PORTLAND, ORE., Friday, July 24, 2009, 2 p.m. — So we arrived back in Portland at noon today, and fortunately for Will, he slept four hours on the plane, but unfortunately for me, who didn’t, he is raring to go and sharing Scotland stories with our next-door neighbor, who is headed to Scotland in a few days.

So I figured I’d finish out our Scotland blog on the front porch. I’m bleary-eyed from the flights and the four hours of sleep I got last night (we got up at 3 a.m. Glasgow time and I now think it’s 10 p.m., so I’m running on fumes.)

We had a great day in the Trossachs yesterday; the sun came out for a stroll around Loch Katrine, at the heart of Rob Roy country. The lake was peaceful, with dramatic mountains rising up from the edges.

It has a paved bike/walking path along one side, and it would be fun to rent bikes and cruise around. But we just took a walk and then drove over the Duke’s Pass to the Clachan of Aberfoyle, made famous by Sir Walter Scott in his novel Rob Roy. It looks nothing like the poverty-stricken village of dank hovels described in the novel; rather, it’s like a Scottish Sisters, with lots of tourists wandering the streets in outdoor gear eating ice cream cones and looking into junk shops.
We then made our way to the Glasgow Airport, returning the car with no damage, just a few more gray hairs. We then got Ma and Pa settled in their hotel by the Central Train station and printed their tickets for their journey today (hopefully they found the right platform). We then had a final whisky of the trip and raised our glasses to the family’s dear friend Shag Wagner, who passed away this past week. Mom and Dad were so sad, and so sad to be so far away, but I think mother managed to email his Linda last night. Our thoughts are with the Wagners.
There’s not much else to report, except it was hard leaving Mom and Dad in Glasgow. We had such a great time together, and Will had a blast with his Grams and Gramps. When we landed in Portland, who did we discover was on our flight but Pink Martini’s Thomas Lauderdale.

So Will marched right up to him at baggage claim and reminded him they’d met on the flight to Amsterdam. Lauderdale then asked Will about his week in Scotland, and he told him all about the whisky drinking. He laughed and asked if Will had been drinking the whisky. “No Grampa did,” was the reply I overheard. I’m not sure what else they talked about, but we found out the fourth album was successfully mixed in Paris and will be on store shelves in October.
Thanks for sharing the trip with us and we’ll hopefully see you all soon.