“There are few places in my life that I’ve found more ruggedly beautiful than the Highlands of Scotland. The place is magical – it’s so far north, so remote, that sometimes it feels like you’ve left this world and gone to another.” – Julia London

Today’s slice of my work in progress memoir comes from a commitment Rebekah and I made when planning our wedding anniversary in 2004. “Every five years,” we promised, “we will push the envelope and plan something extra-special.”

It is a pivotal moment in our lives, with the children entering young-adulthood and the ministry in Brandon exploding with dynamic growth, all along with the sudden realization that we are twenty-five years into a life together that seems to have started just yesterday.

What we need in that moments a pause and a breath of fresh air, and Scotland certainly has a lot of fresh air! Not just fresh air but beauty, and story, and heritage, and history and more.

Rebekah’s dad’s ancestors – the Alexanders and the Duncans – settled in the Carolinas after leaving Scotland in the 1700’s (her mother’s people were land-grant recipients, colonists from England and Wales who settled in Georgia). There will always be something of the fierce Scots Presbyterian spirit in our family.

This is also our first digital image adventure. My new camera (I had a Fuji back then) revolutionizes the way I take photographs and the way that we store them. I know there is a “Great Adventures” travel-book (our first) somewhere; but – of course – there is no way to find it mid-move.

So, instead, I have hijacked a few relevant photographs from travel websites featuring some of the places that I mention in this segment.

Enjoy the story. You never know, I may get this memoir completed sometime this year!

Godspeed on your travels, wherever they take you – DEREK

Note: these are all images harvested from travel websites online