Ok gents, my turn.

As has been said, this was one of the coldest Stone Mountain games I can remember. The weatherman had called for Sunny and Chilly all weekend and he missed badly on Saturday. It was in the mid 30's at the start of the day and never really got much above 50 throughout. Add to that the mist most of the morning and down right rain during the opening ceremonies, it got quite cold. For the first time in my life I wished I had been wearing the great kilt!

Ok, to the pictures;



This is the group I took to the games with me, I am on the left in MacKinnon Hunting, next is Michael, a young man I have been mentoring for a few years, in his newly acquired MacMillan USA casual and wearing the kilt for the first time, Sean (who is not a member here) sporting a Clark great kilt, and Bruce wearing a Black Stewart still water (also his first time in a kilt!)

Heading to the games, one of our first stops was the Wild Highlanders booth to meet some 'old' friends...



First was King Robert!



And another rather scary gentleman!

We spent a fair amount of time just walking the grounds so that Bruce and Michael could enjoy their first highland games. With the rain, I did not break the camera out too much. But we stopped at the shops, watched some highland dancing, enjoyed the harps and fiddles and even strayed into the competition area for the bagpipers.

Sunday came and Michael was signed up for the amateur athlete clinic to give some of the heavy stuff a try.


Here he is with the heavy weight for distance. And then....


he actually tried the caber! he was able to pick it up, but could not control it to attempt the toss...

Moving on, we attended the herding demonstrations with both ducks and sheep...

The ducks were having none of it and took quite a long time for the dogs to get them herded!


Four dogs against three sheep seemed a bit of overkill, but there were kids involved. They were herding the sheep around a bunch of children they had let on the field.

Michael's mother joined us later in the day and was able to try some of the sample haggis at the tartan museum tent. I think the picture says it all!

Haggis Face! She did not enjoy it one bit. Oh well, there is no accounting for taste.

Michael and his mother were able to participate in the gathering of the clans under the MacMillan banner. It was cool to see so many folks on the parade field at once. Unfortunately, the MacKinnons don't journey this far south.


Lastly, the MacMillan's won some sort of trophy during the event, here is Michael's mom with the group and trophy at the tent...


All in all, I had a great time. I had a chance to meet some of the folks from the board for the first time and got to meet up with some I had met before. If you have never made it to the Stone Mountain games, you should get it on your calendar!