Highland Games 2015

Hello faithful readers! I have an adventure story for you. Last weekend Jared and I went with Jared’s family to the annual Skagit Valley Highland Games. Now because we are both nerds we decided that we needed to dress up again, we dressed up last year too. This year he wore his usual jeans, his fancy medieval pants ripped so they were a no go, his black medieval styled shirt, his hat (of course), and one of his favorite swords. I on the other hand went in a different direction. Before I describe my awesome outfit (fashion post to be written later) I want to explain my reasoning behind this costume choice. Traditionally Highland Game goers wear the traditional highland gear: kilts, tartan patterns, or other fancy peasant dresses; however, I did not do this for two reasons, one because I don’t have any real medieval styled peasant dresses, and two because I am not Scottish so dressing up with the tartan pattern would kind of be a sell out because that is not my heritage. That being said, my costume was amazing. I went as a gypsy because it is an easy costume to pull off and it stays cool (especially since the weather turned really warm). I had a bohemian styled skirt and shirt, a head scarf (that Jared bought me), sandals, lots of jewelry, and my dagger. 

 The first thing we did was walk around and look at all of the vendors’ booths. There were lots of cool booths this year including the usual booths selling swords and knives, booths selling different costume pieces, and a booth that I had not seen before. This booth was selling all sorts of bagpiper accessories, everything from pieces for the bag pipe to different socks to wear with the outfit. Once we toured around a little bit, and Jared bought a new sword, we decided to grab something to eat. Now of course there are all sorts of fair foods that you can get at the Games but if you really want an authentic experience there is really only one place to get food, and that is the meat pie and haggis tent. They have meat pies (and I think a vegetable pie too for those who don’t like meat) to suit everyone’s needs, there is the classic shepard’s pie and lots of other creations like curry lamb. And of course the haggis is a must have, this one isn’t cooked in a sheep’s stomach so don’t let that scare you off, it is really yummy and is a must have for those looking for a real Scottish experience. Once our lunch was complete we went to sit with the Rameys so we could watch the parade of clans, which is where the different clan descendants parade around with the banners of their clans. Then we walked around a little bit more and checked out the sheep dog trials which is my favorite event to watch, mainly because I can hardly get my dog to roll over and these people can make their dogs herd sheep just by whistling. 

 After watching those for a bit we went to look at some different booths including the animal adoption tent, don’t worry Jared stopped me from going home with a new best friend. We then decided to do a bit more shopping; we both bought some IRN BRU (the official soda of Scotland, it was so good I highly recommend trying it if you can find it), and I bought a new knife, a fan, and a belly dancer skirt (the one’s with those little tinkley coins on it). After shopping we watched some more of the games and then we started getting ready to go home, on the way out Jared had to buy a twelve pack of the IRN BRU because he was addicted. But the way home was an adventure in itself, the Rameys’ car broke down so we had to call in back up in order to get home. It was an awesome event this year and I can’t wait for next year to come back and experience it again.
Jared and I enjoying the games!
Haggis and meat pies with my awesome knight
Hay bale tossing 
Bag Piping competition
Pumping Iron
Very Sleepy on the Way Home

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ramey Road Trip Day 6: First Family Visit

Image
Today was another day of just driving goodness. There were no side stops planned since we were trying to get to where we were staying for the night so the Rameys could spend some time with their relatives. So mostly we drove….. Jared and I watched a lot of Game of Thrones (we are currently in the middle of season five) and made pit stops every once in a while. The main highlight of the trip was that we crossed the Missouri River. That was pretty neat, there was a rest stop on the other side of the river that had a small Lewis and Clarke museum and an overlook where you could go and see the bridges across the river. Then guess what happened next?? More driving…… We drove for a couple of hours more until we got to the next cool thing. This time we were crossing the Mississippi River! We went to another rest area for lunch and hiked down a trail to the lookout spot where you could see part of the river. After lunch it was back to driving. We drove and drove and drove unti...
Read more

Ramey Road Trip Day 24-25: The Long Trip Home

Image
Good morning everyone! Here is another two-for-one special! Remember the flat tire incident from the other day? Well yesterday we had to go get it taken care of. Mama Ramey woke Jared and I up so that we could move and they could drive to the local Les Schwab to get it fixed up. While the mechanics were working on the car all of the kids slept and the parents went to Denny's to get some breakfast. With breakfast consumed and tires fixed, we set back out on the road. The whole day was pretty much spent driving with very few pit stops. Though we did stop at a bridge where Evil Kenevil did one of his stunts and watched some people base jump. Then we just drove until we got to our campground which was in Oregon this time. Once we got there Jared, CC, and I went swimming for a bit before we all got out to go and eat dinner. Then Jared and I went to the arcade to play some games (there were some really old games) until it closed and we went back to sit around the fire. We both hung o...
Read more

Ramey Road Trip Day 21: Desert Days

Image
Today started very early for some reason. Mama Ramey wanted to get up and go right away so she got us up out of our bed and had us move to the big bed so that they could start driving. We didn't officially wake up until like 9:30.  So we pretty much drove a lot today. We had two scheduled stops but that was it. The first was to Four Corners. For those who don't know, Four Corners is basically a place where you can stand in four states at once: Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. So we stopped for a bit and took our pictures, there were also a bunch of vendors set up around the patio area selling different wares so we looked around for a bit. Then we headed back to the RV so we could eat lunch, everybody except Austin and I had Indian tacos which are tacos on top of fry bread. I had a chicken salad sandwich and I am pretty sure Austin just had chips.  Then we set off so we could get to our next stop. This time we were going to a place called Mesa Verde National Park...
Read more