1. Realised too late that I had forgotten the most vital element of my Halloween costume — tequila — and had to walk into a crowded Savannah Scottish bar dressed as a Scottish terrier, sober. First Dogs, Savannah, Georgia 2. Tried to play upwind while golfing on a desert sand course where they harden the […]
Tag Archives | Highland Games
No Knees in Memphis
At Memphis Scottish Festival, a large, boisterous man hustles me into a front row seat in what he tell me is “The History Tent.” I am alarmed to find myself equipped with a sheaf of lyrics to Jacobite love songs. I manage a tuneless drone along to “Over the Sea to Skye” and then start […]
Mosey on down to Kittrell, TN
At Memphis’ Scottish Festival, I get talking to a blonde woman in an olde stylee milkmaid type get up. She has the most Dukes of Hazzard accent I have yet heard in my time in Tennessee. I am delighted. I didn’t think accents like this were real. She asks me where I’m from. “Glasgow,” I […]
Hark, the pies are calling
How to choose a Highland Games. Rummaging online, I stumble upon Scottish shenanigans in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and am intrigued. Obviously, Kalamazoo is appealing because it has an amusing name. I have not learned from my risky trip to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, or the tedious excursion to Boring, Oregon. The website increases my excitement […]
Stoaters
I’ve been working away on The Scottish Ambassador project for three years now. I’m so close to done – just a few more trips to take. I’ve still got to learn Gaelic in Salt Lake City, bagpipe lessons await in New Jersey and I still have to meet my monster, Nessie (in lesser known rollercoaster […]
The American Way
I’m back in Portland after my first Highland Games and on the phone to my mum. I tell her about the knight with the chain mail and the visor and she guffaws. I tell her that the only recognizable bits of our Scotland were a few chocolate bars, the fish and chips, and the pricey […]
All fun and Games
Portland Highland Games – my first ever Highland Games, is not actually in Portland. It’s in Gresham, Oregon, a good 45 minutes’ drive from the city – a small distance in North American terms, almost the entire width of the country at some points in Scottish terms. Erin, Michelle and I make our way to the […]
How to be Scottish…
Want to learn how to be Scottish on this side of the Atlantic? Here’s how… 1. Learn Scottish Country dancing from suspicious Scottish-Hawaiians in Honolulu. 2. Struggle through early morning Scotch whisky tasting in Memphis. 3. Study ancient Scottish history in Las Vegas. 4. Learn rules of caber tossing at Oregonian Highland Games. 5. Discover […]
