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Grandfather mountain highland games
By Carrie | July 23, 2008
Well, the main reason we went to the mountains a few weeks ago was to attend the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. What is this, exactly? Think of it as the Scottish Olympics. It’s actually also the largest gathering of the Scottish clans in North America.
Oak is part Scottish. So, part of the excursion was to find his clan at this shindig! We found the Maxwell clan in our first lap around the huge line of tents with all of the clans. We thought about buying something with the plaid on it (like a scarf), but dude, that stuff is expensive. Not to mention being wool, which I am allergic to. Darn it!
So, we further explored the scene. We enjoyed watching all the sports - there was a marathon, Scottish dancing, regular track and field games, and then all of the heavyweight competitions, which were especially interesting. Everything takes place in this huge field, with the food, clan tents, etc. around the outside. So, it was kind of hard to capture any of the sports in action. Here’s the Hammer throw - like a huge shot put attached to a wooden dowel. I also enjoyed this thing where they had to throw a big thing of straw in the air. The caber toss is probably the most famous; where they try to basically have to flip a huge log from end to end.
After we got tired of the sports watching (in the sun) we retired to the “Celtic rock music grotto.” There were actually two grottos, the other playing more traditional music. Of course, the presence of bagpipes was pretty much everywhere, especially in the field games.
Of course we had to get some “Scottish food.” Turns out it’s pretty much the same as the rest of the foods in the UK, aside from the haggis. The haggis they had at the festival was not looking authentic enough for us (it came outside of the “stomach casing”). So, instead we got fish and chips and a meat pie. Not bad, but not the best we’ve had either. What can you expect from basically fair food, I guess? Oak has taught me the merits of using malt vinegar on my fish and chips so the lackthereof was disappointing. And before I get a bunch of comments about haggis being gross, I’ve seen Anthony Bourdain eat it on TV and it’s really almost like sausage. Plus, you don’t even eat the stomach part. So, whenever I make it to Scotland, I plan on giving it a try! All for a part of my inherited heritage! LOL.
Topics: blog, travel, weekend |
July 25th, 2008 at 12:38 am
All in all sounds like you had a marvelous time you two adventurers. Did Oak find out anything new about his heritage?? Good picture of him by the way but where is the pic of my girl?
July 25th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I enjoy grottos.
Just finished reading Eat pray and love myself! It took me forever to get into it, the italian part was slow, but i really like the indonesia and india sections. what do you think of it so far?