June 05, 2005
Bellingham Highland Games
Our winters are long and dark and wet. To compensate for this, there are lots of wonderful events during the rest of the year. Yesterday, Jen and I went to the annual Bellingham Highland Games. I have a good bit of Scot blood in me and love the culture.
I brought a camera — here are a few pictures:
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There were several performance running simultaneously through the day so it was impossible to see everything. Lots of dancing.
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There was a huge midway with vendor booths, a food area, a beer garden. There were easily over 200 vendors present. Lots of good stuff, some junk and some high-end sheer artistry. There were about 20 booths from various Clans so people could research their family history and talk to Clan members.
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Someone brought a feral Haggis family. Fortunately, they had the presence of mind to post warning signs — they can be vicious if startled.
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Lots of music — Pipe Bands, Harps, Folk Singing. A feast for the ears.
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Another Pipe Band
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Jen's and my favorite act were these people - Wicked Tinkers. Celtic music played on Highland Pipes, two Drums and a Celtic Didgeridoo. Many people consider the Didgeridoo to be an Australian instrument but it's origins are shrouded in history and…
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One of the Drummers is visiting the audience during a song.
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The event was held at the Hovander Homestead Park. This is a gorgeous setting. It was homesteaded in 1897 and remains a working farm to this day. Two of their draft horses helped shuttle people to and from the parking area.
When we were done with the Highland Games, we drove a few miles to a very small airfield to watch a Model Airplane meet. The Bell-Air Flyers have their own little airport up north near the town of Ferndale. The facility is complete with a small asphalt runway, clubhouse and several stations from which to run the aircraft. Their website BellAirFlyers is down now, probably a server glitch… Here are some of the planes:
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I only had my wide-angle lens with me so I don't have any photos of airplanes in flight but the ones we saw were amazing. Extremely aerobatic. Overall quality of workmanship in the models were very high — these people know what they are doing.
I find the level of technology fascinating — another area where computers and materials science have made huge inroads…
Posted by DaveH at June 5, 2005 05:39 PM