Saturday, July 9, 2022
It was yet another BEAUTIFUL day in the Pacific Northwest, just made for a drive north from the Johnson's Camano Island cabin to . . .
. . . this folksy town and their
Skagit Valley Highland Games
& Celtic Festival
This was a Bucket List event for all four of us, as none of us had ever been to a Gathering of the Clans.
What should have been a 35 minute drive lasted a bit longer due to a mandatory stop for the ladies at a city of Stanwood combination home decor store, gifts shop and antique market.
But eventually we arrived at
Mount Vernon's Edgewater Park
We were greeted by the dulcet
tones of a piper piping
This lad was definitely into
the spirit of the Highland Games
Click on this fellow's photo to
better read what his t-shirt
has to say
This Scottish Declaration of Arbroath written in 1320, was the basis for the U.S. Declaration of Independence, he claimed.
When queried, he said that he was not actually at the Declaration of Arbroath's signing.
Clan shields were everywhere
These were EXTREMELY desired
by festival goers both young and old
They had LOTS of meat pies for sale
These meats pies were a bit pricey
in our opinion but . . .
The line to buy them still stretched a long, long way.
I asked a man who was at about at the halfway point of the meat pie queue how long he had been in line. He took out his phone, looked up the current time and responded, "About an hour."
No thank you.
Bottled Water for $5?
A Scot with a broadsword and
a beer on a hot day
What could possibly go wrong?
Hmm, a beer did sound good. We were off to the beer tent where there was no line!
The ladies opted for the Juice Almighty
How could I possibly go wrong ordering a Connery?
While bottled water cost $5 at the meat pie vendor's spot, these beers were a modest $7 each.
Such a deal!
A nice duet serenaded our beer
guzzling on the nearby festival stage
At this point, I decided to leave the beer garden to check out . . .
The crazy athletic events that are
the core of any Highland Games
First up, the Sheaf Toss
The idea is to use a pitchfork to toss a simulated sheaf or bale of wheat or hay over a bar that increases in height as contestants are eliminated. The sheaf can weigh somewhere between 10 to 20 lbs.
In the beer garden, we sat next to a man from the Henderson Clan who explained this event to us but instead of sheaf, he described the event as the Sheep Toss.
I liked the visual imagery of his version much more.
Sheaf Toss it is then
This guy was GOOD!
The Weight Toss for Height,
close but no cigar
Basically the same rules as the Sheep, I mean Sheaf, Toss apply. Instead of a relatively light bale, in this event the contestants try to hurl a 28 to 56 lbs. metal weight overhead.
DANGEROUS!
Weight for Distance
The women beginners toss a 14 lbs. weight while the men new to this event will use a 28 lbs weight that is attached to a chain.
The more experienced athletes will vie with much heavier objects, 28 lbs. for women and 56 lbs. for the men.
She needs to keep her left shoulder
elevated to get more height in her
throw, I believe
And then there was the Caber Toss
The signature event of any Highland Games, the Caber Toss simply requires the contestant to flip the caber so that the bottom end, that theoretically starts at the 6:00 mark on a clock face, ends up pointing at 12:00 for a perfect toss. This athlete only tossed the caber to about the 10:00 position, a tad short of perfection.
Cabers are usually 15-23 feet long and can weigh between 70-130 lbs.
Scots also take great pride in their music.
Warming ups the bagpipe band
Melodious
Another set of pipers
preparing to compete
I just love the sound of the bagpipes
A Drum Corps is also a good thing
SPIN THOSE DRUM STICKS!
Kilts for Sale
Battle Swords were on
sale to better . . .
. . . defend the flag
Highland Dancing . . .
. . . is a must!
Getting hungry and not wanting to wait in any of the long, long food queues, we left the Highland Games for a recommended dining spot in downtown Mount Vernon.
This cool old truck was
parked next to our car
This place offered us another
superb dining experience
No waiting in long lines for a table at this venue.
The Skagit River serenely
drifting through Mount Vernon
It was another good day for tourists in the State of Washington.
Meanwhile, in today's EuroBall action . . .
The Vienna Vikings won the
European League of Football's
"Battle of the Undefeated"
It was as close a game as one would have hoped with the Vikings finishing on top. Both of these clubs will experience their only byes of the campaign next weekend.
The Dragons will travel to Vienna for a Week 13 rematch on Sunday, August 28th.
There was some disturbing news from the ELF's other Saturday game . . .
This type of game is simply
NOT GOOD for the growth of the ELF
The now 0-6 Istanbul clubs crushing defeat at the hands of the 5-1 Hamburg Sea Devils brings the Rams season scoring total to 64-283.
These numbers are more chilling when one recalls that the Rams scored 38 of their 64 season points in their Week 1, two point loss loss to the Cologne Centurions.
In Istanbul's last three contests, they have been outscored 7-160.
As for the IFAF U19
Group B Tournament in Bologna . . .
Great Britain defeated Spain
to take Third Place
While it was Finland over Italy
for the Group B Championship
Now for some thoughts from today's surfing of the World Wide Web . . .
Who could possibly argue
this truth that is self evident?
It was part of a Happy Birthday wish from our own Brian FitzGerald.
I'm having more of these types
of uncomfortable encounters
than in pass decades
I find this to be true
Please spread this positive thought to any and all young athletes that you know.
As always, we closed the day
dreaming of our return to Italy
sometime in the near future
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