I'm going Monster Hunting

Trip Start Sep 24, 2003

Trip End Ongoing

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Flag of United Kingdom Inverness, United Kingdom
Thursday, October 23, 2003

Now back at the hostel, I finished packing up and went to wait for the bus. Basically, the bus has the tour that stays on for two-4 days, where as I opted to pay a flat fee and get on and off when ever I wanted to, therefore I got to meet at least 5 different tours. So the driver, Ruthie, came to fetch me and we went to sit on the bus. Within 5 minutes I see the two crazy Canadian girls from Edinburgh running to the bus looking for me, so yah! I had a posse! This was the best tour bunch that I had, such a fantastic group. Basically there was me Dana and Lisa and then 5 twenty years old Americans doing a year out uni exchange and the friendly competition was high and energetic. Immediately as Canadian backpakers do, we got out trail mix, only to be made wildly fun of, but of course we had our retorts a well, especially as one of the girls was from Wisconsin with the thickest accent ever! So off we went, into the wild highlands! Now Dana was highly entertaining as she was witty as ever and kept the one-liners coming

Karoke with the Rodeo Princess

. For example, we were eating trail mix and she looks at me, point blank in the eye, no smile and asks, 'Are you allergic to nuts?' It was craziness. So our first stop was a lake area outside of Killiecrankie and it encompassed every type of terrain possible. It was a clear blue lake, which a huge white sand beach, surrounded by mountains and there was a foot of snow in the trees surrounding the beach. So we stopped there for a hot chocolate while Ruth told us all about out next stop, which was the Culloden Battlefield. This battlefield has the most significance to the Scottish Highland history and culture because it was based on the Highlanders loss of that battle that cost them their culture forever changing their way of life. That loss forbade them to wear the highland dress of a kilt, forbade the playing of bagpipes and forbade them to carry traditional highland weapons. Dana and Lisa also have Scottish roots, so they felt the same as I being in Scotland, so anything pertaining to clans, we all were very interested to know if our were involved. At the battlefield there are memorial stones to all the clans that participated and there was of course a Murray stone, as well I was told that the battle itself, was led by George Murray. So there you go! Then back on the bus as we were going monster hunting next... yes off to LOCH NESS. Now en route to the Loch, the girl from Wisconsin sits with us and says so where are y'all from and Dana and Lisa are from Calgary, so we tried to explain that to her and she replied with, 'is that more near Vancouver, Toronto or Niagara Falls?' I just looked at her and Dana says to her without cracking a smile 'Do you live near Mexico?' Off to find the monster

Killiecrankie - Moutains, Sea, Sand and Snow

!

Upon arrival of Loch Ness, Ruth gets out the most enormous bottle of whisky and says she is going to teach us something before we go monster hunting. So after handing us each a cup of whisky to sip, she explained the geography. Basically, each twon is named according the Glen, Loch or River. So for example there is Glen Ness (the valley) which contains Loch Ness (the lake) which flows into the River Ness (river) which flows through Inverness (the town). How great is that? Now to set the scene for the next events, it approaching dusk, the sky is illuminated by the setting sun with shades of pink and blue running through the sky, the wind is low, but it is only about 5 degrees out. So after finishing about 3 drams of whisky, Ruth gets a gleam in her eye and says, now who is going to really hunt for the Loch ness monster... and goes on to say that the best way is to take all your clothes off, and dive in enticing the monster to the surface with the commotion. So guess what Dana and I did...I let you all look at the picture! That night upon the re-warming at the hostel, we all went out to the Black friars pub and sang karaoke all night long, until I actually lost my voice. We were also on the lookout for the other type of monster that Inverness is famous for.. the Invershneckie monster which translates to COUGAR. Yep, Inverness is famous for them. But unfortunately, not only did I not find the Loch Ness Monster; I did not find the Inverschnekie monster either!