If it's not Scottish it's crap!

Kelli and I hopped up to Edinburgh for the weekend as the weather was supposed to be good, and it was. We had visited the train station before when we went to the British Open a couple years ago (just to switch trains) but never got to see the city. We now have hit Glasgow AND Edinburgh and we both agree that Edinburgh is the better city. Much better to look at and more to see.

We spent Saturday and Sunday walking around, seeing Edinburgh Castle, The Royal Mile and shopping. I, of course, found the Scoth Whiskey museum to be one of the highlights. Kelli spent the majority of the time trying to talk me out of buying a kilt. I guess I was letting my Scottish last name make me feel the need to spend a LOT (they are VERY expensive - about $500) of money on something that I might wear once a year. I settled for a scarf. Rankin is ACTUALLY the name of it's own clan I found out. Although it is not very popular as such. The Rankin name is most often associated with the clan MacLean of Duart which is much more prevalent. The Clan Tartan is a very cool red, green and blue mix. Apparently, the Rankins were the pipers of the clan. Maybe I should have bought some bagpipes......

We stayed at probably the best hotel we have stayed at in ALL of Europe and recommend it to anyone that visits Edinburgh, The Scotsman. The service was perfect, the location could NOT be better and the room was perfect. Lots of wood paneling, high ceilings and a great view of the city. Not one negative.

We ate some good food, drank some good beer and scotch and just enjoyed a GREAT city. Not much more to it. I did get Kelli to try Haggis, the traditional food of Scotland. It's basically chopped up organ meat (lungs, liver, kidney etc.) mixed with black pepper and potato (turnip maybe?) and then steamed inside a sheep stomach. Tastes a lot like a spicy corned beef hash. Kelli said she liked it, but wouldn't order it.

No big travel plans for us now until we get a barrage of visitors starting in May. Nick and Traci Calkins, Kelli's parent's, my brother Chip and family and Chris Picciurro and his fiance all will be here within two months ending in July.

I have some work travel coming up and will be in Detroit the weekends of the 13th and 20th with Cleveland in between. I will be at the Tiger game FOR SURE on Friday the 20th if anyone wants to grab a beer!