Wish We had a Castle

Another part of our outing was visiting a few castles. We made it to Blackness castle which was on the beach and Castle Campbell which was in the hills. Castle Campbell had a great example of human ingenuity.......



Blackness castle was used to guard a major port back when. On the beach there were so may shells that they were near impossible to avoid. Janna ran around like a ballerina, while I had fun imitating Snap, Crackle, & Pop



Castle Campbell was up in the hills. To get there, it took an amazing walk through a glen that made us feel at home.



By far the coolest part of Castle Campbell was something D and I had also done in our fort out back by the shop. Built into the wall in the corner of the bedroom was a flat pan that drained out a stone trough to the outside of the castle wall. I am sure many peasants got a warm rain shower surprise from the man of the castle.

Wallace Monument

Anyone who has watched Braveheart, can imagine that William Wallace is a big deal around here. The biggest tribute to him is the Wallace Monument. It is a 220ft stone tower finished in 1869 near the sight of battle where Wallace and his men beat the English.



You can see the monument above Janna's head. The other picture is supposedly of Wallace's real sword. They say you can tell a man's height by the length of his sword (get that smirk off of your face). Since the Wallace sword is about 6' long they think William Wallace was about 6'6", much taller than the 5'9" Mel Gibson (the curator seemed fit to point that out).



We also had the opportunity to watch an actor talk about the big battle from the perspective of a Scottish solider. He was really cool until he started bashing the English king, Edward I "Longshanks". Now his colorful bashing was funny, but because I was the tallest guy in the crowd he seemed to think I was Longshanks (the nickname was because Edward I was tall). I was going to kick his ass, but he had an ax. In all seriousness, he was really good and put on quite a show.

Mushroom Beach

Now that we have a car, we are venturing out farther. One destination was Portobello beach. Actually we were driving around a bit lost and went, "look there is a beach". When you unexpectedly find a beach and you are from Montana, you stop. It was a very beautiful beach that was full of shells. We spent a few hours looking for cool shells and wishing we had our dogs.

Need I Say More?

All By Myself

This past weekend Janna had a big paper due so I had some alone time (aka – get out of my hair so I can study). I decided to go to the museum, which is very close and best of all it's free. In our past visits together, we spent lots of time in each room looking at every exhibit. On my own I decided to do a “quick” lap though the entire building (it is huge) and explore all the nooks and crannies (never know when I might need a good hiding spot from a pissed off Scotsman). Exploring the old part of the building was fairly straightforward. All the rooms are square and on the same levels. As long as I kept turning right (I always turn RIGHT when ever possible) I eventually ended up were I started and saw everything in-between. A guy on acid must have designed the new part of the building. There are no square rooms, countless different levels connected by spiral stairs, and many indoor bridges that connect all the chaos. I am still not sure if I saw all the rooms.



Now I am going to cement your opinion that I am a dork... I love the Antiques Roadshow. As luck would have it the original British version was being filmed at the museum. I know PBS sometimes airs the British version, so you all will have to look for me in the background trying to pretend I am not fascinated.

Cambridge for "work"

The duty of my job called me down to Cambridge last week. Because I was staying over the weekend, Janna came down and we did a little exploring. Saturday morning we headed out to find the Ely cathedral. The term "headed out" seems so simple, but in reality it was my first time driving in the UK without Dust or Jan reminding me that "right equals death". Actually I picked up driving on the wrong side of the road rather easily. I say wrong, because I think everyone should be on the right (my attempt at a political joke). The driving part is not too bad, it is just the finding things part that's been a bit tricky. (How do I get off this roundabout?) On our way to Ely cathedral 20 miles north of Cambridge we ended up near an amazing airplane museum 10 miles south of Cambridge. Figure that one out. Of course we had to go in. I have no way to describe it other than WOW. Six massive buildings full of the most amazing examples of western ingenuity.


Again I will reveal my true dorkyness, but I was fascinated to see two of the jewels from the Lockheed Skunk Works program. The U2 and a SR-71. Yet two more bits of proof that America Rocks.


Of course there were many WWII exhibits, but we liked this German plane the best. It was captured early in the war and went on a tour throughout the US to raise money for the war. For a donation Americans could scratch their name in the paint. The entire plane was covered with the names of great Americans. While I was off drooling at something, Janna talked to the old guy in the black coat. He was a kid who lived though the bombings of London and left quite an impression on her.


Another neat exhibit was the second Concord built. Apparently they flew it to Moses Lake, WA to test it in icy conditions.


Believe it or not this was a section of a gun barrel Saddam was assembling. Maybe they should throw away the noose, reassemble this baby, and make him an astronaut. After six hours of sheer delight for me and pure boredom for Janna, we made a second attempt to find Ely.




Success. Here is a cathedral made in 1200 or something like that. It was cool, but it can't fly at mach 3, so you will have to e-mail Janna if you want more info.



To conclude the day we enjoyed a British holiday called Guy Fawkes and Bonfire Night. Back in 1605 Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the British Parliament. All the gun powder was in place in tunnels under the Parliament. He was just about to light the match when they caught him. Most Brits can't agree if the celebration is because he was caught or because he attempted to blow the place up.
Sometimes I really love this place. I can't believe Montanans haven't yet thought up a carnival game to win booze.

RIGHT from Montana

For the last 6 years I have often seen or read something that lit my conservative spark. This has resulted in a collection of over 1000 word documents on my computer. I have realized that they don't do any good saved to my hard drive, so I have decided to create new a blog for my political venting. Therefore I introduce RIGHT from Montana. I hope I don't piss too many people off. Actually that's a lie.

Congrats to Dems & Future Fun

Well the election is over and the democrats had a great day. Congrats to the democrats. It was very interesting watching the commentary from the European standpoint. Sometimes it was like watching a wacky tabloid being passed off as news, and then the next program would come on and be very sincere and fair. I do have one observation of post-poll actions over the last few elections. Considering that 20 of the democratic wins were by less than 5000 votes, shouldn’t we be hearing claims of corruption and disenfranchising voters? When Republicans win all hell breaks loose and there are lawsuits and conspiracy theories everywhere. Republicans have way more class and this will become more and more apparent over the next few years as the democrats abuse their new power. I predict the future holds way more congressional hearings than congressional ideas for the betterment of our country. Get ready for Democrats Gone Wild. By the time 2008 rolls around the hidden fanatical side of the democratic leaders will be unmasked. This is going to be fun.

Happy Birthday Bro.

Sad Goodbye

I am currently in Cambridge for work. Janna came down this past weekend to see the sights and I have now begun driving (on the wrong side of the road), so we have lots to talk about. But first I have been meaning to get to something. As most of you know, last Wednesday cousins Dust, Jan, Lil' & Zo' went back to the States. They were soooo much help getting us setup, showing us around, introducing us to new people, and reteaching me how to drive. It was also amazing getting to know the girls. They are so adorable and I hope you all get to visit with them before they loose their Scottish accents. We will miss them more than you know. It was truly a blessing to have had the opportunity to rekindle this friendship. Thanks Guys. I can't wait until we can sit down in the States with a bottle of Scotch, watch the Hawks, and talk about our adventures in Scotland.