Drumnadrochit, Scotland
When people found out we were going to Scotland this summer, several people asked me the same question: “Are you going to look for Nessie?” “Sure,” I responded, knowing I was going to Loch Ness, but if I found Nessie, this blog would have looked, felt, and served a much different purpose over the last several months.
People try to downplay Nessie’s impact. Still, Rick Steves puts it best in his Scotland Guidebook, “But the local tourist industry —despite insisting that there’s ‘so much more to Loch Ness ‘—is unable to resist cashing in on the legend of the Loch Ness monster.” It seems rather silly for so much of a tourism industry to be based on a ‘fictional animal,’ but Adrienne had a little different approach. Adrienne thinks that the Loch Ness Monster is more realistic than Highland Cows. “I didn’t see anything that was supposed to look like the Loch Ness Monster. I did see things that were supposed to look like Highland Cows.” In all honesty, Nessie hasn’t been completely disproven; she’s just a little shy.
There are prettier lochs in Scotland, but for a first-time visitor who is heavily invested in the Legend of the Loch Ness Monster, no first-time trip to Scotland is complete without a trip to Loch Ness. Lake tours are available, as are numerous tourist traps built around the legend. As for me, I looked out at the Loch at Urquhart Castle, and I looked out at the Loch while Wayne was driving, but there were no Nessie sightings on my trip. I guess there is always a next time. If that sighting happens, I’ll make sure readers here hear about it first before it is shared with the entire world.
