My wife and I did a 17 day tour of the British Isles seven years ago. Scotland was the most pleasant surprise of the the trip. We spent 5 days there and experienced everything from the Royal Mile and military tattoo in Edinburgh, to the quaint shops in St. Andrews and a highland hotel where the room key was an honest to goodness skeleton key that was easily older than anyone on our tour.

I live in Texas and have frequently entertained people who come here looking for the old west with cowboys herding longhorn cattle, oil fields, and JR Ewing (OK, some of the west is not so old). The thing is that, in a way, those things are still here in the midst of all the touristy garbage. I go to places almost daily where lots of people wear cowboy hats, boots and jeans for their daily wear; where there are oil fields and longhorns and people whose living is cattle and oil. These things are right along with the aerospace, telecommunications, and high finance industries.

Scotland was a lot like that. In Scotland we saw typical modern cities in Edinburgh and Glasgow. but we also saw the military guards in front of Edinburgh castle with their full dress uniforms that included kilts and M-16s. We walked to a local pub in a steady drizzling rain and found people that pretty much minded their own business, but were quite friendly to us when we were lost and needing directions. We visited the smallest operating distillery in the highlands where I found that single malt scotch was especially good when accompanied by stories of the area. We toured loch Lomond and saw (we were told) where Rob Roy hid out while he was on the run.

Scotland was a place we came home from and said we absolutely had to return to, taking our children with us to share the experience. We haven't made it back yet, but we still look forward to the day.