The past ten days have been quite an adventure for yours truly. First, my brother Matt and I went to Mt. Snow, VT for a day of skiing. It was snowing the whole ride up which meant that we were in for some good conditions. Now, I haven’t been skiing since 2003 and at that time I did not enjoy it one single bit due to my back problems. Matt, on the other hand has been skiing consistently for many years. Last year he and the Ellis brothers climbed up Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mt. Washington and skied down the bowl. A testament to his skills.
After arriving I rented a pair of skis and off we went. The mountain was ungroomed which made for some fine skiing. It took me a couple of runs, but I was starting to get some of my game back, not too mention having a lot of fun. After about a dozen or so runs, including some in the glades we called it a day. The snow had changed over to freezing rain, which meant for a long slow ride back home. Nonetheless, we had an awesome day.
Three days later I was on plane bound for Scotland. My friend Matt is pilot for a certain airline and he had a five day layover there and asked if I wanted to go. How could I not say yes? After a 6 ½ hour flight, in business class, we landed in Edinburgh. After a nap, we went and saw the Edinburgh Capitals Hockey team play a game. The arena was old & smelly, sort of like the War Memorial Arena in the movie Slapshot. It was a really good game which ended in the home team winning 4-3.
At the Edinburgh Capitals game.
After the game we made our way back to the hotel for some dinner before going to a pub to watch the Super Bowl. Some of the pub patrons kept asking us different questions about the game and what was going on. It was fun explaining it too them over a nice pint.
Edinburgh Castle
The next day we went on a walking tour of Edinburgh. The highlight was touring the Edinburgh Castle. I spent over 3 hours touring the castle and its various displays, including the Scottish Crown Jewels. One part that was very interesting was some of the graffiti left behind by the various prisoners over the centuries. After touring the castle we went to a museum of Scotch Whisky. The in the museum had one fine collection. I sampled a Balvenie 17 year old single malt aged in rum casks. Let me just say that it was one fine whisky.
A fine tasting Scotch.
Nessie, would we see her?
On Tuesday we rented a car and drove 3 hours north to Loch Ness. Upon arriving, we took an hour boat tour of the Loch. I knew that it was deep, but it got deep fast! The boat was about 200 yards off shore and the depth finder was showing us in nearly 700 feet of water. The tour took us to Urquhart Castle, which is shown in about every documentary about the Loch Ness Monster. Sadly, Nessie didn’t make an appearance.
She's getting mighty deep Cap'n.
Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness.
After the tour, we made our way to the Cardhu Distillery. It was little over an hour drive from the Loch to Cardhu, but it was worth it. Cardhu is one of my favorite single malt whiskies. We took a tour of the distillery and our guide Irene was fantastic. The one question that I really had was why I haven’t seen Cardhu in the USA for a few years. Her answer was simple; they could not keep up with demand. As of right now, other than the distillery, it is only sold in France, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Once the tour was over, I picked a bottle for myself, plus a couple of single malts that I haven’t seen before. I cannot wait to crack open those during a future Scotch night with the gang.
The name speaks for itself.
Where Cardhu is aged for 12 years in oak casks.
Just happy to have one. I'm a man of simple pleasures.
Wednesday we flew back to home and I made it too my place around 9pm or so. It was nice to be home, but I wish I had another few days to visit all the distilleries in the Speyside region. Thankfully, a friend took care of my mail and truck which was cleaned off after more snow was dumped on the Boston area when I was gone.
Sadly, I received some bad news over the next few days. The first was a postcard from an old Air Force friend who said that his brother had died suddenly. Having lost a brother, I know how he’s feeling, especially since his brother, like mine, was an alcoholic. Saturday, while at work, I received an email from someone whom I care a lot about saying that she had contracted Malaria while working for the UN in the Belgian Congo. To compound things, this is the 2nd time she has contracted it (1st time was in1994) and she tested positive for the nastier form of it. The last place I wanted to be was at work, so I left at 8pm to enjoy a nice pint and reflect. My thoughts and prayers go out to both of them.
Until next time…Aloha!
