Happy Fourth of July everybody…greetings from the old home country: Great Britain.

So what’s Outlander have to do with the Fourth of July you ask? Humor me a bit, let me explain. Sloane (my daughter) and I have been in Britain nearly a month, during the first week we ventured through the Scottish Highlands with an amazing rock-star guide who knew everything there was to know historically, botanically, geologically, socially about Scotland, you name it, Davy new it.

One thing we also found out is Diana Gabaldon’s, Outlander series has brought a whole new crowd of aficionados to Scotland. Yes, I have read every book and, yes,  I watched the Starz series, and yes, am eagerly awaiting the new season…I am a fan.

On our tour of the highlands we visited Culloden Moor, the place where the infamous battle between the English and the Scottish Jacobites took place. A battle that lasted, some say, only 45 minutes and that decimated the Scots. It aslo broke bonnie Prince Charles’ play for the British throne. This battle iskey to the Outlander story. Walking in the beautiful field and seeing the gravestones marking all the clans that lost their lives is truly humbling.

Sloane and I spent some quiet time on the moor. Just being there. Then…Davy, our guide walked up and said: “you know if the Jacobites had won, there would be a good chance that you would not speak English in America, but you would be speaking French.”

That made a big impact. Standing there. Seeing a field that might have changed the country we are today.

Happy Fourth of July.