June 3

Glenfinnan - Hogwarts

This is the view of Glenfinnan where Bonnie Prince Charlie landed to convince the Scottish clans to wage war on England.

This is the bridge where they photographed the steam train on its way to Hogwarts.  Glennfinnan is directly to my back.

      
Fort William
 We saw Ben Nevis, the tallest mountain in Great Britain at 4,409 ft.  The lunch stop was a meat pie and a warm diet Coke.  The valleys or glens were created by the glaciers, and the valley walls still show the scars from the ice.  The glaciers rounded everything.

Glencoe was the area where the MacDonalds were massacred by Campbells.   The history is complex and is full of back stabbing, loyal fighters and bravery.  I would try to tell you, but I don't think I would have enough ale to explain it.

June 1 & 2 - Inverness to the Isle of Skye

Busy day.  Traveled to Loch Ness and took our group picture.

Rick Steve's Scotland Tour Group 2012 at Loch Ness

 Didn't see anything unusual in Loch Ness. It's one of the lakes and canals that are part of the Caledonian Canal that crosses Scotland from the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. 

 

Loch Ness contains more water than all the freshwater bodies of England and Wales combined.

We stopped at Fort Augustus for lunch, a Guinness and to watch a two boats go through the first of three locks.  We toured both Urquhart (ruined) and Eileen Donan (refurbished) castles.  We stayed at the MacKinnon Country House Hotel in Kyleakin on the Isle of Skye.  During and after dinner we were entertained by Alex MacFie.  He played the guitar, whistle, accordion and bodhran (a drum). Sample music

Day 2 of our time on the Isle of Skye found us at Talisker Distillery for a tour and scotch tasting. Excellent tour, excellent scotch!  After a hike in the Black Cuillin Hills we went on to Portree for lunch. Our tour spent some extra time there watching a special Diamond Jubilee parade featuring teen-age bagpipers and highland dancers.  All the villages have their own celebrations this weekend marking the 60th year of Queen Elizabeth's reign.

We spent the afternoon touring the Trotternish Peninsula, stopping at all the viewpoints and museums.  The sun was shining, but the wind was howling.  It's a wild, windy, rocky part of Scotland. 

                   

May 31 Inverness

Our expeditions today were within 1/2 hour of Inverness.  We began at the Culloden Battlefield.  This is the site where thousands of Highlanders lost their lives in a bloody battle.  As a result, the Scottish clans were broken up, and it was forbidden to wear kilts and tartans.  This museum is excellent - a wonderful history lesson.......

We stopped at Clava Cairns - a prehistoric burial ground featuring burial mounds and rock formations similar to Stonehenge.

At lunch time we stopped at Cawdor Castle.  We had a tour of the castle and the beautiful gardens, plus some homemade soup and scones in the cafe.

Our group got back to Inverness in time to shop at Marks and Spencer and all the fun town shops.

May 30th Inverness

The weather in Scotland is just like Oregon in the spring.  Sunny, cloudy, misty, light rain, sprinkling and back to partly cloudy.  Of course, that is just the morning. The weather is going back to partly cloudy for the next few days. 

After a hearty breakfast we rolled down the road about a mile to one of Scotland's Crannog Interpretive Centers.   Very interesting look into life in Scotland 2500 years ago.

We traveled to Pitlochry, a little village near Balmoral Castle, for a couple of meat pies and a stroll around the village. Pitlochry marks the boundary of the Scottish Highlands. 

We proceeded north to a sheep ranch near Kingussie and watched Neil Ross, a professional shepherd, use his 7 dogs to herd sheep. It was pretty amazing to watch Neil manage the dogs with body movements, whistles and voice commands.  He would use one, two  or all of the dogs to retrieve, herd and corral the sheep. It was amazing to watch the shepherd and dogs work as a team.

We'll stay two days in Inverness, located on the River Ness.  We're enjoying all the fresh seafood and lamb that Scotland is famous for.



 

May 29 On the road to Kenmore

We left Edinburgh and drove over the Firth of Forth (firth means estuary) on our way to the quaint little village of Culross.  At Culross we toured the home of the coal and salt baron who built an empire there. 

The original owner (Sir George Bruce of Carnock) started making salt by mining coal, then started mining coal and invented a method to pump water out of the coal mine and made even more money.

Then it was on to St. Andrews.  We toured the ruins of the cathedral, castle, and churchyard before we headed for the golf course.  It was great to watch the golfers - bright golf attire never goes out of style!

The Ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral.  The sea is just on the other side of the outer wall.

The  Swilken Bridge at St. Andrews Golf course.  Picture for golfers.

    


We stopped at Black Linn Falls at the Hermitage in Birnham Woods on our way to the hotel.  This was close to the spot where Beatrix Potter spent her childhood summers.  We didn't see any of Shakespeare's witches, and none of Miss Potter's famous rabbits.

Our group spent the night in Scotland's oldest inn in Kenmore.

Our room was in the upper right gable

View across from our hotel.  The store front on the far left is the post office, store and telegraph office

View from the back of the Kenmore Hotel looking over Loch Tay. 

Room at the Kenmore

Street in St. Andrews.  Wonder why the sign gets stolen?

Nancy introducing the Queen.

  

May 28 Edinburgh - The Royal Miles

Walk, Walk, Walk.    About 6 miles plus miles today. 

The highlights are: the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle, the new Scottish Parliament building, St. Giles' Cathedral, a trip down the Royal Mile and the Queen's Palace of Holyroodhouse.   We had a great quiche lunch at St. Giles' outdoor cafe, mussels and fish & chips at the Mussel Inn and a pint at Dirty Dick's.  Just short of 12 hours of sight seeing, eating and drinking.

 The Elephant House is the coffee house where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book.

A picture is worth a thousand words, maybe.

Phone Home

This is the "backyard" of Holyroodhouse.  The extinct volcano in the background is called Arthur's Seat.  It's a short hike that offers a beautiful view of Edinburgh.  See if you can see the hikers.

A pint before we headed to the hotel.

May 27 Edinburgh

The flight to Amsterdam was long, with lots of seat time.  We got two side seats by ourselves and that was better than being in the four middle seats.   We flew so far north (over Hudson's Bay, southern Greenland and Iceland) and so high (35,000 feet) that the sun never set.  Everyone shut their window screens so we could nap.

Arrived in Amsterdam 11:20 PM, Saturday - our time.  Local time is 8:20 AM, Sunday.   Yes, a long day.  Waiting for the Edinburgh flight.   This flight will be quick.  Of course, we'll sleep most of the way.

We spent our first hour in the UK entertaining ourselves at customs, waiting for bags, determining the right bus, getting off at the right stop, wandering toward our hotel with one moment of indecision.  We solved our direction problem by asking a very dignified gentleman with a cane, coat and vest the name of a street.  He corrected me, ever so gently, as he said the street name with a lyrical Scottish brogue.  We made it to the first hotel on our tour and it is great!  After a bit of freshening up, it looks like lunch at a nearby pub.  We need a beer and a short nap before we meet our tour partners. Right now, excluding some cat naps, we have been up about 20 hours.

 Bedroom The Bonham in Edinburgh.

 

Edinburgh Castle

Howies.  Place for the first group dinner together.

The trip begins May 26

We are in the final stage of packing. The prep seems pretty thorough, but we can buy anything we forgot. We start at 1:30 pm from Portland to Amsterdam, then a short hop to Edinburgh, Scotland.   We have been looking forward to this trip for several years.  Look for new updates of our adventure.

Fishing Report

Steelhead Salmon

Fishing

Landing a Steelhead

Doug and I with our Steelhead from the Clackamas River

View from the boat on the Columbia River

My first sturgeon, 41 inches long

You can only fish for sturgeon for a short while on the Columbia and Willamette Rivers.  Keepers have to be between 38" to 54" and all others are put safely back in the river.  To add to the challenge, you have to use barb-less hooks. The one in this picture is 15 to 20 years old.  Some live to be over 100 years old and 11 - 13 feet long.  Special thanks to Mike, Bill and Jim for the trip.

Fishing

fishing

fishing

January 2012

Bud News - I started physical therapy on the 9th  for my left leg and I could it bend  back just 41 degrees (121 degrees on Feb. 8). I still have lots of work on strength, but that is just time.   I am sure that with some TLC and lots hard of work, I'll be doing fine in a several months.
Nancy and I attended two concerts.  One was in a small initiate venue with two artists Tom May and Doug Smith and the second was a memorial concert for David Rae.   We had the pleasure of meeting David and attending to two of his performances.

I celebrated a birthday that start me into the adolescences of middle age.

Family photo at the birthday dinner.

Birthday morning starts with a double rainbow

Katie and Nora

The birthday was so exciting for Amelia.

Beauty shop with Nana

December

We spent Christmas with Nancy's sister and brother-in-law in Albany, OR.  We had a great Christmas Eve dinner, followed by gifts and a road trip to St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Lebanon  for their Christmas service. 

Matt, Katie, Nora and Amelia celebrated Christmas with Katie's family in Klamath Falls.

I got my cast off and am in a knee brace now.  I start PT in January.

Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a joyful 2012.
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Emily, Brian, Beth, Bud, Nancy, Sherry, David, Pam and Doug

 

November

I had to have another surgery on my knee and another cast.  I should be fixed now.

Matt, Nora, Katie and Amelia joined us for a week during the Thanksgiving season.  We had our turkey dinner on Wednesday so David and Sherry could attend.  Our niece, Beth, joined the brood. 

 On Thursday we joined  some of my 1st, 2nd and 3rd cousins for a great dinner. 

Amelia

Nana & Nora playing beauty shop

October

 Visit to Milwaukie

Matt & David visit while Amelia sleeps.

"Oh my goodness! Which one?"
Nora's pumpkin patch dilemma 

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David ended his racing season with second place trophies in three racing divisions and a fourth place finish in another division.

David in the lead coming into turn 8 at Portland International Speedway

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Princess and the Pea - costumes by Katie - photo by Matt

September

I injured my knee during the Labor Day weekend and needed surgery to get things back to normal.  I was in a cast from mid thigh to the top of my ankle.  It was a new adventure in moving around the house.

August Shakepeare and Amelia

We joined friends in Ashland for two plays in the outdoor theater and a tour of the fermented grape establishments around Grants Pass. 


We went over to Klamath Falls for a peek at our new grand baby on Friday, but Amelia  had not arrived yet.  We left on Saturday and Amelia Ann Lane arrived Sunday, August 21st. 

August - Jazz time

  We joined friends in Osyterville, Washington for a small jazz festival.  The boys  managed a fishing trip, while the ladies shopped in Long Beach.

Hats mandatory

Yes, he is really playing both horns.

   

July

Our niece Emily was married to Brian.  A grand occasion and superb party.

Matt and Nora.  Katie made the dress.

Emily and Brian

June

   Nancy and I met Katie and Nora in Medford so we could take Nora to Bandon beach for a week.  The rest of our group arrived on Friday and left Monday to finish plans for Emily and Brian's wedding. 

 It was a fun time building sand castles, walking on the beach, getting ice cream and exploring tide pools.   Nancy and I slept really well after a day keeping up with our little darling.

We returned Nora to Klamath Falls on Friday and sauntered home on Saturday to get some rest. 

The 2011 group

Cousins Beth, Nora, and Emily

Some days are just amazing.