Anniversary Road Trip and Why Scotland?

To celebrate our 45th wedding anniversary Anne I planned a three-day trip along the Columbia River Gorge and to Pendleton.  The morning we left for Pendleton, suitcases, camera gear, and golf clubs in the car, was pleasant but cool.  We planned stops at several of the falls along the gorge.  First, was Latourell Falls, 

a short 200-yard hike from the parking area to the base of the falls.  At 28 degrees the walk was quite brisk, but the views we got of the falls were worth it--I burned quite a bit of memory at the falls dropping straight down from a basalt cliff to the rocks below.  



























Next was a hike (for me, Anne stayed warm in the car) of about 500-yards downhill to the base of Bridal Veil Falls.  The side trails around the base of the falls were very slippery so I played safe and stuck to the main path.  The photos I think are worth the three rest stop climb back to the car park

 The main waterfall on the scenic highway is Multnomah Falls, the highest in Oregon at about 620 feet in two steps.  We were still early enough in the day and late enough in the year to not have to fight too many visitors for our views.  

I am technically pleased with the photos I took, even if they are rather typical.  The last waterfall we stopped at before rejoining the freeway (motorway to our Scottish friends) was Horsetail Falls.  

The falls have an impressive flow even though it is less than a third the height of Multnomah.  

After leaving the falls area it’s a long drive through the Columbia River Gorge to Pendleton.  The scenery is entertaining, but we still needed a coffee break in The Dalles.  By the time we reached Pendleton we were ready to check into our digs for two nights, Wildhorse Resort & Casino about four miles east of Pendleton. 

We had hoped to play golf on the resort’s fine course, but at 35 degrees with a twenty mile an hour wind, the course wasn’t very inviting.  So, what to do?  Let’s go to the casino.  At the end of the two days we were at Wildhorse,

we had spent less than half what we had taken to play with--we consider that a successful casino trip--lots of fun and money left over.

Since the next day was even colder (with a low of 14 degrees) and the wind was even stronger we decided a photo excursion was a better choice than golf. We started the day with breakfast (in fact, we ate there both days) at the Main Street Diner in Pendleton.  

50s decor in the Main Street Diner.

Owner and manager Marilyn Anderson.

A hole-in-the-wall downtown diner with friendly staff and great food.  It’s hard to eat anywhere else when there’s a place this good in town.  Our drive toward John Day was slower than anticipated. 

Abandoned homestead by Pilot Rock, OR.

I had wanted to get more photos of the almost ghost town of Fox, but the icy roads through John Day River canyons and over mountain passes was too slow to make the whole trip.  Instead, we drove off the main road and into the town of Ukiah, population 186.  

Mule deer outside Ukiah.

At 3400 feet in elevation Ukiah’s noted as having recorded the coldest temperature in Oregon at -54°F or -46°C (Feb., 1933).  We grabbed a quick cup of coffee (no pie, pie only on the weekends) at the only place to eat in town, the Thicket  Cafe and Lounge.  

No pie, but good coffee.

Nobody was in the four-table cafe, but the lounge was quite busy.  Back in Pendleton we did a little shopping at the Pendleton Woolen Mills Store

--Anne shopped, I looked.

After another evening leaving money and taking money from the casino machines (more leaving than taking this night) we fought the heavy winds on the freeway toward home.  As we approached Portland we made a final waterfall stop at Multnomah Falls.  

After two days of almost single digit temperatures there was quite a different look to the falls.  Made a good bookend to our anniversary road trip.

Why Scotland?

At our 50th reunion in August we were asked several times why we go to Scotland so much, especially after we mentioned we were getting ready for our 23rd trip since 2000 right after the reunion.  The answer I always give is, “Golf, castles, and Scotch whisky--and not necessarily in that order.”  While that’s true that we go for the great, historic golf in the Home of Golf, 

Anne at Piperdam GC near Dundee.

and we enjoy visiting as many castles and other historic sites (cathedrals, abbeys, stone circles, cairns, battlefields) as we can, 

Curator of the modern section (1850) of Innerpeffray Library.

and we do seek out distilleries to visit and special bottles of single malt whisky to bring home, those aren’t the most important reasons we forgo traveling to other places and return to Scotland primarily, but Wales, England, and Ireland as well.

A Home at Crail harbour. 

Our real motivation to go back to Scotland is that the place gets in your blood--ask almost anyone who’s been there even once.  For Anne it’s her heritage (Scottish, English, Irish) and for me it’s a kindred Celtic heritage (Welsh, English).  We’ve also been adopted by a Scottish family in Crieff (central Scotland, between Perth on the east and Stirling on the west which are between Edinburgh and Glasgow which are between the North Sea and the Atlantic to get technical).  We are now familially obligated to be in Scotland for birthdays (very important to the Scots) and Speech Days (end of the school year celebrations) for our adopted niece and nephew.  

Ballater GC.

We are also obligated by our chosen retirement gig--writing golf travel guides and books of travel stories.  For our next book (or next revision of a previous book) we “have to” play some courses new to us, stay in different B&Bs, and try new restaurants, pubs, and tea rooms.  “Have to.”  In order to keep sales going we need to go back to courses, restaurants, and pubs we’ve previously visited to promote the latest book (which by the way is the current golf in Scotland #1 seller on AmazonUK).  

Lastly, we keep going back to Scotland and the UK because there is a real satisfaction in knowing a place in depth rather than superficially. 

School PE for Highland children.

We’ve been to Germany, Austria, and Hungary on a two-week train excursion and we want to go back...sometime.  But right now it seems more important to be sure we’ve seen all of Scotland (next for us is to get to the Outer Hebrides, particularly the Isles of Harris and Lewis), Wales (our fifth visit is scheduled for our spring 2014 trip), and England (I have yet to get to London, although Anne flew over for girls’ weekend with our Scottish family  a couple of years ago). 

Kellie castle Gardens, Fife.

I guess the need for in depth knowledge was imparted to me by being a debater in high school and college and a speech coach for all those years.  So, going to Scotland for three months a year (in two trips) is for the golf, the castles, and the whisky--and a whole lot more. 

Rabbie Burns in the Birks of Aberfeldy.

Interesting sculpture on a Highland tombstone. 

Here We Are in Scotland

What’s it like to travel to a place that’s almost home?  What do we do when we get there?  These are reasonable questions and present the thesis for this first post in our Fall 2013 Scotland trip.  

The flights from Portland to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to Edinburgh were very pleasant,

A lovely sunrise from about two hours west of Amsterdam.

if you can forget that we paid extra for the sort of upgraded seats (four inches more room) and had to pay $100 a bag for two extra bags.  We arrived on time in Amsterdam, but were clear across the terminal from our departure to Scotland.  We barely had time for a latte and cheese roll 

Amsterdam airport coffee shop.

before we had to board our plane to Edinburgh.  

In Edinburgh we picked up our rental car, a snazzy new Ford Focus that’s getting about 35 mpg.  

We made the drive to Crieff in plenty of time to meet Jacky, our B&B host/sister, 

for lunch at a local hangout called The Lounge.  The afternoon was spent unpacking and getting our golf clubs ready for golf on Friday.

Friday’s golf was a quick nine at St Fillans where we’re members, 

Anne tees off on the 3rd at St Fillans.

then back to the B&B so I could prepare a dressed up pasta dish for a dinner for ten in the evening.  Dinners for 10 or 15 are not unusual for this B&B

Jacky's pialla, cooked in a special pan about 2-1/2 feet wide, fixed for dinner the night before the big dinner.

--at this one were the family of the house (John, Jacky, daughter Ailsa), Booney (the Romanian live-in helper), 

Ailsa on the left and her father, John on the right. 

four ladies from Canada, and us.  

Us.

Pork chops, pasta, potatoes (always potatoes), salad, broccoli, and plenty of wine.  A grand time was had by all.

Saturday for us was a touring day.  We did a little shopping at House of Bruar, had hot chocolate and cake in Grandtully,

Scottish Chocolate Centre, Iain Burnett the Highland Chocolatier.

visited both a kirkyard

Logierait Kirkyard: mortsafes used to keep bodies from being dug up by body snatchers.

and a Hieland Coo.  

We had been recommending one of our favorite pubs to the guests we met at the B&B, so we stopped in for a light lunch at the Moulin Inn.

The sign reads, "Moulin Inn, Scottish Pub of the Year, 1696."

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest...and boy did we need it.  We did manage to go out for coffee and some writing time around noon and then drive the six miles out of town to the Innerfeffray Library, the oldest lending library in Scotland.  

Innerpeffray Chapel.

Chapel left and the white Innerpeffray Library on the right.

People visit the library connected to an old Drummond family chapel to research the hundreds of old Scottish books in the library.  

We had a nice visit with a charming curator/librarian who showed us the new books--the ones printed after 1800.

Our agenda for the next few days was golf, golf, golf: two courses we’d played before and one new to us.  We had great fun playing the fine Downfield course in Dundee 

Downfield GC, Dundee.

Step into the hazard, my friend. 

and the Strathmore course at the edge of the Highlands.  

Strathmore GC, near Alyth.

Playing the third day at Piperdam GC near Dundee was work--hard work for a couple of reasons.  First, the course quite hilly for me, the walker (Anne, with an injured foot, got to ride in a buggy).  

Second, we both had great difficulty trying to dissect the design problems of the course.  When I talked to the club pro after the round I asked, “Who designed the course?”  He replied, “That’s the problem, no one designed it, they just sort of put it together around the views.”  

Piperdam Golf and Liesure Centre, Fowlis, Dundee.

While the course is lovely, it has some serious problems as a golf course.  The pro did assure us that plans had been approved to rectify most of the glaring design flaws over the coming winter. 

Good flights, meeting old and new friends, shopping, touring, golf and a little work are a great way to start our Fall 2013 Scotland trip. 

A fall walk to Crieff town centre.