinburgh.

We are very grateful to have Roger on the trip as he has done a lot of the work, some that we are not sure we could have done. We were told at one point not to worry about getting somewhere because the streets in Scotland are well marked. Outside of the city there are road signs for the larger roads, but inside the city the streets are not well labeled. When there are street signs they are on the buildings and finding them can be a challenge - so without Roger we're not sure we'd find our destinations as easily as we have. Leaving Isle of Skye and heading for Edinburgh we followed Roger's lead which took us up into the middle of the country near Perth and on several roads that we had already navigated. The SatNav / GPS is programmed to find the fastest route, but we had hoped to make a loop and head south, near Fort William and Glascow. It was good lesson on programming Roger. It was a good day for driving with overcast skies and rain showers.

We stopped for fuel and snacks and arrived in Edinburgh around 15:00. Roger was great, navigating through some construction in the city, but I wasn't so good. I was crabby and frustrated with the traffic, not knowing where to go etc. I didn't follow Beth's advice to relax and follow the GPS directions and Beth put me in my place!

The Rowan Guest House is our home for the end of the trip and today (13 July) is our last day in Scotland. We poked around the neighborhood, but most of the shops are closed (it was Sunday), but the pubs weren't and we had a couple pints and dinner at the Old Bell pub. Sue - thanks for the restaurant suggestion - we'll look into that - thank you!

On Monday we have our last bit of city driving, taking Lefty (the car) across town to car for hire office and dropping it off. We plan to spend the rest of the day walking and visiting shops. Beth is already doing a little preliminary packing as I type and trying to make sure we're ready for customs. Thanks for reading!

Day #11 - Exploring the Isle of Skye

I do not want to task you with all of the details, but despite both not feeling well we had a great day. Beth started off the day not feeling well because of possible dehydration - just not drinking enough water (as opposed to too much of something else). I had an afternoon bout of something - possibly related to something I ate at lunch. However, we're all good now!

After tripping over each in the room we headed out to visit our second and final Scottish distillery, the Talisker Distillery. In place since 1830 Talisker is the only whisky made on the Isle of Skye and one I enjoyed before coming to Scotland. We bought some of the straight from the cask whisky, that is only available from the distillery, to bring home and share. Today we realized we ought to figure out how we are going to pack everything we bought and exactly what the customs rules are! We're thankful we brought the computer and have internet access.

After the tour, tasting and shopping we did some exploring and went in search of the Talisker stone that Norse sailors had named and the distillery was named after. See the photo for the Talisker Stone.

The stone and beach were at the end of a fifteen minute walk along a dirt farm road. The road went through the fields and had a change to speak to many sheep and goats (none of them spoke back to us, but we're pretty sure they were talking about us). Of course getting to the trail / road head was separate adventure and in addition to watching for cars we were also on alert for sheep in the road.

Talisker beach and distillery are on the opposite side of the island from Portree and the B&B and we found a small single track road that cuts across the island. It was a little like a roller coaster track in several places and a lot of fun to drive. We popped back into Portree had lunch, did a little laundry, met a wonderful retired couple from Wales who are on a 12 week sailing trip and then headed north of Portree to find some natural landmarks.

We discovered several incredible natural wonders including, the Old Man of Storr (rocky pinnacles and the face of man in the rocks, Lealt (a spectacular gorge and waterfall), Mealt (300 foot waterfall and kilt rock (the pillars in the rock face of the cliff look like the pleats of a kilt), Quirang (a single track drive full of switchbacks to an overlook on a several columns and pillars).

We met a German couple that had been a part of same tour at Talisker and also on the Talisker beach and they were also touring these natural wonders and we kept meeting up with them along the way. They were always there first, so I guess we were following them.

The evening finds us reading The Times - Scotland Edition, sipping whisky and planning our evening attack on Portree. Tomorrow is a driving day, we leave here and make tracks for Edinburgh, which is 4-5 hours away. We're both anticipating a low key day with lots of driving and limited sight-seeing.

Thanks for reading, we hope all is well with you!

Day # 10 now arriving - Isle of Skye

Blog post for Day 10 - 10 July, 2009 Writing on 11, July 14:18

Yesterday was wonderful day, the clouds were gone and we encountered wonderful scenery along a pleasant drive. We drove from Drumnacachdit to Portree on the Isle of Skye. We had the pleasure of navigating along roads that passed through beautiful mountain passes, across small little streams and brought us wonderful views of the ocean. I'm glad that Beth has become the official photographer as she isn't shy about taking shots whenever she can. We stop when we can, but she is also willing to take shots through the windshield and works hard to capture the wonderful sights we are seeing. As you might expect the highway engineers do not have pull offs for every scenic overlook that exists so her persistence is paying off.

Our first official stop was the Eilean Donan Castle, which is reported to be the most romantic castle in Scotland. It is a beautiful place and we think it was in the movie - Highlander. The castle was destroyed and then rebuilt in 1912. The interior was fun to see (in some parts) as it looked like a castle may have looked in the 1500s or there about, but other parts of the castle had been set up to look like they did in the 1920s. The kitchen was set up this way and although it was well done with well placed mannequins, good use of light and sound, I would have preferred to see an earlier kitchen. It was also disorienting to walk from one room with paintings, swords and so forth as decor into another room that has framed photographs from a more recent wedding on the bedside table. Despite my critique it was an interesting place to visit. The location (as I hope the photo captures) is outstanding and it must have been better when there wasn't a visitor center or highway right next door.

The bridge that crosses on to the Isle of Skye has breathtaking views. There is a little debate, as there may be in other island communities, as to whether the bridge is a good or bad addition. For us it was great, as it made a visit to the Isle of Skye a little easier. It is a definitely a tourist destination, there are lots bicyclists, motorcyclists, caravans (a.k.a. campers) and folks from all over. This island is a very special place, but it seems like you need to escape the tourists to truly experience it (we did escape the tourists on 11 July).

Our room is very small with a wonderful view of the ocean (the photo is looking out our window). We're in the Pier Hotel, which is on a Pier and isn't a hotel. In the last photo we're in the blue building - top floor - second window from the right. It is a guest house with 8 rooms, but the size of the rooms is made up for by the view. We're on the third floor with a large 4 foot high window, which opens from the top in or can be opened like a door and you can sit in the sill. We shared this with Stacy when we Skyped (video chat, if you're not familiar; although Skype has some other services as well) with the Fawell family yesterday. Dad, you would love the staircases that wind up from floor to floor and are covered in thick red, shag carpet, but the fire exits and paths are marked very well, they even identify the meeting place outside the structure.

We settled in, in the afternoon, rested a little, updated the blog (wifi is available) and wandered around the small town of Portree (population ~2500). We forced ourselves to try the local ice cream (it is good - and they even had banana, one of Beth's favorite flavors!), inquired about a boat trip and planned out the day for today (11 July). We ate dinner at a small restaurant filled with Scottish bikers (the motorcycling kind), Beth had cajun chicken and Taber had Haggis again. It had a whisky gravy and was very good.

Scotland Day #10 - Nessie

09 July, 2009 Writing at 21:34 in Drumnadrochit, Scotland
Posted on 10 July, 2009 from Portree, Scotland

Today I got offered a job! The Beauly Fire Station in the Highlands and Island Fire Rescue Service has a position for one more firefighter on retainer (what we know as a paid on call or volunteer firefighter). More about that later.

Today was great day! We started off the day with a traditional Scottish breakfast, which also included brown bread. This was a reminder of Friday suppers with Dad - brown bread, baked beans and hot dogs. The eggs, rashers, sausage, mushrooms, tomato, toast and cereal were also present. We had a great chat with Carolyn and visited with one of the cattle - Taggert. Taggert is named after a UK detective show because he is very nosy and always wants to know what is happening. As such he was more than willing to come over to the fence, visit and allow us to feed him some grass. Carolyn and her family raise the cattle, but they do not slaughter them, they sell them and allow the new owners to decide what is next.

We did a little logistics work at the travel information center, got rooms for the last two nights in Edinburgh and went out on the 11:00 Castle Cruises Loch Ness voyage. Gordon is the owner, captain, shuttle bus driver and tour guide. He was very knowledgeable about the loch and had knew the Nessie stories and had been an active participant in a lot of the work / research that had been done, including the filming of an ad about Nessie, the recoveryof a well preserved WWII bomber and several attempts by divers, sonar and small subs to find Nessie. We learned several things including that one of the challenges is that the water is very dark because it is tinted by peat as it comes down from the hills and flows into Loch Ness. There were about 13 people on the boat and more than half didn't speak English very well so a couple of us got to dominate Gordon's time. I believe he thinks there is something there, but that it isn't a monster, I think our host has a simlar beleief.

Today we stopped for a lunch break (great idea!) and then headed further into the Highlands to Glen Affric, a national nature reserve. Once we got there it was gorgeous, but we missed a turn and drove way up into the highlands on a single track road. The pictures do not do it justice - it was wonderful and reminded us both of the movie Braveheart. We got our bearings, turned around and found the park. This was also beautiful, but there were more people here. We had a terrific couple mile hike along a river and falls and then up into some highlands.

We headed out of the park and over to the town of Beauly. We had heard that Beauly had Highland dancing and a marching piper band at 7:30 on Thursdays and they do. At 7:30 a fella plays the accordian until 8 and then the dancing starts, which was students from a local dance school showing off their skills. The pipers marched in around 8:30 and we left around 9. It was a good show and fun to watch.

When we arrived in Beauly we were going to walk about, look in shops and get something to eat so we drove through and looking for a place to turn around ended up swinging into the fire station lot. As we were leaving, a fella pulled in and he was wearing a uniform, so we turned back around and met Malcolm. Malcolm is the captain of the Beauly station, part of the Highland and Island division of Scotland's fire service. The equipment on the apparatus is pretty similar, a little older than what we have in Lakeville, but the structure is different. They are not run by the city, but instead run by the Scottish government as a civil organization and the assigned to municipalities. Malcolm runs the Beauly station and reports to the chief who is stationed out of Inverness. Beauly has 9 retainer firefighters (they get 3,000 pounds each year, pay for each call and a pension) and one 6 person 400 gallon pumper rescue (similar to Engine 22 @ Lakeville FS2, but smaller). Malcolm is looking for one more firefighter. Because they are all part of the same organization each station supports the others, but the closest station is 12 miles away, and it is through the narrow windy roads that I can't seem to get above 40 mph on! They also provide fire coverage for the islands (where we are headed tomorrow - 10 July) and Malcolm told us a story about trying to load pumps and equipment on to lifeboats to fight a house fire in a million pound house on a small island. When they have a structure fire in Beauly, Malcolm and his crew are on their own for at least twenty minutes, they only do offensive work if there are people to rescue. Beth wasn't surprised to learn that they respond to a lot of car accidents and he had photos of some of their calls to share. Each year he and his crew find a bagpiper and hold a ceremony to remember the vitims of 9/11; I told him I would pass this along as it would mean a lot to his firefighter brothers in the US. We left Malcolm with a Lakeville duty shirt and he passed on a uniform belt buckle and his email address.

Another interesting bit we learned from Malcolm was that Beauly is Fraser Country! We were looking through the station scrap books and Beth noticed a letter that was signed from a Fraser. The Lovat line of Frasers. There is a Beaufort Castle nearby that we had not known of earlier. Malcolm said that had he known we were coming, he could have gotten us access to the castle which is not otherwise open to the public. Oh well, next time? He also mentioned that there is a big celebration each year for Clan Fraser; he initially thought we were in the village for that. It is within the next week or so, it appears. Who knew?

Tomorrow will find us headed towards Isle of Skye with a detour to Eilean Donan Castle. We're staying in the city of Portree. We hope to do a little shopping and visit the Talisker distillery. Talisker is one of my favorite whiskys. We've heard lots of great things about the Isle of Skye and we look forward to enjoying the sites.