Scotland: The Land of My Ancestors

In 2006, I visited Scotland with my dad and brother, Travis. Many of our ancestors on both my Mom's and Dad's side lived in Scotland and I have been fascinated with Scottish culture since I was a little kid. So, actually visiting Scotland was very exciting.

One of the first things I noticed about Scotland was how green it was. The pictures do not do justice to how green and alive everything was! Another thing I noticed was that many Scots really do have heavy accents - it's not just a joke - some Scots really do speak with such a heavy accent that you can hardly understand them. Here are some other highlights from our week-long trip (if you get the chance, spending more than a week is definitely advisable):

Football match in Edinburgh - I thought American football had lively fans . . . try going to a match between two rival Scottish football clubs.

Castles - I don't know how many castles we saw. There was no way to visit all of the castles we saw, but here are some of my favorites (yes, the first one is the castle from Monty Python's Holy Grail):


Hiking - There is amazing hiking in Scotland. If I could go to Scotland again, I would do more hiking. The terrain is incredibly beautiful and nothing like hiking I had previously done. Some of the hikes we did were around Moffat, Scotland. Yes, Moffat, Scotland.
The Edinburgh Tattoo - If you're in Scotland during the Tattoo, go. Go especially if you like bagpipes and military bands. If you don't like either of those . . . don't go.
Really old buildings - We stayed in an inn that was older than the Declaration of Independence. And it was haunted. That was cool. And creepy.

Being with the guys - When we went to Scotland, I had been home two weeks from my two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was good to be with my dad and brother and to spend a week with them after not seeing them for two years (even though dad kind of drove me nuts sometimes and almost got us killed driving on the wrong side of the road!). It was an awesome trip. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

There are tons of additional pictures, so if you're interested, you'll just have to contact me.