See Me Now

               We’re here in Edinburgh and it’s not raining!   After months of anticipating / worrying about cold and rainy conditions, we’ve lucked into a stretch of intensely sunny, warm days and pleasantly cool nights.   The forecast shows just one hour of rain coming this morning; I’ll be surprised if it really happens. Our journey here was mostly smooth, but I’ve learned that it isn’t a true vacation unless its logistics are threatened in some way by the airline industry.   In this case, it was that our long flight from Chicago to Dublin was delayed by over an hour because “someone locked the hangar door where the plane was.”   When we finally did arrive in Dublin, we had to wait on board awhile because “someone had to be called to extend the jetway” for us to walk through to the terminal. Luckily, we made our last connection, but after we landed in Edinburgh, we again waited on the tarmac while “someone” scrambled ...

     What I know about Scotland could fit into a dram glass of Glenkinchie – with room for the Glenkinchie – but I’m working on it.  As I mentioned before, I watched all the episodes of Outlander which taught me something about the Jacobite Rising, Clan culture, standing stones , love of country, and loyalty. And through some cursory history-reading, I’ve been reminded about Robert the Bruce & William Wallace, Mary Queen of Scots, and many others on either side of the long power struggle between England and an independent Scotland. I’ve also kept up with the investigations led by Perez, Tosh, and Calder on the TV series Shetland , named for the remote islands situated north of mainland Scotland where, despite the sparse population, someone is always turning up murdered and everyone else is suspected of it.   I’ve noticed that the characters are bundled up in winter-wear and boots regardless of season, which I should have thought twice about when it c...

     In keeping with my goal to cram in as much travel as I can before it gets too onerous (i.e., I get too old), a new adventure awaits.   The hubs is coming with this time, and it’s another cycling trip. My intention is to post blog entries that aren’t cycling-centric in hopes of not boring most readers. But for fellow pedalers, I’ll include some cycling details at the end of most entries.      We’ll be flying in and out of Edinburgh, Scotland and when I told my brother this awhile back, he said Oh, you must watch Outlander .     Photo credit:       https://outlander.fandom.com/wiki/Craigh_na_Dun        Somehow, I missed out on this popular TV series as it aired, but we got right to it and are now up to speed on all things Claire and Jamie. What a great show! And timely for us, not only because we’re headed to Scotland, but because the characters end up involved in the American Revolution –...