Well, we are back in the land where people drive on the right and don’t talk (too) funny. We had a GREAT trip…expect many posts over the coming weeks on some of the sights that we saw. We took a few photos, some of them actually worth viewing. Below is a screen grab showing the locations of the shots we took, courtesy of Aperture & our GPS.

The pins show locations of photos shot.

(Geek notes: Each day I created a new track on our tiny GPS and it tracked where we went that day. Back at home, I loaded each day’s photos and the associated track and Aperture assigned a location to each shot based upon timestamps. It’s a very nice feature that allows us to rapidly find photos that we took. Technology can be a good thing.)

So, a good time was had by all. We met some interesting folks: the guy we met at dinner in Oban who’s walking the perimeter of Great Britain, the geologist who had spent some time on the rig in the Gulf that is now so famous and who had some interesting words concerning BP’s approach to safety, the bartender from New Orleans we met in Edinburgh who also had a few choice words for BP, the four Englishmen we met at a distillery who provided us with some excellent pointers on enjoying Whisky (and who I educated on the making of bourbon), the nice couple from Tasmania who are essentially on their way around the world, and many others.

We had, as usual, several unexpected experiences. We spent an immensely enjoyable afternoon watching a falconry demonstration. We watched bands at an open mike night in Inverness prior to the opening of a music festival there. We learned how dyes for yarn are made from natural ingredients at a shop located at what felt like the end of the world on Skye. We utilized high technology to finally understand a battle that took place almost 300 years ago. And, again, many others.

We also watched World Cup everywhere we went. We experienced the USA – England match with a bunch of Englishmen on Skye. We learned that the Scots are cheering for whomever is playing the English. We learned that the BBC must provide an option to turn off those damn horns and only listen to the commentators. And we learned just how much the World Cup is a truly international event. Our pilots provided updates and the bar in Newark was PACKED with folks watching…they were stacked well into the concourse outside the bar we were eating in, straining to see. (Reading the UK newspaper coverage was a lot of fun, too.)

Now we’re just trying to get back on our feet and re-adjust to the oppressive heat of Florida in summer. Not to mention our return to our desks tomorrow. All good things….

Dunrobin Castle, Scotland, 2010

Above: Falconry demo – yes that’s an owl, not a falcon. His name is Plop.

Below: Recipe book for yarn dyes

Isle of Skye, Scotland, 2010

(BTW: upon leaving each city, village, District, whatever, there was a sign that said “Thanks for visiting, Haste Ye Back”. Thanks, we may just do that.)