Aviemore near Cairngorm National Park in Scotland

When I first went to Scotland in 1999 I had just recovered from a heart virus that I had almost died from from Fall of 1998 until May of 1999 when doctors told me I likely was going to live and even have a normal lifespan and that I wasn't going to die at 50 after all.

So, in the fall I had an opportunity to take my mother and 10 year old daughter to Scotland where my mother's parents came of age and mostly grew up there  near Glasgow.

I can remember because it was my first time in Europe at age 50 of landing at Heathrow Airport in London waiting for our next plane going to Edinburgh, Scotland quite clearly. It was an overcast day and I bought baguettes (which are a type of vertically grilled sandwiches) for my mother and 10 year old daughter then. I had thought my 10 year old daughter might be the most difficult to fly with but was very surprised that my mother was the one who wasn't traveling well at all but it's true she was 80 plus years old then and time had caught up with her.

She was okay in Edinburgh but for me driving on the wrong side of the road after I rented us a car wasn't working well for me, especially because of the reverse roundabouts. By the time I had driven as far as Glasgow through multiple roundabouts the next day or two I realized I wasn't safe driving because of all the changes combined with Jet lag.

So, I decided to drive out into the countryside and head north to where there are less people and it is picturesque. The first stop was in Pitlochry which was wonderful and a very historic kind of antique city like from another century.

The next stop we made was in the Cairngorms at Aviemore, Scotland in the HIghlands of Scotland. Beautiful place where the wealthier people in England and Scotland tend to ski during the winters.

Later in 2011 I returned with my wife and 2 daughters and my older daughter's boyfriend and visited Aviemore and Edinburgh and Glasgow and Inverness and drove as far as Aberdeen Scotland and stayed with Friends of my wife that she had met in Australia, a doctor and his wife and children.

But, I felt most at home in the mountain area near Cairngorm National Park where there are Reindeer that my daughter loved then in 1999. IN 2011 I think they had put the remaining reindeer into an area where people could see them better and to prevent poachers from shooting them also. So, it was sort of like visiting Santa's Reindeer at a ranch or something in 2011.

IN 2011 there also had been built a funicular railroad to carry skiers and tourists up high on the Cairngorm mountains. So, this was nice too then. It is called the Cairngorm Mountain Railway. But, for some reason it might be still closed since 2018 for some reason.

Anyway, in 2011, the 5 of us rode the funicular up to the top then and it was raining and trying to snow then in October of 2011 as we rode it up the mountain.