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.

Scotland Day #9 - Aberdeen to Loch Ness

08, July 2009 Writing at 21:35 from Drumbuie Farm B&B South of Loch Ness
Posted on 10, July 2009 at 17:08 from Portree, Scotland

Today was good day, but not quite as good as others. I attribute it to trying to do much and not eating enough. We left Abderdeen and headed north to Fraserburgh (pronounced Fraserborough). We visited Scotland's Lighthouse Museum and the Fraserburgh Heritage Center.

Scotland's first lighthouse was built on top of Kainnaird Head Castle in what is Fraserburgh. We enjoy visiting lighthouses and learning about their history, but a lighthouse in the U.S.is very similar to a lighthouse in the U.K. We went because the Kainnaird Castle was home to some of the Fraser family. We had a very good guide, but didn't learn much more about the Fraser family. The Fraserburgh Heritage Center was essentially a small, well cared for museum about the town of Fraserburgh, which has a rich heritage of herring fishing. Beth did some reading in their library, but didn't come way with a much more than she already knew (or will know when she reads the Fraser Clan books). The other plan we discussed was giving all of the books to the newly appointed Frazier history buff and asking Luke to read them and report back!

We left Fraserburgh around 12:30, discussed stopping for lunch, but decided to get snacks when we got fuel. This was a mistake, but is also a change as the first two B&Bs fed us so well that we didn't need to eat lunch; water with a granola bar or a bag of cashews was fine. The Aldersyde Guest House in Aberdeen offered a continental breakfast, we both had cereal and fruit, but no protein, and that was enough to carry us through mid-day. We had some ground to cover, Inverness is about 2 hours West from Abderdeen and Fraserburgh was another hour north from Aberdeen so it was three hours. Road construction was one factor that made this tough and Beth's continued dislike for the narrow roads and fast traffic make it tough for her to ride and can make it tough for me to drive when she keeps flinching! We keep talking about it and it is a little like driver's ed with mom all over again as Beth lets me know about things that are coming up. I view this like hanging wall paper and paddling a tandem kayak, events that made us stronger and pulled us together.

We wanted to visit the Culloden Battlefield before finding our B&B. I was a little unsure of Roger's (the GPS) directions as there were no signs for Culloden on the roads he took us along. We stopped along the way to take photos and got off the beaten path again. In doing so we stumbled on to the Clava Cairns site; which was also on our list of sites to see; however, we might have missed it since we were getting fatigued en route to Culloden. These are series of burial chambers made 3-4000 years ago with some ingenious construction ideas. The cairns are large rocks circles that were originally domes with covered tunnels into the center. One of the cairns was constructed with chunks of quartz and it's location was such that the interior was fully illuminated during the winter solstice.

We got back on the road towards Culloden, but it was barely a road. Instead of backtracking we followed Roger and got to see lots of farms and cross some very cool old bridges on a small single car track that took us on a giant loop around our destination. We made it into Culloden around 4, which was not enough time to do this site justice (they closed at 6), but we did the best we could. The Culloden Battlefield is the site of the last battle that took place on Scottish soil between the English and the Scottish. The Highlanders,led by Prince Charlie were crushed by the English soldiers in less than an hour. The field is open, much as it would have been, but has colored flags that mark the English and Scottish (Jacobite) lines, markers and memorial stones throughout the field. Each visitor is given a PDA with an earpiece, the PDA has a satellite connection which triggers different audio blurbs based on your location on the field. This was very interesting, but we had problems with both satellite units, I suspect due to the heavy cloud cover. We learned that the Highland clans had traditionally overwhelmed English troops by intimidation, the highlanders used the muskets to fire and create large clouds of smoke, they then discarded the musket, charged the English soldiers, broke the front line and used their targe (shield), dirks (12 -14 inch knives that are held in the same had as the shield) and the broad sword to engage in hand to hand combat. In previous battles this strategy worked very well and the English were either killed or in many cases became scared and fled. At the battle of Culloden, the English had two lines of troops and each line was two soldiers deep. The Highlanders tactic worked well one the first line, but the second line of English soldiers stayed in formation and was successfully firing volleys of musket balls into the oncoming highlanders. The Scots were also coming across muddy, broken ground that was full of vegetation and the English were staying in place and firing canister rounds (essentially tin cans filled with musket balls) from their artillery (a.k.a. cannons). Over 1500 highlanders were dead at the end and the wounded were bayoneted by the English. My understanding is that this was the beginning of the end of clans, tartans were oulawed and Englsih laws were forced onto the Scots.

We left Culloden and headed for Drumbuie Farm. It started to rain and we had some gorgeous twisty, turning roads along Loch Ness. Our B&B is a farm with Scottish Highland cattle (see photo) a great dog named Willow and a wonderful view of Loch Ness (see photo for view from our bedroom). Tomorrow we're headed out to explore two castles on the the loch, possibly take a boat ride and learn a little more about Nessie. We did discover a single engine fire station next door to a great pub that served a wonderful venison casserole and a beer that is made in old whisky kegs - consequently it has 10% alcohol and is very tasty! I hope to go back to both - the fire station when someone is there (I think it is volunteer) and the pub for either more whiskybeer (that is what it is called!) or a couple of their long list of whiskies.

Thank you!

Thank you to all that post comments - it is fun to hear your reactions, jokes and notes about the U.S. We're off towards Inverness and we'll keep posting.

No photos, but notes on the people we have met

Here are a couple quick notes on some of the wonderful people we have met so far. We have not met a single unpleasant person over here - everyone is great. They put up with our questions, allows us to say "would you please repeat that?" and we've not heard a single disparaging comment about Americans.

James and Angela own 14 Hart Street and were our hosts for the first three nights. They are both teachers and were very friendly, warm and hospitable. The sent us towards several great restaurants and got us acclimated to Edinburgh.

Betty is the housekeeper and cook at 14 Hart Street and she is a gem. Beth tried to take her picture, but she wouldn't let her. She did tell us good stories about the washer repairman (he can be a grump) and her neighbors that kept her up with their drinking in the garden. Brian is the kilt for hire guy that didn't try to make an easy buck off of me, but walked me through the entire kilt costume, answered lots of questions, was very helpful and patient.

We met two wonderful women at the Urban Angel (a small restuarant near our first B&B) who treated us like locals, knew we liked chocolate, went out to the bottle shop to buy me another bottle of single malt because I had finished the last of the only bottle (I only had two glasses - honest!) and let us hunker in the lower level using their WiFi connection for several hours.

I already wrote about Kev, but in addition to getting us out of a bind, he introduced us to the experience I had hoped to have - hanging out in a pub, having a pint and talking (I had hoped to have more than one, but the Mondeo (our car at the time) was calling!)). It was great! We are sending a letter to Kevin's boss in London and we'll post notes about each B&B we stayed at on Trip Advisor, but also thought it would be fun to tell about some of these folks.

Roger is another "person" we're thankful for. He updates us on when the next rotary is coming up and which exit to take, and keeps talking to me even when I get crabby. Luke knows Roger as Roger is the British voice from our GPS!

We got to eat breakfast with Peter and Nicole from Frankfurt every day we were in Edinburgh. They spoke wonderful English (despite thinking they didn't) and we thoroughly enjoyed chatting with them every day. They are in Edinburgh for 2 more days and then off to a Loch (a lake), that I can't remember the name of. Cheers to them!

Joyce and Tom were our hosts in anstruther and they were very friendly and open. We had several great conversations and they were very patient and willing to answer questions. Tom reminded both of us of Uncle Stet (Taber's great uncle who passed away a little over a year ago), he knows a little about everything, it tall and balding and was told us the day is right when he has his copy of the Herald with the crossword.

Beth met a wonderful gentleman who was born in Scotland, but has lived in Boulder, CO for 23 years. He and his wife return to the UK every summer. I was climbing up the 160 some steps from the castle (after climbing around a side path) and Beth was sitting on the halfway bench chatting with him. He corrected some of our pronunciations and gave us some suggestions.

John is the proprietor at the Aldersyde Guest House. He is very personable and willing to share his love for the Aberdeen area.

Dave is the gentleman we bought a kilt from. He has a great sense of humor, pointed a great pubs for food and whisky and spent a lot of time with us giving honest advice and poking fun at my inability to button a button.

Day # 8 - Aberdeen & the end of the "kwests"

07, July 2009 Writing at 18:02
To be posted later tonight (07, July 2009)
Posted at 21:00

We're staying at the Aldersyde Guest House and things have been a little quieter. Aldersyde is a cross between a B&B and a hotel, John (the owner) calls it a guest house. There are several rooms with wireless internet access, TVs, and locking doors. Breakfast is continental and while John is very friendly the environment is little more commercial and does not feel like someone's home. Last night we walked down the street for dinner at small local hotel and then spent the evening reading, sipping whisky, taking advantage of the wifi access to update the blog, worked on some emails and watched a little TV.

I had worried about whether Sioux Trail (the school I am principal of - a.k.a. "my" school) had made Adequate Yearly Progress or not (this is part of George W Bush's No Child Left Behind legislation - another problem he stuck us with), but checking email confirmed that I need not worry any more as the preliminary results are in and we have new challenges ahead of us for the 2009-10 school year. I'm not coming right out and saying that Sioux Trail didn't make AYP because the results are preliminary and I'm not clear if the results are public or not.

Unlike the B&B's we stayed at, breakfast was not served when we wanted to eat, but available between 7 and 8:30am. We cleaned up, had breakfast and were headed out the door around 8:30. We were searching for a launderette (a.k.a. laundromat), with little success. We found several, but not understanding the addresses very well, I had selected two that are in towns we'll pass through tomorrow, another two were closed and the only one that was open and in Aberdeen, wasn't open to the general public until after 18:00 as the owner uses the machines to wash clothing she is paid to wash & dry. Our plan, which has worked relatively well, was to limit our clothing and pack quick dry clothing that is impervious to wrinkles and to wash several articles at a time in the sink or or tub. We have used launderettes because the bathrooms have been fairly small and there has not been enough room to lay out clothing and let it dry. This will be out last trip to the laundry (we're only doing a single load of darks and whites) and then the rest of the trip we'll do little loads in the bathroom and make do with whatever drying space we can find. After we leave Abderdeen we are staying outside of Inverness (near Loch Ness) and on the Isle of Skye and we do not think we'll find any laundrettes. That was my long way of telling you that we didn't find a laundry as we had planned and postponed it until later (we're back here now at 18:26 washing, typing and reading).

We were waiting for the Gordon Highlander Museum to open at 10am and met more wonderful Scots during our visit there. The three gentlemen (I suspect they were all 80+ years old) that we spent time with were very proud of their regiment and thoroughly enjoyed telling us stories, showing us medal upon medal and in one case walking through each exhibit in the the museum one by one. The Gordon Highlanders were brought into service by the Fourth Duke of Gordon in 1794 to fight the French and existed as a kilt wearing regiment until 2006 when they were merged with other highland regiments. I enjoyed hearing the stories and seeing the Gordon tartan as part of the military uniform. We felt like we were getting a VIP tour as one gentleman went so far as to us through the armory and unlocked the regimental dining hall - called the Lakin Room for us (I think the addition of the "L" was a typo!). The photo of the deer head is the Gordon crest and "Bydand" means "remaining" or "stay and fight".

After visiting the Highlanders museum we continued on the "Kwest" for the Kilt and our loyal blog readers will be excited to read that "Kwest" has been concluded. We visited several kilt shoppes and inquired (again) about the sale of ex-hire kilts in a Gordon tartan. All of the shoppes we have visited sell ex-hire kilts (most once a year which is similar with tux rental shops in the U.S.), but none of them have had a Gordon tartan in stock, and if they did it was unlikely they would have it my size. We visited one shop and they couldn't meet my needs, but referred us to another shop (McCalls); there we met the right gentleman and bought a package with a kilt that will be cut to fit (everything except the white shirt button down shirt). The kilt in the photo is Gray Granite tartan (I will own a kilt with Antique Gordon tartan), but it gives you the basic idea. Stacy, I thought you'd be surprised to learn that most of the sporrans (the bag that goes around your waist - I'm not wearing one in the photo) is made out of sealskin as it is the least expensive. I bought one made out of cow, as seal skin is illegal in the U.S. and could have been confiscated by customs. The kilt had to be made and will be shipped in approximately 8 weeks.

The kilt fitting took several hours and we needed nourishment so we followed Dave's (the salesman) recommendation and found Ma Cameron's, which according to Dave is one of the oldest pubs in Aberdeen. The second quest of mine, the Hunt for the Haggis, is also over - Listen and you can the Scots celebrating! I had Haggis, Neeps and Tatties with some terrific gravy - it was wonderful! Our host told us that he loves Haggis and eats in when he finds it. This isn't what other Scots have said. I thought it was very tasty, a little gamey, like a spicy ground beef. I think the presentation was a little different from the traditional presentation, so I may have to try again.

We wandered Abderdeen, visited more shops looked for some appropriate souvenirs for Alma and Lillian, but the kilts were either way too expensive or too small. Tonight we take advantage of the wifi to plan our last two nights in Scotland, map out some sights between here, Inverness and the Isle of Skye and pick some other sites to see.

Day #7 - Castles & Aberdeen

06 July, 2009 - Writing at 20:08 GMT

We are just loving this vacation thing and we realized that we have not taken a Beth and Taber vacation before - in the past it has always been a vacation with family or others. We love our families very much and want to continue spending time with them and find some additional times for us that are all about Beth and Taber!

Thanks for the posts on the blog, it is fun to read your notes, share the Scottish jokes and laugh. Yes, Silver Dollar, we are losing the right pounds (a.k.a. $) and gaining the bad ones! Yes, Luke, Roger is here and we do talk to him, when he is quiet and does not say anything it seems like someone is missing from the car.

We're in Aberdeen, one of Scotland's larger northern cities. Apparently this is home to lots of fishing vessels and oil drilling companies. We have yet to meet those folk. We departed the good company of Joyce and Tom (Tom used to be a headmaster (a.k.a. principal) in Anstruther and they live right next door to the school!) twice as they got to flag us down and remind us that we had forgotten our fleece jackets - oops!

We left Anstruther and drove to Stonehaven. Stonehaven looks like another wonderful seaside village with a strong fishing community. We were in Stonehaven long enough to grab some snacks, more water and then we navigated to Dunnottar Castle. The pictures speak for themselves. It is 165 steps down from the cliff, across the small spit of land then up into the ruins of the castle. We thought of Luke (our 12 year old nephew) as we knew he'd have a wonderful time exploring the buildings and wondering what each was used for. We picked the right time of day as there weren't a lot of visitors in the castle and we went where we wanted to and took lots of people free photos.

The home of 'Beth's people' was our next destination. Fraser Castle (Beth's maiden name is Frazier) is outside of Aberdeen and without Roger (the GPS or SatNav as the Scots call it) we would not have found the place. It is a terrific castle, but tucked out of the way on another wonderfully windy Scottish road without a lot of signs to mark it. As I type Beth is reading one of the guides we bought. I posted a photo of Beth in front of the castle, which is known for the "Z" formation, that is supposed to be effective for defense. I thought the Dunnottar Castle looked easier to defend, but what do I know? We do not have any interior photos to share as we were not allowed to take any, but we did have an enjoyable visit with some knowledgeable guides. This was our first trip inside a castle that was still standing with an intact and furnished interior. Castle Fraser had been restored by the family that purchased it in 1921 and they subsequently donated it to the National Trust for Scotland in 1976.

We are staying at the Aldersyde House in Aberdeen and had dinner (Beth had fish (yes - fish!) and chips and I had the steak and Guinness pie and we each had a pint (Beth = cider, Taber =

the beer that the guy drinking a Guinness suggested!). The hunt for Haggis continues, but part of the challenge is finding a place that makes Haggis and something Beth likes.

Tomorrow we're off to the Gordon Highlanders Museum (the Akins are part of the Gordon clan), another castle and we want to explore Aberdeen before we leave on Wednesday.

Day #6 - 05 July 2009 - Pitlochry

Post for 05 July, 2009

Writing on 06 July, 2009 0729 GMT

Yesterday we had breakfast at 0830, Beth joined me by adding beans to her plate, we chatted with Joyce and Tom and then headed out for Pitlochry. Pilochry is about 70 miles from Anstruther. I have been surprised that everything is in miles and not kilometers. We were also surprised to note that our little Peugot is getting 60 miles per gallon! We're not even at 3/4 tank yet.

The driving to Pitlochry was fun, a mix of small farm roads, some with stone walls that are right beside the road and some highway driving. We're intrigued by some of the tractor trailers as they have large banks of lights across the top and in the grill - are they used for spotting deer?, we don't know and neither did Tom and Joyce.

Pitlochry is, of course, home to the Edradour Distillery, the smallest in Scotland. It was tucked back up in the hills along a little one way gravel road. They do a nice simple tour, give you a sample and then leave you in the shop (or is it shoppe?). We learned that it is all about the water, in this case they are using spring water and some of it flows through a fountain labeled "Bank of Scotland" and that you are not allowed to add ice, cold water (small amounts of room temp water is okay) or Coca Cola! Yes, we're bringing a little home, we're going to share some straight from the cask (56% alcohol) and some of their 10 year old whisky. Apparently we're each allowed to bring home one liter (or litre) of whisky. The Scots do not call it Scotch, it is whisky (not whiskey). One of the debates the distillery is having is whether they should start selling 5 year old whiskey as there is a market for it and the ten year old simple takes longer to be able to bottle and sell.

We're not having any luck with the phones in the UK. I tried to call Annie Bottoms (the Akins grew up knowing her as Anne Marie Higgins), but all I got was a list of numbers repeated back to me and I lost my pence. We tried again later this time using a credit card, but I still didn't have any luck.

Beth got a little car sick on the way in so we decided to take things slowly. We drove through Pitlochry and followed Joyce's recommendation and headed towards the House of Bruar (Brewer) outside of Blair Atholl. These were like outlet shops, but with a little bit of an attitude. Beth found a purse for ten pounds, we found a small water color that was similar to one of our photographs of Edinburgh Castle and got to poke around a little more. What Joyce and Tom had sent us there for was a path that went up to some waterfalls behind the shops. We did a little hiking and tried to take some photos, but they all look a little washed out. A highlight for Beth was a gentleman who was more than willing to stop and share his three dogs with her (see photo as the smile explains it all!). We aren't homesick, but we do miss the guys and hope all is well on Fairhaven Avenue.

Before leaving I had asked a colleague, Jeremy - principal at MW Savage Elementary to text me with news about about school's progress with AYP and No Child Left Behind. I realized I'm doing a great job vacationing because I hadn't even thought about that, now I'm curious, but we're not getting any mobile phone service over here so I'll have to wait until I check work email.

We spent a couple hours in Pitlochry walking through town and looking in shops, it was Sunday so places were closing by 1600. We've been doing really well with a big breakfast, snacks and then something for dinner. Yesterday it was snacks the entire afternoon including some Irn Bru (Scottish soda / pop) and shortbread. Irn Bru is a heavily caffeinated drink, like Mountain Dew, but it is orange and has a bubble gum taste to it. Beth's car sickness passed and we were home by 1900, we read for a bit and then walked down to the shore of Anstruther. It was sunny and there were lots of people, including some lobstermen!

Today we are leaving from Anstruther for Aberdeen. Tom suggested stopping in StoneHaven, so we'll make our way along the coast. I hope to make Aberdeen mid-day so that we can visit Fraser Castle today. I am also h0ping for better luck on the Kilt Kwest as the Gordon clan originates from the Abderdeen area - as does the Fraser clan.

Day #5 - 04, July 2009 - St. Andrews

Happy Independence Day!

We started the day off with a great Scottish breakfast from Joyce and Tom. Tom handles the tea, coffee and toast and Joyce does the rest! Joyce described this a Tom having a "proper job". Breakfast was similar to Edinburgh - eggs (Beth's scrambled & Taber's fried), bacon, toast, cereal, tomatoes, mushrooms, tea or coffee, juice and baked beans. The beans were a great addition - I never thought of that for breakfast.

We left 8 Melville place in Anstruther around 9am and headed for Dundee to get the tire fixed. We met another wonderful person at the National / Eurocar Rental office in Dundee and he set us up with a smaller car that had four good tires! We got some laundry done in Dundee, got Roger comfortable in the new car and we were back in St. Andrews (we drove through on the way to Dundee - those of you tracking our travels already new this!) by noon.

We continued with the kilt kwest and stopped in a place that Joyce suggested. No luck there. We got a snack and a pint and headed off to The St. Andrews golf course. Neither of us play golf, but Dave and Will do so we had to check it out. I know it is really old and that golf started here so it is a holy place to golfers, but I thought the proximity to the beach was great and we both enjoyed the scenery. After we exploring the old course and watched some golfers and then we trekked across town to St. Andrews Castle. This was another beautiful place to visit - thinking about the construction is simply incredible; these buildings were built in the 14-1500s and some of the details are very intricate. Beth got lots of pictures and we tried to capture several elements of the castle. We keep experiencing things that we would never be allowed to experience in the US. For example "the Mine and Counter-mine" part of the castle. An attempt to attack the castle was made by digging a mine (a.k.a. tunnel) into the castle, this was learned of and the occupants of the castle attempted to dig a counter mine to intercept the mine. Three counter-mines were dug before the original mine was intercepted. The mines had been re-discovered when someone was digging a basement in the area and then preserved them. In the US the story would have been told and a board with some photos would be put up, but in Scotland they told you the story and then let you slide down the counter-mine and into the mine. Yes they were small dirty tunnels, but it was fun to explore.

We walked back to the car-park to update our parking permit and discovered several things - we hadn't paid enough, consequently we had received a parking ticket and we were several yards away from a no fee parking lot! On to St. Andrews cathedral. The castle and cathedral were different from Edinburgh Castle, as these are both the remains or ruins of the original buildings. The cathedral was more challenging to imagine as the were several large pieces intact and then only foundation in other areas, an amazing with graves going up to 1973. We climbed the Tower of Saint Rules (157 steps - 108 feet) and explored lots of headstones. More great photos to share.

I'm typing from the "Beanscene" in St. Andrews and we're headed back to Anstruther soon (about 15 minutes away). Tomorrow we're heading to Pitlochry for some distilleries and another castle or two. We hope to connect with Annie Bottoms, who was a neighbor when I grew up in Maine.

New Photos

We added photos to the 2 July, 2009 post.

Day #4 - A flat tire and a pint in Kilcardy

03 July, 2009 Writing at 2036 to be posted at a later date.
Posted at 1759 GMT on 04 July, 2009

We left Edinburgh for another day of adventures (continually reminding ourselves that Alma would call this a "benture". "Anonymous" asked for a description of Black Pudding - it is the black disc in the photo, it is ground meat with some animal blood (this makes it black) and is very rich. After a filling breakfast (see photo for a shot of Taber with a traditional Scottish breakfast) we walked back up the Christopher Ross Kilt for hire shop (or is it shoppe?) to see if Brian could outfit me. The Gordon tartan kilt that he requested had not been delivered and we said farewell leaving without the kilt I had hoped for.

We walked down to another part of Edinburgh and found our car rental place. As with many car rental places they weren't ready for us and didn't have what we requested when we ordered the car. We had requested a standard sized car with an automatic transmission. My (Taber's) thought was that we could be both drive the automatic and that it would one less thing to focus on. In order to get the automatic we had to upgrade to the standard sized car, a Ford Mondeo. We left National / Eurocar with the Ford Mondeo (a spacious and comfortable full sizes sedan) and a standard transmission. We navigated back to the B&B, packed the bags, set up the GPS (sooooo glad we brought it), called the kilt for hire shoppe one more time (still no luck), said adios to Betty and left Edinburgh for Anstruther.

Driving in Scotland has been a separate "benture" in itself. All those that said it is easy are right (or is it left?) for the most part. I think being left handed makes shifting with my left hand a little easier and the fact that we paid for the full insurance package on the car makes me a little easier going - after all it's a rental! The biggest challenge is the size of the roads and the size of the car. The car is too big and the roads too narrow - I want a smaller car and we're going to try to get one. Beth reminded me several times to stay towards the center because,as it seemed to her, I was too far left. I learned how far left I was, when coming into to Kilcardy (you can get out your map of Scotland and track our travels!), I scraped the left tire against the curb and noticed the car pulling left. Beth navigated us to an empty parking lot, we pulled in and tried to change the tire. The Mondeo is equipped with one lug nut on each tire that locks and there is supposed to be an adapted for the wrench so that you can change the tire. In our boot (the trunk) the space for the adapter was filled with the lighter part of the cigarette lighter! Super. Beth walked over to a friendly looking gentleman, explained our situation and asked for help. I'll come back to this later, but we have met so many nice people here! Beth met Kevin (or Kev) and he runs the local car park (a pay parking lot), but is a retired police officer (he called himself a "copper") who went out of his way to help us. Kev called a friend who owns a garage, he sent an employee (Paul) who changed the tire (after making a second trip back to the garage for tools to bypass (and destroy) the locking lug nut. The car was up and running with the donut on it. Paul would not except anything for his assistance, but Kevin indicated he'd be at "The Penny" and and told us how to find it (he would accept "something" for his assistance!). We walked up there and joined Kevin and several friends for a pint (which Beth bought and she left enough with the bar tender for another round). What fun! They gave us lots of advice, we joked about Michael Jackson, cheered on Andy Murray (the tennis player) and became quick friends. We headed back out for Anstruther, had some snacks along the way and arrived here (8 Melville Place) around 1500 (3pm).

Our hosts are Joyce and Tom and they are a wonderful retired couple. Tom watched me try to parallel park, we had tea with Joyce, and then after settling in to the room, we took naps. We dodged raindrops and ate dinner at the world famous Anstruther Fish House, which has won lots of awards for it's fish and chips. It was good food - so good - that Beth even ate the fish! For those of you readers with Maine connections this is a lot like Captain Newicks or the Lobsta' Shack by Two Lights. We took a stroll along the pier and breakwater, took some photos, wandered back for some ice cream and then arrived back at "home"

We are having a wonderful trip and posting the blog entries has been fun. Stay tuned for some notes on the people we're meeting and we'll try to get more photos up. The Toshiba (it used be the "To-shit-ba") is back in our good graces so we've gotten pictures off the computer and we'll try to get them on the blog.

Tomorrow we're headed for Dundee to get the tire replaced and ask for a smaller car. Then we are doubling back to St. Andrews for the day. We're going to visit the shops first as many of them are closed on Sundays and save the historic sites (St. Andrews Castle & Cathedral) for Sunday as they are open.

I am very thankful for a wonderful loving wife. She put up my ranting in the car, has been the keeper of the pounds, supports my future purchase of a kilt (or a skirt as Todd & Don call it), has an upbeat positive attitude, is my ying and is simply great. I had hoped for lots of together time on our trip, because despite being DINKS we don't seem to end up together as much as we should. We are having a wonderful time.