Scotland trip 2022 - week 1

 Gibson and Brandan planned a trip to Scotland when Gibson turned 13 in 2020.  Unfortunately the COVID-19 pandemic changed those plans.  We were finally able to go this year.  Brandan's mom Linda is a Morrison.  So we visited places that the Morrisons lived -- Edinburgh, Inverness and the Isle of Lewis (Stornoway).

Our flight from Salt Lake was delayed an hour while they asked people to leave the plane to reduce weight, the plane running the whole time.  When we arrived at New York, they had a backlog of planes, and would have to circle for 45 minutes.  They did not have enough fuel, so we routed to Hartford, Connecticut to refuel.  Lots of people got off the plane there, and this imbalanced the plane.  By the time they could rebalance it, the crew were over their time limits.  So we had to wait several hours for another plane to arrive.  We did not have enough time to make our flight to Scotland, so Delta booked us onto the same flight 24 hours later.  So we had an unexpected day in New York rather than in Edinburgh.

We slept in at the hotel, then ordered in pizza.

We took the subway to Times Square... 

then to the Empire State building... 

then to the World Trade Center 9/11 memorial.  There are two square monuments on the footprints of the 2 buildings that were destroyed.  Around each square are engraved names of those who died.  A rose is placed in the letters of the person’s name on their birthday.  A sign invites visitors to touch their names.  Inside the names is a waterfall along all 4 edges that falls down into the square, then flows to another smaller square and down its sides.  Down, down.

Nearby is a sculpture to honor the first responders who died.  There are stones stacked and slanted so they recede into the ground.  Veins of metal lace the stone.  The metal is from the buildings that fell and represents strength.  As the stones disappear into the ground, they are covered in ivy that extends in a path behind each stone.

Flew to Edinburgh, arriving Wednesday morning.  They upgraded our rental car to a red MG SUV with manual transmission.

We drove to the airbnb apartment in Edinburgh.  It took us about ½ hour to find a parking spot, finally finding an open spot right outside the apartment doors.  We dropped off our stuff and walked to the Royal Mile with Edinburgh Castle at the upper end and Holyrood Royal Palace at the lower end.

The annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival meant the Old Town was packed with people and street performers.

The castle is incredible.  It is built on top of a stone mound with a great view of the rest of the city.  

We looked north across the Forth of Firth at Fifeshire where our family worked in coal mines in Kirkcaldy, Lochgelly, Cowdenbeath.  

At the top of the castle is the oldest building in Edinburgh -- St. Margaret's chapel built in 1130.

Running parallel to the Royal Mile is a street called Cowgate where our Morrison ancestors lived from 1500 to 1750.

This graphic in the museum at the lower end of the Royal Mile shows where different classes lived.

Thursday we drove to Inverness.  Along the way, we went to a beautiful area called Finegand where Becky's McComb family lived.  There were 2 houses and a fire station.  Not sure if one of the houses is where her family lived.

On the hills behind the houses you can see purple patches.  This is a beautiful purple heather that grows wild over much of the countryside of the Highlands.

We drove the road along the south end of the Cairngorms National Park.

We arrived at Inverness and went to hike along the beautiful Loch Ness.

In Gaelic, Ness means 'promontory' or 'nose.'  It's pronounced "Nish."  Loch means 'lake.'  Inver means 'estuary' or 'confluence of waters.'

The river Ness flows through the town of Inverness.  We found Nessie resting there.

Northern Scotland is proud of their Highland cow, or Heilan coo.  We saw logos of them with long bangs over their eyes in all the shops.

Friday we drove to Eilean Donan, a stunning castle built in the 1700s then destroyed, then rebuilt in the 1920s.  The McRae clan still uses it as a residence, so they forbid photos inside.

Returning along Loch Ness we stopped at the Loch Ness Centre where they explain the science behind searching for Nessie.  This submarine was used to explore its depths.  The Loch is massive.  "Every person on earth could be immersed 3 times in the loch."

Continuing back to Inverness, we saw hay fields with rolled bales and charming purple bus stops.

We stopped for food at the local grocery store Morrisons.

We mailed postcards to Becky & Helen in Central Point, Sofi in Bountiful, and Abe in South Korea.

Saturday we went to the Glen Urquhart Highland Games in Drumnadrochit on the bank of Loch Ness.  It was their 75th year.  They had not been able to hold it the last couple of years because of the pandemic, so everyone was excited to attend.  Glen means 'valley' and Urquhart is the name of people who lived there, pronounced "ur cart."

The games were held at a shinty field.  Shinty is a highland sport like field hockey, using a stick to hit a ball.  Around the field was a track, lined with benches, and surrounded by crafts booths and carnival rides.  

They held many events.  Boys and girls races...

shot-put...

hammer throw...

throwing weight over a bar...

tossing the caber, in which the goal is to get the 15-foot-long, 75-pound caber to land on its end and topple forwards...

throwing a weight.  This man from Oregon beat the record for the Highland games, and then beat his own record on each of the following 3 throws.  All of the heavy events require wearing a kilt...

Highland dancing...

and piping competitions.

The Edinburgh Bagpipers played a couple of times.

That evening we drove to Ullapool to take the ferry to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.  We enjoyed more of the rugged beauty of the Highlands.