Our last morning in Scotland was bittersweet. William was ready to return to his room with his toys and “play with kids”. Mike was anxious to see what awaited him at work. Julie needed to get home and start filling up the Fall calendar with fun outings, classes and playdates. We knew we’d miss the ocean outside our windows, the pastoral landscape, Scotland’s slower pace and the friendly folks we’d met.

The only cooperage in Scotland opened to the public. The historical photos and tour were quite interesting, and we watched men repairing used casks to be returned to whisky distillers in the UK. These coopers also make a limited number of new casks for specialty beer brewers around the world.
At the end of the tour, Mike tried his hand at making a cask against the clock. He earned extra points for a high degree of difficulty because William was taking it apart as Daddy was building it!

Caskman is a barrel of fun.

The sign welcoming visitors to Portknockie, with the ever-present sheep and unspoiled ocean view as a backdrop. William really learned how to ‘baa’ like a sheep after walking past them to the park.

Mike filling up the bottle for our church water ceremony. Unitarians perform this ritual as part of the Ingathering Service on the first Sunday of the new church year in September.

Mike will miss his favorite Scottish breakfast of pork sausage, beef sausage, red pudding, black pudding, and potatoes all fried in butter.

Cya anon Clythness Cottage.

Our new house and car, we’ve decided to stay in Scotland and raise William here.

(Cullen House is the former manor home of the Seafields. The Lord and his lady downsized to another house on the estate and Cullen House is now broken down into two-floor condominiums going for a mere 4-500K pounds.)

From landed gentry to spoiled religious figures, we head over to Elgin Cathedral. Parts of the building’s ruins date to the 12th century. Exceptional stonework and a mish-mash of architectural features are still evident. The grounds include entombed bishops and a graveyard full of professionals from the 1800s. Julie loves the artwork on the old tombstones. The cathedral was a seat of power and only used for ceremonially purposes, music and vespers – unusual in that there was a separate local parish. Eventually it was abandoned until some local folks decided it was worth restoring.

Elgin Cathedral left to rot after the Reformation.

How Julie wants to be laid to rest.

Ocean at Portknockie

Bow Fiddle Rock

Spey Bay Wildlife Centre about 20 mins. away was on our list of must-sees and it didn’t disappoint. Sitting at mouth of the Spey River where it meets the ocean, huge flocks of Osprey and several swans were enjoying the Spey. Salmon and seabass fishermen were hard at play and the winding paths were pleasant. Most of the time we spent on the ocean side looking through binoculars for some of the groups of bottle-nosed dolphins that come to feed on the salmon there. Will loved seeing the sailboats and fishing vessels and hearing the geese and seagulls. The museum had recordings of whale clicks made in the Moray Firth and the tour guide let us help with the hourly data collection – weather conditions, boat activity, animals in the area and their behaviors, etc. “Science!” Mike exclaimed with a smile.

Spey Bay

The next day was the only day we had non-stop rain and Will was getting serious cabin fever. Upon some investigation, a mom in town told us about The Kids Playbarn – a two-story, soft-padded play structure for the kiddos. Espresso and scrumptious sweets for the adults. Once we found the rather remote location, it was a blast! Will was so happy to see other kids, run through hanging weight bags, scrambling over walls and flying down big slides. He and his dad spent long stretches in the second-floor ball room shooting nerf balls through a cannon.

The Playbarn of awesomeness.

One glorious day we ventured to Fraserburgh on the far East coast, where much of the Moray Firth commericial fishing is now done. A tour of the first lighthouse in Scotland and the steep, winding drive along the coast provided spectacular views. An old Royal Navy guy with anchor tats was our tour guide.

The view from our front steps at 10:30 pm. We’ve seen some mighty pretty sunsets, and slept through our share, too.

Will running away from the cold water (note his long-sleeved rash guard that Mom hunted high and low for before we left).
We went into the sea on this day. The water was clear but brisk.

Julie chillin’ at Cullen Beach. Troupe Head, a seabird sancturary, is on the cliffs in the distance.

Mike has advanced to the one-handed hand stand.

Kinnaird Castle and Kinnaird Head Lighthouse – the first lighthouse in Scotland.

Then the downpour came and we took cover in the old railway station turned tea room. William enjoyed a ginger bar and orange squash drink and even shared with mom (we’re working on this). Meanwhile, Mike was making friends with two Canadians over 5 drams of fine whisky. We were allowed to see the tasting room and casks afterward since Mike was buying a special bottle of single-cask whisky. Most whiskies, even single batch, are from three different casks to get a more mellow bourbon/sherry mixture of flavors. He got to bottle it himself and sign a register and everything.

Mike filling his own single-cask bottle.

Mike in the River Spey.

Our next trip involving whisky was a family highlight. The Whisky Line runs an old restored passenger train from Keith to Dufftown, home of Glenfiddich (pronounced fedeek). This was William’s first ride on a big train and he chattered non-stop! It criss-crosses over the River Spey and offers terrific views of the countryside – we even saw a couple deer. Will got to sit in the conductor’s seat and blow the horn, and on the return one of the workers got out, blew a whistle at a now-defunct station and announced to the cabin he did it just for our little man (these Scots know customer service).

The real excitement was at Dufftown, where for 10 pounds Mike got to take the controls of an English Electric 350hp diesel-hydraulic locomotive and drive around the switch yard. He and William, who sat on his lap the whole time, were over the moon! Mike kept us on the rails and I videotaped.

Mike and Will driving the train.

Driving a train is exhausting work, so we had lunch in a diner car at the stop. Then walked to Glenfiddich where we missed the tour, so we explored a bit on our own and William created a Teddy Bear conga line in the gift shop. A brief hike up to some castle ruins and the we were back on the train bound for home.

Famous Glenfiddich distillery.

Everyone takes nature walks here. The views of the sea and cliffs were breathtaking along the Moray Coastal Trail to Findochty, a neat little fishing village just two miles to the West. William picked more wildflowers for Mommy on the path (she is getting used to this royal treatment on vacation). We had a tasty lunch at a traditional pub on the harbor, then went onto the docks and watched kids in wet suits diving and splashing. Mike decided we should climb some more to a memorial above the town.

Findochty Memorial

With time for leisurely meals, we cook a lot at our cottage. Sausages (so many varieties) and eggs, lamb chops, and one night, Mike took a stab at the official dish of Scotland – Haggis. It’s often served with potatoes or “tatties”. William tried a few bites. Mike and Juile are fans.

Haggis, Tatties, Tennent’s and tea

(If you want to see the full complement of our Scotland photo sets, click on any picture in the blog to go to our Flickr page.)

We’re settling in and exploring the neighborhood. The ocean is a few blocks away as are the library and playground.

We’ve mostly been eating at home, but we did stop by the local fish and chips shop. We found many different types of sausages for breakfast and the local beef and lamb are great.

The rental car is a 5-door Vauxhaul Corsa. Driving on the left side of the road is easier than we imagined. Shifting with the left hand feels natural, and we haven’t veered onto the right side of the road yet. Sparse oncoming traffic is still startling (why is that car going so fast on the wrong side of the road?!?!).

We have some adventures in the planning stage. There is a scenic rail line that goes to Dufftown, with many distilleries along the way. The brochure says that on Sundays they’ll even let you drive a diesel engine in the switch yard! That will probably be the highlight of the trip for William.

You can see the top of the wooden roller coaster in the picture, as well as the Tipsy House. Yes, Will found the small train that takes toddlers around in circles and toots its horn.

Fresh nutty bars are delish, but I was even more overjoyed by the service when we discovered I’d left my wallet on the table. There and it was safely behind the counter after a 30 minute frantic search. A big extended family vacation in Okoboji is on the docket for the near future.

Back outside drifting across the bridge we were treated to a great view of the iconic Spoonbridge and Cherry statue by Claes Oldenburg. Once across, a pleasant walk through Loring Park was punctuated by some gorgeous flower beds near our hip lunch spot, Nick and Eddie. Excellent steak frites. Coincidentally, the place has huge speakers exposed all around the joint making it a fitting ending to our Hendrix Experience.

Mike’s clan fawned over William and provided another great party, this time celebrating Lauren and Nick’s wedding. Will took his first taxi ride to dinner on the shores of the Mississippi River (mangled with extra constants in that toddler way of speaking). A post-meal stroll along the cobblestone streets and the path snaking along the Mighty Mississippi was very pleasant. It was the nicest weather of our trip that day.

Cousin Lauren and her wedding party were gorgeous with downtown Minneapolis as a backdrop for the nuptials.

“Whoa! Lauren’s getting married all the way up there?”

The reception was a blast and William was a dancing fool. He got to slow dance with Momma, do the Twist with Papa and boogie with Auntie Tina, Daddy, Lauren and a variety of older women whom he charmed. The girl in the white and black dress even got jealous when he was whisked away for a turn with the bride!

Girl drama at 2, lord help us.