The Flight of the Saltire

[piperdbh]

Our esteemed dirigible could make a pit stop in Guilford County on her way to me here in McDowell, don't you think? I think she'd enjoy soaring over the Blue Ridge Parkway, the arrowhead monument in Old Fort, Andrew's Geyser, Lake James, and any number of other local landmarks as she completes her aerial map of the civilized world.
Yes? Yes?

[BEEDEE]

Yesterday the XMTSAS Saltire traveled to MCAS Cherry Point for the Marine Corps Birthday Uniform Pageant and Luncheon. Still working on the photos but wanted to post this one especially for Steve (The Wizard of BC)



Brian

[BEEDEE]

I was fortunate to get an invitation to the Marine Corps Birthday Uniform Pageant and Cake Cutting at MCAS Cherry Point this past Monday.

The only problem is that as the largest Marine Corps Air Station on the East coast it is restricted airspace so the XMTSAS Saltire had to go into stealth mode and was not visible in the photos. So I photoshopped the airship where I think it was when I took each of these photos.

The uniforms started in 1775 when the Corps was first formed and went through to the present day.

From inception to WW1



To the Vietnam era



The Color Guard coming onto the parade ground



Cake cutting by Maj Gen Flock, CO 2MAW and Col Denn CO MCAS Cherry Point.



Brian

[M. A. C. Newsome]

I arrived at work this morning, and began my normal routine of opening up the museum, checking our email, etc., and thinking about going down for a cup of coffee. As I headed out the door, I felt something odd in the front of my kilt....

No, it wasn't that!

I looked down, and it seems that something had crash landed in my sporran.


It was the XMTSAS Saltire, come to Franklin to see me! It had flown in from Grantsboro on the other end of the state, where it had been visiting with BEEDEE for a while.

When I fished it out, it was so disoriented I had to remind it where it had landed.


I walked it across the street to assure it that it had arrived in the lovely town of Franklin, NC.


When I brought it back to the museum, it was very happy to see a couple of familiar faces.


Seeing its old friends helped the Saltire feel more at home, but it was still a bit parched from the journey. So we directed it to the gift shop's cooler for some refreshment.

It enjoyed a little taste of Scotland, as well as the "taste of the Carolinas!" It was especially happy to try some Pepsi, seeing as it had just recently been in New Bern, NC, where the drink was invented.

It's thirst now quenched, it wanted to see a tour of the museum, so I pointed it in the right direction.


In the museum gallery it had a great time seeing all the lovely displays. First the official Town of Franklin tartan, on the old farm loom in our "weaver's croft" display.


Near the loom, it spied our reproduction of the Christina Young arisaid. "Hey," it said, "We've been talking about Dress tartans on X Marks, I have to see this!"


Then it hung out for a while with some of the older kilts in our exhibits.

Both of these kilts are four yard box pleated civilian kilts from the very early 1800s.

It looked for the X Marks tartan on the display boards, but was dissapointed not to find too many tartans beginning with "X."


More to come....!

[NorCalPiper]

When is the Saltire going to come and fly over to Northern California to visit this shop?????

[M. A. C. Newsome]

Like most visitors to our museum, the Saltire wanted to be sure to spend some time in the gift shop.

It went straight for the Lewis hose -- for some reason it was most attracted to the "St. Andrews Blue" color.... hmmmmm...


Because it was in the Carolinas, it had to see what the Carolina tartan looked like. It drooled over the bolt of heavy weight kilt cloth, and really considered getting measured for a kilt, but decided to think about it.


Next it wanted to see some of the nice hand-made products we have. I showed it some of the neat sgians that are made by Al Bullman, one of our regular volunteers and Vice President of our Friends of the Museum group.


On the way out of the sgian dubh case, it nearly flew into one of the Storm Capes, made by Empire Canvas.


Next, it was over to see the wonderful belt buckles that we get from Tyger Forge.


The Saltire asked how far away Tiger, GA, is from Franklin. Maybe it's thinking of it's next trip.....

Of course no visit to the Scottish Tartans Museum gift shop would be complete without taking a look at some of our sporrans.


Unfortunately, the Saltire must have left its wallet back with BEEDEE, because it didn't buy anything. But it says a nice new sporran is definitely on its wish list! :-)

[McMurdo]

It was so nice to see the Saltire again Matt I'm sure it will love the stay in Franklin.

[duchessofnc]

It was nice to see the Saltire this afternoon since it's really the first time I've been really out and about since getting sick. No we are not following it around. I can't help that Franklin is my home town.. lol.

There will be many more pictures I'm sure.

[Nick the DSM]

Whats the gas mileage for this thing?

[piperdbh]

Whats the gas mileage for this thing?

Nick, did you feel the breeze as the noble ship flew over Mecklenburg?