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Published: September 22nd 2007
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Glenmorangie
Say [i]Glen-mor-an-gie[/i], emphasis on the 2nd syllable. Like you're saying "orange". This morning I woke up, moved the car, and found a local coffee shop. The coffee's definitely better up here than south in England, but still rubbish, as they would say. I would encourage them to stick with tea, except I was really craving the java this morning. Then I just hung out for a while and people-watched as everyone headed off to work. If I hadn't ended up in Glasgow while working in Scotland, my next choice probably would have been Inverness. It's a little slower pace of life, but still enough of a city that you don't get cabin fever.
Today we drove to the nearby city of Tain, where the fine Scotch whisky
Glenmorangie is produced. A really good distillery tour, and at the end we walked through the warehouse where the whisky is currently aging in its casks. Not as large a facility as you might think, and I started to appreciate why the stuff is so expensive. We also learned that 2-5%!o(MISSING)f the whisky evaporates out of the casks every year, which they call the
Angel's share in the industry. Then, when they go to deliver the stuff down south to be bottled, they
load it into unmarked tanker trucks so they don't get hijacked.
At the end of the tour was the tasting. You could pay extra for one of the rarer pours, so I went for a glass of the 30-year Glenmorangie - only 5 pounds. I would have paid a lot more. My literary skills aren't refined to the point of being able to explain on this page what that pour tasted like. What I will say, is that any girl who buys me a bottle of that stuff, I will marry on the spot. Well, it's very likely, anyway. And only 200 pounds ($400)!
Next we headed south to search for Nessie in Loch Ness. This area must hold the record for the most photos taken by tourists of floating logs, otters, and debris, thinking it to be the famed Nessie. On the way back to Inverness we stopped at an insanely garish tourist shop. To complete the nightmare, a coach full of Spanish tourists followed closely behind, amazed at the great deals they were getting on stuffed Nessies, tea towels, and geneaology lists that don't mean jack. As we left, I once again had to scrub the
30 Year Glenmorangie
Truly a work of art. slime of useless consumerism off my soul.
Once back at the hostel, which is another favourite place of mine (awesome view of the River Ness from the living room), we went for dinner and beers/Scotch at a pub called Hootananny. Really popular (and busy!), although I did think it was kind of strange that they only served Thai food. While we were there, we met a guy named Mac who drives a minibus around Scotland with backpackers and young traveling types. He was dressed in full Scottish gear - kilt, wool socks, all that. Which actually isn't all that unusual. He was extremely knowledgable about Scottish history, so we talked for a long time, even over the band which had started about an hour late. A couple from the States that were on his tour also happened by the pub later on, which was fun.
This is what I miss about traveling around. I miss meeting new, fascinating people every day. I miss living so simply that all your worldly needs can fit inside a backpack. I miss Fort William, Inverness, Ullapool, all these little places that have so much life in them.
I don't miss the
internet. I don't miss my car, or my messy apartment. Having said that, though, I
do most definitely miss Timberline Old Town and all the wonderful people I get to meet there every week, as well as my friends and community. And I definitely miss Fort Collins, b/c that is where my central ministry is for this moment in my life. These are the things worth coming back for!
If it wasn't for TOT and FoCo, Lord only knows where I would end up...
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c.S.
non-member comment
need to find you a Glenmorangie lassie
Yo Steve - am immensely enjoying your one of a kind portrail of your most recent adventure - will need to have you over to exchange stories of our respective Europe trips... c.S.