The Waspers Have Landed!

Well..truthfully, the Clines and Hubbles are still in the air! It’s Wednesday morning and they’re flying back from Ireland today. But the Johnsons and I parted ways at Dulles Tuesday night to head to Charlottesville (Johnsons) and Charlotte (Mon).  It was a long day of travel but it still provided some fun moments together with fellow travelers. The saddest part was that long lines and big crowds “thinned” our herd over the course of the day and we really didn’t get to say proper goodbyes to many of our new friends.

  Here’s a snapshot from Graduation Night. As you can see…some folks got into the spirit and wore their tartan plaids! That’s Elgene (Marty’s a little cropped! oops!) wearing his tartan tie, also!

Our last day in Scotland was a free day.  Some folks shopped in downtown Stirling, others took the bus to area historical sites, some went back to Edinburgh, one tuo took the train to Perth!  I headed to Falkirkto find Todd Hull (’86) and his family. He and his entire family were travelling in Scotland the same time we were, and we had plans to find each other at the Falkirk Wheel on Monday.  But limited access to e-mail over the last few days seems to have sabotaged our plan, and I’m afraid I couldn’t find them. 

  However, the Falkirk Wheel is fascinating.  I ended up spending a delightful day in Falkirk, though, and among other adventures was the introduction to Tunnock’s Tea Cakes….a tasty treat that my godchildren will be receiving as soon as I get home!

Here’s a short round-up of a few photos I didn’t get to share earlier!

 That’s Diane and Bob showing their E&H pride near Loch Lohmond.

 Here’s the whole gang in front of Edinburgh castle.

  Here’s Marty and Elgene at Edinburgh Castle.

  Here’s Diane, Bob, Jean and Paul leaving Oban.

  And just to prove that I was really there…here I am on the cobble stone streets of St. Andrews. 

Thanks to everyone for reading the blog!

Meanwhile, we hope this has increased your appetite for a little travel!  If you’re interested in the next Alumni Travel offering, give me an email! alumni@hotmail.com

Wish you’d been there!

Mon

Sunday in St. Andrews

Delightfully changeable weather in St. Andrew! Pouring rain one moment and bright and shiny the next, and beautiful either way. The ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral were beautiful and inspiring, and there was something else in St. Andrews…what was that??….something about GOLF????

   These photos were taken at the ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral.

Our group has a free day tomorrow to pursue interests.  I’m off to Falkirk to try to link up with Todd Hull and his family.  If you haven’t heard of the Falkirk wheel, give it a GOOGLE, because it’s really fascinating.

Our group graduates tomorrow evening with a little reception.  The folks on the trip have been great fun to travel with. We’ve all enjoyed sharing stories of our alma maters and the Emory crew has enjoyed trying to explain just exactly WHERE Emory & Henry is located.  Mostly it has just been fun to meet such nice people and share time together in a beautiful location.

We’ll fly out on Tuesday then back to the real world!

Wish you were here!

Mon

It’s Saturday

Sorry to have missed yesterday, but it was a long whirlwind of a day!

We left Oban, stopped at Luss (a beautiful little community along Lach Lomond) and then headed into Stirling.  Stirling is considerably larger than the “wee” town of Oban and our hotel sits high atop a hill, just below Stirling Castle.  We toured Stirling castle yesterday then had some time to walk around the city before dinner at the hotel.

I should point out that Friday’s highland was our tour guide, Sheila, who is simply a wonderful story-teller.  She conveyed history and battles as if they were written as a play.  She talked of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace (sp?) and took us to a battlefield where she described scenes in great detail.  She has a real gift for bringing the history alive and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Today we spent the day in Edinburgh. We motored around the city to see landmarks and get our bearings, then had some time at Edinburgh Castle.  Our afternoon was free to walk the Royal Mile, shop, cruise the pubs, or visit museums.

  Here’s a photo of Jean and Paul snapping photos at Edinburgh Castle.

My favorite activity today was climbing to the top of Sir Walter Scott’s memorial located on Princes Street.  With 287 steps to the top, it provided quite the view of Edinburgh!  I also enjoyed the fact that Edinburgh is a bustling busy city — with a mountain right in the middle of it. An actual mountain!  It’s a beautiful park with wildlife and trails and again, amazing views.

  Here’s a shot of Princes Stree from high atop the monument.

Wish you were here! AND OH! I found ICE today! Sooooooo happy!

Mon

Glorious Scotland

  Today we travelled to Seil island. This is one of the islands where slate was previously quarried and used around the world.  Our lecturer this afternoon was so bright and charming that we kept him longer than planned just to ask questions about life on this remote and beautiful island.

I learned today that Scotland has no trespassing laws — which was good news since I climbed a fence to frolic with the sheep and to find this stunning view in the photo above.  The sheep are fine, don’t worry, but it was a beautiful walk and probably my favorite day of the trip so far.  The rain has stopped and it was simply a glorious day for a walk among the jagged rocks along the shore as well as the steep green hillsides where the sheep were grazing.

 I know some of you think I’m really just sending these updates from the Holiday Inn in Bristol and that I’m just PRETENDING to be in Scotland.  Well, you’ll have to keep wondering because I’m not ready to show my hand — or my photo.  But aren’t the sheep cute?

Tonight a crowd of us are going to the bookstore located just behind the Caledonian Hotel where an author will be discussing his book about the Stone of Scone (not to be confused with my baking…the scones of stone).

Tomorrow we travel to Stirling. It’s our day to wear our E&H t-shirts and pose in front of something terribly Scottish.  I know you’ll be watching for THAT!

Wish you were here!

Mon

Is today Thursday?

I’m not where I can ask anyone without looking like a lost tourist, so let’s assume it is!

Today we had a nice start to the day with Alistair MacDonald in full kilt playing the bagpipes and talking to us about the significance of the tartan plaids, the traditional Scottish garb, and the act of actually playing those bagpipes.   Below is a photo of one of the Northwestern participants showing how to wear a traditional kilt…and a very non-traditional tam!

 

Today I tucked Harry Crowgey’s (E&H ‘36) book on Kentucky Bourbon under my arm and toured the Oban Distillery. It was a fascinating tour, and thanks to Oban and Harry I now know a bit more about Scotland’s unique product (Scotch) and America’s unique product (Bourbon).  Our tourguide was very knowledgeable and very patient with all our questions!

That’s all for now because I’m starving and we have another side-trip that leaves at 1:30 pm!

One quick PS for my music-loving friends: heard the Dixie Chicks on Oban RADIO today. It’s a good town, eh?

Wish you were here!

Mon

If it’s Wednesday it must be Skye!

  Actually this isn’t on the Isle of Skye, but it is a beautiful castle — Eileen Donan’s Castle.  We had a big bus tour yesterday of the Western Highlands and the Isle of Skye.  The mountains are simply amazing and the sheep are simply plentious.  If you’re curious about the isle of Skye, look up a bit of history on Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora MacDonald.

I should point out that we’re also getting “a wee bit o’ education” along the way!  While on the island of Mull we heard about the geological and cultural development of this beautiful spot.  It gave us just the right amount of history to head straight to the Tobermory Chocolate factory.  Yesterday after having lunch at the Castle belonging to clan MacDonald, we heard about the Highland Clearances and crofting from a gentleman who looked JUST like a young Dan Leidig.  When then toured the gardens before getting on the ferry to Malaig (pronounced as if you’re pulling m’leg) (and I’m not pulling yours).

As is evidenced in this last photo, Bob Johnson would love it here — they give GREAT special treatment to Coaches, everywhere we go.

 

Wish you were here!
Mon

 

 

Ah Technology!

 

It’s only taken us HOW LONG to figure out a photo??  Now that we’ve figured this out, we’ll catch up a bit tomorrow!

Meanwhile today wasn’t as “lovely” as I said! It actually rained all day, but I would personally have been soooooo disappointed to come to Great Britain and not have rainy weather. I mean, seriously, could EVERY old movie be lying about the weather here?! The rain and clouds just served as a glorious background for all we saw.

We took a ferry from Oban to the Isle of Mull and toured Tobermory and Duart Castle.

Marty McLeod Johnson learned how to write her name in Gaelic. And We all got to meet a real Scottish Clan Chief — from the Clan McLean (don’t trust my spelling…I left my notes in the room!).

On the Ferry ride back to Oban, Bob and Diane taught Marty how to play “31″ — and they enjoyed hearing about how Dot Culberson and Freddie Mason conveniently “forget” the rules when we play at home!

Tomorrow we’re off to the Isle of Skye! And perhaps more castles?????

Wish you were here,

Mon

 

Day 2

Stayed up later than intended last night because the sun simply doesn’t go down! At 10:30 I went to bed with the sun still shining across the water outside the Oban Caledonian Hotel.  We had walked around the waterfront to see the town and check out a nearby cathedral.  The sunset was simply beautiful.

  This was taken around 9:30 or 10 pm and that’s our hotel in the background.

 

Slept with the window open — and no screens — because there apparently aren’t bugs here. I need George Treadwell to explain this to an English Major.

 

If you are reading this with your morning Pal’s tea (Karen) or your morning McDonald’s tea (Andrea) you’re wondering how an iced tea-fiend is faring in a country where ice is not terribly loved.  Well….happily….tea IS terribly loved.  Just not the ice.  I tried to bring some in my carry on, but didn’t have much success.

 

We’re off today to the Isle of Mull and Duart Castle.  It’s chilly, but lovely!  This is a snapshot of Tobermory on the isle of Mull!

 

Wish you were here!

Mon

 

First day of the trip and all is well!

Marty and Elegene Johnson and I found each other in the Dulles Airport and then Bob and Diane Cline and Paul and Jean Hubble greeted us in the Glasgow Airport.  It didn’t take long for us to begin to see the beautiful countryside of Scotland.

As instructed by Bill Orr, I’ve been counting sheep, but I’ve already run out of fingers and toes (even with the “Four-fingered Kit-Kat” I bought on the plane!).  Polly and Mac McFarlane wanted me to keep an eye out for the little town where they have ancestors, and we passed through Arrochar today!

  Just three here…but trust me…there are more.

I’ve always thought that our Scots ancestors stopped in SWVA and Western NC because they were ready to settle down.  But with my first glimpse of Scotland that theory dissolved.  Now I think so many stopped there because it looked and felt like home.  Tall pines, knobby mountain-scapes, dense foliage, rushing streams - it all looks like the familiar scenes of SWVA counties.

Of course, castles and heather and the hairy Highland cows don’t look too familiar!

By the way, the following photo is significant for two reasons. First off, it’s a view from our Hotel, and Secondly, it was taken at 10:30 pm.  Not a lot of actual NIGHT in Scotland these days!

We’re off tonight for haggis!  We’ll give a full report on that tomorrow!

Wishing you were here!!

Monica and the E&H Gang

Watch here for the Scotland Blog: June 23-July 1!

   Margaret Hutson’s little Scottish Terrier, Bonny, has marked her day planner so she can keep up with all the E&H alumni adventures in Scotland!  Watch this spot for what will hopefully be the first report from Scotland on June 23!  Keep your fingers crossed that I can figure out how to make technology work for us!

Thanks for checking in!

Mon

Monica Hoel, ‘85, E&H Alumni Office