Busy Fun Amazing weekend!

I hope you have plenty of time to read this because it is probably going to be a long message!
Ok, Sat. We woke up at 6:00am to make it to the tourist station at 7:45 to leave for the tour to the Highlands. I won't lie, I slept through a few miles of the begining of the trip. The Scottish lowlands really do just look like the Texas Hill country. I know that isn't what you want to hear, but it is the truth. They are plowed up in fields that resemble potatoes and wheat and are seperated by hedges or low fences. Give me a break, it was like 8:00am! lol
We stopped in a little town, which I could never say or spell the name of. Pitlochry is something like it. There have been tourists coming here since Queen Victoria started visiting hundreds of years ago, and that is the complete reason for the town to be there. There is a nice little creek that runs through town, like most of the little towns in the Highlands.
We drove a little further while he told stories about Mary Queen of Scots and answered some questions. Then we stopped at the Laggan Dam, which there are pictures of on the newest slideshow. We took a few pictures and jumped back on the bus. It was a 'luxury mini bus' that held about 36 people, half of which didn't speak a word of English I don't think, and as we've learned with people from Europe especially eastern europe (Asian/Muslim countries, russia, ect.) They dont shower regularly and don't know how to use deodorant!!! It was definately a little distracting, kind of like the 2 spanish children that were basically screaming through the entire trip. It kind of made it entertaining for us though, because we were some of the only ones that could not only understand english, but could somewhat understand his accent enough to understand his stories and jokes.
Next stop was FT. Augustus which is based beside Loch Ness. We bought sandwiches and walked down to the shore to eat. There was a family with two little boys having a picnic and the boys were running around in the water and were very entertaining. The oldest one was eating watermelon and chasing his little brother around trying to spit seeds at him, and when the little one got far enough away he'd turn around and taunt his brother with "nanny nanny boo boo" It was hilarious, and the next thing we knew big brother had caught a fish with his hands! Just a little fish, minnow size or so, but he had caught him with his hands!! It was a amazing. I hopped across some rocks so my picture could get taken while I was 'in' Loch Ness. I would have waded in but I was wearing tights and didn't want to get them wet. The water near the shore was actually really warm. We didn't see Nessie but the locals really seem to believe she is there.
We then headed off to Ft. Williams where they were having their 'highland games' which I described is a very ancient version of olympic throwing events. They throw hammers, and heavy shot put type balls and Cabers which are big sticks that look like telephone polls that they hold vertically and run with and try to throw up and far enough that it flips end-over-end. Well, we stopped there for an hour and while we are walking around looking at exhibitions we hear an announcement looking for people from North America to make up a North American tug-of-war team. Yes, I talked Heather in to it. We waited a little while longer and he called again looking for some people and some guy walked by telling us we should go, so we did. Come to find out we were joining a family from Canada. Mom, teenage son, teenage daughter, and Dad. We grabbed Lori and another Canadian girl walked up. So we had 6 women and 2 guys. We thought it was no big deal, because they were having a hard time even getting another team together to compete against us. Well time comes for the tug-of-war and we all go merrily to our places and suddenly there are like 6 teams! We were stuck against a group of locals that just slaughtered us on the first pull and we held our own a little better the second time around but we were murdered again. It was hilarious. The guys were HUGE! The whole time Dr. Scotts wife just sat in the stands shaking her head like she couldn't believe that we did it. (We bought t-shirts when we were done) lol I have to steal the pictures from Heather but I don't have a jump drive with me to get them from Facebook yet. The mom told us we had made her 'holiday' by joining with them and we even heard them say 'aye' a couple times! We had a great time there then it was off for a drive through the hills.
We saw a lot of pretty country and stopped at a valley crossing known as Glen Coe and the Valley of Sorrows which has a really dark past as the location of one of the largest massacres and the only recorded breach of 'highland hospitality' that has ever happened. I don't remember the details exactly on which King of England ect. that was involved but basically he wanted all of the Clan leaders to plead allegiance to him by New Years and the leader of the Macdonald clan made it to town on time but no one was there and so he went on to another town to do his allegiance and it wasn't 'on time' and the King didn't realize that he had done it later, ect. So he sent men from the Campbell clan there and they stayed with the families and lived with there recieving "highland hospitality... what you want you get" for 10 days and the next morning their leader told them to kill everyone so they turned on the Macdonald clan and killed 179 people and only 40 managed to get away. There were a few really horrible stories included with the escape. The land is beautiful in the area but you can, maybe it was just the story, but you can kind of just feel a quietness about the area. There are a few pictures of this place as well.
There is a trail that leads from Glascow 97 miles through the Highlands (a walking trail) and he told us how in Scotland there are no tresspassing laws. As long as you stay 50meters away from a residence and you don't distrub a farmers animals or crops you are allowed to wander the hills anywhere you choose. This is why Elizabeth is called the Queen of England and Elizabeth Queen of The Scots because the land belongs to the people, she only has control of the people, unlike her control in England where basically everything belongs to her.
After Glen Coe we traveled back down to the lowlands and near Stirling and he cleared up a lot of myths about the movie we've all seen, Braveheart, and the fact that there is no recording that Robert the Bruce ever even met William Wallace and that the 'blue faces' happened alost 1200 years before the battles at Stirling Castle. The whole time he was trying to tell the story though, the microphone kept going out. He was a great story teller and every time he got to the perfect part of the story the mic would cut out, then he would bang on it for a little while and then he woudl start over and the mic would cut out. It was really getting funny after a little while but then it was annoying beause he couldn't finish his stories and at one point he had been banging on the mic with a screwdriver and we passed a sign that said "Frustration Causes Accidents" and everyone laughed histarically. They have signs up like that all over in different places, another one says "Tiredness causes accidents" but the timing and placement for that one was just perfect and we got a great laugh out of it. Steve was a great sport and was just as funny as tour guides are supposed to be. He told us how kilts originated in the Highlands.. which is kind of disgusting actually, but he never told us how kilts became the classic that they are now.
I'm going to keep going, even though it is pretty long already but I have another day to talk about. The original kilts were made out of a really really heavy greyish wool material that they would lay out on the groud and take heather flowers and leaves and sticks and crunch them up and sprinkle them on the fabric and urinate on the fabric causing the dyes in the sticks and stuff to stain the fabric. They would then slather it with animal fat to 'waterproof it' It was the first basic 'camo' design. Then they would fold part of it up in flaps or pleats and wrap that section around their midsection, but high around their chest and the non pleated part was wrapped over the shoulder and pinned in place to wher it could be unwrapped and used as rain cover or a blanket while they were out with the 'hairy coo' which is their version of the Texas Longhorn. I told you it was kind of disgusting.
We made it back to Edinburgh about 8:00pm, 12 hours and almost 600km later. We got there as they were having a clan parade up the royal mile. It was absolutely ridiculous. People were packed 8 and 10 deep on the sidewalk and then they stopped the whole parade to let buses by, so we gave up and went back to the dorms. It had been sunny and warm all day... imagine that, we head north with layers of clothes expecting it to be wet and cold and there isn't a cloud in sight!
Today we slept in a little and had breakfast at 9:00 and headed down to Hollyrood to "The Gathering, Homecoming 2009" We started the day watching the Red Hot Chilli Pipers.... yes PIPERS. It was AWESOME!!! They are basically a rock band with bagpipes. I know it sounds really strange but it was really really awesome. At one point the lead guitarist and one of the pipers were playing side by side, same melody ect. and you couldn't seperate the two sounds. It was perfectly matched and in tune and just absolutely amazing. They even had a little Jazz trio, a trumpet, saxaphone, and trombone that came out and played. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwrvHnYpwkk is the link to the YouTube video. I don't if know it will work for you guys but it is really cool.
The rest of the day we walked around looking at exhibitions and went to the Clan Village to find Dr. Scott's family clan. We ended up meeting a couple families from texas, one of which had a grandson that plays in the band at ASU! How crazy and small is this world?
We went to the whisky tasting tent and paid about $8.00 and got a whisky tasting glass and tickets to try 3 different whiskys. I'm not much of a whisky drinker I learned. They just give you a fraction of a little glass, all 3 samples don't even equal out to a full 1 ounce shot. The first one wasn't bad but the last 2 were just not right for me. Funny thing is that the one we tried was the one our bus driver told us to try and it is the one we, Heather, Dr. Scott, and I, liked the most. The scotsman knows best I guess.
It was a really good weekend. Todays weather was nice, it sprinkled on us a little, and the rain last night had the grounds really messy and mucky, but it was overall a good day. We finished up the day stopping at a grocery store to get some little things, bottled water, ect. Now we are back and i've spent a lot of time typing this blog and answering e-mails and talking to friends.
I hope I haven't left too much out. Momma wanted to know what was so funny the other night. We've discovered that the M C Hammer parachute pants are back in fashion over here.. No but really, and they are even worse than they were the first time aruond because they are made to look like bohemian hippie pants. Heather had found a pair for like $6 at this store and she HAD to buy them and they are absolutely the most hideous thing you've ever seen! They are basically a long floor leng skirt sewn together with leg holes left open, but with a lot of extra material. She pulled them up to her chest, like a strapless dress, and the legs were like capris, and I swear to you a 9 month pregnant woman could wear it and the material wouldn't stretch over her belly. They were this hideous pea green color so we were talking about all the fantasttic halloween costumes she could make out of these hideous pants. You probably had to be here to get the humor of the moment, but they are absolutely hilarious.
Hmm, well i think that just about covers the basics for the weekend. Hopefully it has been entertaining and a little educational! I know my creative writing skills aren't quite what they were last year and i'm not painting pictures as well, but I hope that you can find some humor in my moments.
This was my last weekend in Scotland, thats kind of saddennign to think about but next weekend is in London and then it is home to the real world and school again, but this time I'll be working on a whole new degree!
Have a great week! Talk to you soon- Kait