We left Edinburgh today, it was quite a drive from there to Newton Stewart, where my grandmother grew up. Before we went to Newton Stewart,
though, we had to visit some of my relatives in Dollar, which is just north of Edinburgh. Before Dollar, however, we stopped over in a small
town called Linlithgow, between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The castle at Linlithgow is where Mary Queen of Scots was born. It's also where my
grandfather used to tell us our family has it's roots. We were never really sure if he was just pulling our leg, though, because I remember
he used to tell us our family came to England with the Vikings (though whether as a warrior or a slave, I never knew)...
Anyway, there must've been some truth to the Linlithgow story, because there is still today a "Balderston Farm" there (Balderston was my mother's maiden name), though we never actually got to see it, being pressed for time as we were. We did see the Linlithgow castle, though, and it looked quite homely. You can see us all stand out the front of it in this picture.
After Linlithgow, my relatives in Dollar took us out to a hotel for lunch (there were too many of us to fit in their house). You can see us all
in this photo. OK, now running from left to right, we have myself, my uncle Fraser, my aunt Irene, my cousin Steven. Over on the right, from
near to far we have Elmer, who (let's see if I get this right) is my mother's father's cousin's daughter ("Well, what does that make us?"
"Absolutely nothing!" -- Spaceballs). Next to her is Mary - she's the wife of the man second from the end. Next to her is
my grandmother, then Jack, who I believe is similarly related to me as Elmer is (i.e. distantly!), and next to him is Grant, who is Elmer's
husband.
After lunch, was a veeeeery long drive to Newton Stewart, and our little cottage, Brownhill Cottage. We didn't leave Grant and Elmer's house until 4:30 or so, and we arrive at Brownhill Cottage when it was pitch black (stupid me offered to drive that leg, but unbeknownst to me was it that it was a 3½ hour drive!)
Once we arrived, we pretty much unpacked our stuff, and went to sleep!