Tag Archives | Travel

Hellhole of the Pacific… part 1

… or the time I thought it would be amusing to visit Aberdeen, Washington.  The Scottish Aberdeen has merely two tame nicknames: The Granite City and the Silver City. Its progeny Aberdeen, Washington, is way ahead. For a town of only 16,000, it has a bristle of aliases. There’s The Gateway to the Olympic Peninsula, […]

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The American Way

I’m back in Portland after my first Highland Games and on the phone to my mum. I tell her about the knight with the chain mail and the visor and she guffaws. I tell her that the only recognizable bits of our Scotland were a few chocolate bars, the fish and chips, and the pricey […]

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All fun and Games

Portland Highland Games – my first ever Highland Games, is not actually in Portland. It’s in Gresham, Oregon, a good 45 minutes’ drive from the city – a small distance in North American terms, almost the entire width of the country at some points in Scottish terms. Erin, Michelle and I make our way to the […]

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The Ambassador

The Ambassador

The severe-sounding Portland Oregon Visitor Authority, in the form of the enthusiastic Vero, is taking two other writers, Andrew from New Mexico and Dan from New York, and I to see the city’s big event, the Rose Festival parade. Born out of the world’s fair that celebrated the centennial of the 1804-1806 Lewis and Clark […]

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Portland, Oregon, and Sloe Gin Fizz

“Well Portland Oregon and sloe gin fizz, if that ain’t love then tell me what is. Well I lost my heart it didn’t take no time, but that ain’t all. I lost my mind in Oregon.” So warble Loretta Lynn and Jack White on the track, “Portland, Oregon.” It seems that Loretta and Jack are […]

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