Wednesday morning, we visited Balmoral Castle, owned by the Royal Family since it was purchased by Queen Victoria in the early 1800s.

Her husband Albert redesigned hundreds of acres of land, planting trees like Redwood, Douglas Fir, Western Hemlock, Royal Fir and at least one other large evergreen. Now, over a century later, those trees are huge and beautiful.

Visitors are not allowed inside the castle, except to the ballroom where pictures are forbidden, but we spent hours wandering around outside through the grounds, including a short walk along the River Dee. We listened to stories about the Royals, how they would stay at the castle a few weeks every summer, holding yearly parties for their workers.

After the castle, we started toward our hotel for that night. Along the way, we visited the outside of another castle, Braemer, which had a faraway view of the Balmoral castle. Lunch in the town of Braemer followed.

Then, a lovely drive through the Cairngorms on the old military road that the British used in the 18th century to muster troops to attack the Jacobites. The countryside is subdued, almost squashed, relative to the topography we know in Colorado. Hillsides can be steep, but they are rounded due to the thick ice sheets that covered all of Northern Europe during the ice ages.

Another windy, hilly road with amazing scenery.  Our goal was the town of Falkland, featured in the first season of Outlander as a stand-in for Inverness, where we reserved the room used for a 1940s scene.  

We wandered around the town before our friend, Marc, arrived to share dinner. He’ll be with us for a few days.

• Scotland 2024