Utah Firsts

Just over a week ago I had the pleasure of spending a day in the company of Blake and Becky Arnold from Saint George, Utah.

I had never had friends visit from Utah and so I consulted the bible which I use to research the part played by Scots in America “Tam Blake and Co, The story of the Scots in America” by Jim Hewieson. His sister book is “Far off on Sunlit Shores, the story of the Scots in Australia and New Zealand”. Both are out of print now but can sometimes be found on Amazon and a must for anyone trying to find out about the traveling Scots.

Becky described her job as raising her family. Her smile means she could only originally be from California. One of Edinburgh’s twin Cities is San Diego and both cities have stories about famous fogs. Here’s Becky enjoying to story of Bum the Dog from San Diego.

Blake Is in the field of medicine and works as a radiologist. A trip to the Medical school was a must therefore where he learned just how much the world of Medicine owes to Scotland and why Americans call us “Limeys”.

We got on so well from the start , the interaction was lively and very humorous, They both knew the major part that Scottish pioneers played in the opening up of the West so the trip through the Old Town was intriguing and the weather was so kind to us. Here we are at John Knox House.

Scots were involved in quarrying the stone for and the building of the Mormon Temple and so I learned a lot about just how many Scots Mormons left Scotland to cross the Atlantic. Blake and Becky were of that faith and so it was a piece of Serendipity that we bumped into some members of a Mormon mission, just outside the shop were, amongst others, Sir Sean Connery gets his kilts.

We finished off a great day as good friends and I have accepted Blake’s Facebook Friend request. Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with people who have come into my life through my work as a guide. It’s also a great way of getting to know me before we meet.

Blake and Becky are safely home again, haste ye back!