As you can tell, we didn’t really stay in Inverness much. It was more our base for exploring the rest of the Highlands. On this beautiful day, we hopped on the coach and explored Fort George and Culloden Battlefield, two very important places in Scottish history.

fort george

Fort George is  a working garrison and museum recreating the lives of Scottish soldiers in the 18th century. It was cool to see soldiers training as we toured their base. It was such a stark contrast to American military bases. I couldn’t believe we were allowed to wander aimlessly without a chaperon or any kind of security checkpoints.

If you haven’t seen my mini tour of Fort George, watch it below.

A small tour of Fort George, a working garrison and museum recreating the lives of Scottish soldiers in the 18th century. #samdoesscotchland #mcfagan #scotland #fortgeorge

A video posted by Samantha Fagan (@suprsam) on May 29, 2016 at 5:57pm PDT

17th century graffiti

When a soldier got in trouble, he was sent to a dark, one-room cell. One soldier passed his time by leaving his story in the wall. The walls have since been painted white, and the soldier’s words painted black for legibility. I hope you learned your lesson, David Abernethy.

Aside from the whole war thing, it’d be a really beautiful place to be stationed.

We didn’t see any, but sometimes you can see dolphins swimming in the firth.

A video posted by Samantha Fagan (@suprsam) on Jun 19, 2016 at 9:12am PDT

culloden battlefield

This was the day I almost went crazy because our local Highlands guide (not Sue) talked to us incessantly. I didn’t even hear her breathe between sentences. She just kept going and going like her words were somehow powering everything around her and if she stopped talking, we’d all just die. It wasn’t just that she peppered us like an assault rifle with her words, but she was passionate. about. everything. So she kept getting louder and louder and louder. I bolted from that coach so fast when we finally pulled up to the battlefield.

A brief history: The Battle of Culloden was the final confrontation of the Jacobite rising of 1745 and part of a religious civil war in Britain. On April 16, 1746, the Jacobite forces of Charles Edward Stuart were decisively defeated by loyalist troops commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.

The history and pride of Scotland reminded me a lot of Texas.

I wandered around this place for hours. Pretty sure this was the day I walked 10 miles.

my ancestors

The grave marker for the Clan Donald. They fought on the side of the Jacobites.

back to inverness

The group headed back to Inverness. My mom and I wandered the small city and found this cool pub that reminded me of Austin, Scotch and Rye.

photo by Local Data Company

It started with a smoked pear cocktail.

Of course, pizza. #pizza4president And my mom got her first mojito!

You know, it wasn’t exactly authentic Italian, but it was still a much needed break from the hotel food. #h0tgirlseatingpizza

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Up Next: We find the Loch Ness monster!

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