Highland Games

This afternoon Steve and I went out to Floyd Lamb State Park for the Las Vegas Scottish Festival and Highland games.

One of our favorite parts was the drum major competition. We were sitting next to a woman whose son was competing. She answered a lot of our questions. For instance, we learned that the staff is called a mace.

There was a group from Ireland competing which included a woman who is the 2009 World Champion. There were four world champions who competed today. One of the judges was from Scotland and had an impressive light blue uniform and smoked a pipe. I told Steve it was a little like being at the American Kennel Club Dog Show and not knowing a thing about how the judging worked. It was enjoyable anyway.

Mary Queen of Scots -- Rightful Heir to the Throne of England

I didn't take any pictures, but we also enjoyed watching them toss the caber which is basically a tree trunk, and put the stone. One especially interesting event is "the weight over bar." It consists of heaving a 56 lb. weight that looks like a cow bell over a pole vault bar. They were up to 14 feet when we left. Impressive!

I'm a sucker for pagantry. Loved it!

Then....

I opened the pool and inched my way in. It wasn't too bad!

Mark this day. It's the first time I have EVER got in the water before Steve.