On October 1, Ken and I went on a two-week vacation to Scotland. We flew from San Francisco to Glasgow via Philadelphia on US Airways. From the air we could see rugged green terrain and white "boulders" that turned out to be sheep. We grabbed a bus into Glasgow and then took a train to Edinburgh.

Sunday, October 2. First stop was the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. I came away with a couple of impressions: first, that the Scots take pride in their many scientific accomplishments and second, that the delicious scone I ate in the museum cafe was a preview of excellent food to come.

I was wiped out from the overnight flight so I went back for a nap at our hotel, the Royal Garden Apartments on Queen Street. (Highly recommended!) This photo is the view from our window; in the distance is the Firth of Forth.

Monday, October 3. We looked around Edinburgh Castle and learned about its history. I was particularly moved by the war memorial located on this site. Soldiers from Scotland paid a very high price in both World Wars. One book from one regiment had pages and pages just of MacDonald's who had died in combat.

While we were at Edinburgh Castle, there was a photo op bringing attention to prevention of bowel cancer. We got a kick out of their earthy concern and the poster of the bagpiper in his kilt on the toilet.


A group of school kids and their harried teacher near Edinburgh Castle:


Edinburgh's old town:


The Jazz Bar had an open mic jam session that night. A variety of terrific musicians showed up and played lots of jazz standards, ending with a smoking rendition of Epistrophy.

The place was packed with a much younger crowd than we see at jazz concerts in the states. We met a grad student from the University of Edinburgh who was from Capitola, California. An avid surfer, his acquired British accent fell away when he described catching waves in Thurso on the northernmost coast of Scotland. We talked to three American students on their semester abroad -- one of them is singing "Paper Moon" in the photo below.

Tuesday, October 4. The Museum of Scotland is housed in a beautiful modern building and gave us some fundamentals in Scottish history and prehistory. This Andy Goldsworthy wall (featured in the fine documentary Rivers and Tides ) is behind a very old primitive boat.

Wednesday, October 5. We picked up our rental car and began our harrowing adventure of driving on the left, shifting gears with our left hand, dealing with roundabouts and single track roads , and getting lost.

Andy Goldsworthy is a favorite artist of ours. We headed south of Edinburgh toward Dumfries to see if we could find one of the sheepfolds mentioned on this web site . After driving through miles of spectacularly beautiful sheep country and stone fences, we found Spango Farm near Crawfordjohn. Two farmworkers directed us down a lane past a barn full of bellowing cows. This photo documents that we found our goal.


White sheep, black sheep, brown sheep. Here is a handsome white sheep with a black face.


Since we were in the neighborhood, we drove through Penpont, Goldworthy's home village. We happened upon this example of his work in a pasture near the town.


That evening we pressed on toward Scotland's southwest corner. It was late when we arrived at the Galloway Arms in Newton Stewart. We were tired and not too sure of the place. Much to our surprise, we had a comfortable room, an excellent evening meal, and a nice talk with the friendly proprietor. While eating dinner, we met the couple at the next table and learned that they own a used book store in Fort William.

Thursday, October 6. Onto Wigtown, Scotland's book shop town. We found a couple of books and had lunch with great bread at the cafe at ReadingLasses. After a trip up the coast, we headed inland and stayed the night at the Blackford Hotel. Another good meal and an introduction to my new favorite dessert, sticky toffee pudding -- I have been scouring the web for recipes so I can duplicate it at home.

Friday, October 7. We headed toward Aberdeen where we were scheduled to catch a ferry at 7pm.

Braemar was a pretty town.


I saw this vending machine in the ladies' room where we stopped for lunch. Whiskey flavored condoms? No comment.


We stopped briefly at Balmoral Castle, but since the queen was in residence, it was not open for tours. Onto Crathes Castle , built in the 1500's, which has long been occupied by the Burnett family. A number of very old embroidered bed linens and wall hangings especially interested me.


Continuing my documentation of Scotland rest rooms, I found this poster as another example of the fight against bowel cancer.


The ferry to the Shetland Islands was comfortable. We ate dinner as we left Aberdeen harbor, went to sleep in our stateroom, and arrived in Lerwick in the Shetland Islands the next morning.

Saturday, October 8. The Shetland Island weather is reputed to be bad, but even the locals were complaining about this cold rainy morning. We did some shopping and then set out for Jarlshof at the southern tip of the main island. Jarlshof is unique because there are ruins from so many eras -- Bronze Age (2500 BC), Picts, Vikings, etc.


You are never far from the sea in the Shetlands.


That evening we went to see Evgeny Soifertis in a fine solo piano concert at the Lerwick town hall. Later we went to the renowned Lerwick Lounge, where a pick-up group with fiddles, guitars and piano sat in a circle facing one another playing traditional Scottish music.

Sunday, October 9. To tour Scalloway Castle, you pick up a key at the local hotel and just show yourself in. Here is Ken unlocking the door.


I found the old stone building a bit claustrophobic and let Ken look around the interior on his own. He was impressed by the arches.


There are dry-stone walls (no mortar) all over Scotland. Nifty jigsaw puzzles.


After a drive north past Brae in fine clear weather, we came back to Lerwick to catch the final concert of the Shetland Fiddle and Accordion Festival, arriving just in time to buy the last two tickets. It seemed like a local crowd, I don't think there were many other tourists. I was especially impressed by Sarah Jane Fifield, a young fiddler from Inverness. The crowd really liked Ben Andre's Orkester, a Norwegian accordion band that reminded us not a little of Lawrence Welk.

When we arrived to board the ferry back to Aberdeen, we were handed a notice of "adverse weather warning". Heavy seas! We were tossed around all night and nearly thrown from our beds. We took anti-nausea medicine -- maybe it helped, in any case, we were not seasick. Here is a typical grey view from the window.

Monday, October 10. In Aberdeen, we decided to take the day to get our laundry done and to see the movie Serenity. The Aberdeen Art Gallery was interesting, but to me, Aberdeen was a gray city. There are many reminders of North Sea oil, such as this pair of clocks (one local, one for Houston) in our hotel.


Tuesday, October 11. Some day I will go back to Scotland and take thousands of photos, just of sheep.


While going along the coast near Aberdeen, we stopped at Pennan, the location for one of my favorite movies, Local Hero. This picture shows most of the town which is crammed into a relatively small area at the bottom of a cliff.


The surfer we met at the Jazz Bar in Edinburgh had suggested that ESP might have a "Surf Scotland" T-shirt that would make a good gift for our son. It took some hunting, but we found it in the town of Elgin.


That evening we stayed at the Malvern Guest House, a friendly and comfortable B&B in Inverness.

Wednesday, October 12. Onto the ruins of Urquhart Castle, located on the shore of Loch Ness. This castle had some problems with the MacDonald clan, who were described as having a Viking and Irish heritage. That's a potent combination and could explain a lot..


Look hard, can you see the Loch Ness monster?


We drove into the Highlands. I liked the casual attitude of the dog and cat on this street.


Eilean Donan castle is certainly photogenic.


Out on the Isle of Skye, you can visit Flora MacDonald's grave. She is famous for helping Bonnie Prince Charlie -- a losing cause, but you have to give her credit for not selling out.


This waterfall drops off the cliff into the ocean at Kilt Rock.


We spent the night in the town of Portree at the excellent B&B, Almondbank. For breakfast, they served rhubarb compote much like my grandmother used to make.

Thursday, October 13. Skye was so lovely that we decided to spend another day there. This included a stop at the yarn shop called Shilasdair, which means "iris". They use wool from local sheep and natural dyes from local plants, so I splurged on some real Scots yarn. It felt like we were in the middle of nowhere, but my cell phone had perfect reception for a call from my son in Santa Cruz, California.

Here is the view from that shop:


We stopped to tour Dunvegan Castle. "Dun" means "castle" so was this the Castle of the vegans? Home of the tartan tofu? At the end of the tour, there was a touching video from the MacLeod clan chief which stressed the importance of his family.


Talisker is a distillery known for its "single malt" whisky. We took the tour and Ken sampled a wee dram.


The Isle of Skye is home to the MacDonald's. We visited the Clan Donald Centre where I asked a researcher if she could help me find out more about my ancestry. Since my McDonald ancestor came from Ireland, she told me that it would be better to start there, although it's possible he had just arrived from Scotland.

Armadale Castle is the home of the MacDonald clan.


Ken noticed that there was a ferry from Armadale to Mallaig, a much better way to go to Fort William than backtracking to the Kyle of Lochalsh bridge. We caught it just as the sun was setting.


Moonrise at sunset as we leave the Isle of Skye.

Friday, October 14. After staying the night at the Imperial Hotel, we spent some time exploring the town of Fort William. Remember the folks that we met at Newton Stewart? Here they are at their bookstore, the Ben Nevis Book Corner. They were surprised to see us, but I think they were pleased that we stopped by.


On the road again with the goal of making it to the Glasgow airport hotel that evening. We made a quick stop at the village of Glencoe to see this monument commemorating the infamous slaughter of the MacDonalds by the Campbells.


Notice the road at the far left of this photo. It gives a perspective of how high and how abruptly the hills rise in the aptly named Highlands.


Only four weeks earlier at the Monterey Jazz Festival, we heard Sonny Rollins play a wild, long sax improvisation on "The Bonny Banks of Loch Lomond". Here we were at those famous bonny banks.

Saturday, October 15. I looked forward to going home, but felt sad to leave. We will return, I'm sure.

In the words of Robert Burns:

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North,
The birth-place of Valour, the country of Worth;
Wherever I wander, wherever I rove,
The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here;
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer;
A-chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands wherever I go.

Overall impressions:

• Everything seemed expensive.
  
• The livestock was all huge. Very healthy large sheep and cattle.
  
• Often it was very uncrowded and we were the only tourists around.
  
• The standard of service and food in restaurants was very high.
  
• Scots are friendly, lots of them really liked to talk.
  
• Driving on the left was nerve wracking.
  
• Probably the best vacation we ever took!