As you know, I am a huge fan of the television show (and book series) Outlander.  Sean has known he has Scottish ancestry for quite some time, but I found out about mine when we did an ancestry DNA test this year.  I have always loved cultural festivals and celebrations, so we really wanted to make sure to attend the Portland Highland Games.  We managed to fit it into what has become a way too busy summer, bringing my mother-in-law with us also.  It was a fun day!

In today's post, I am walking you through the festivities of the day and talking about my experience at my first ever Highland Games!  On Friday, I will be giving all the details on my outfit.


I had no idea what to expect, this being my first games and all.  I was excited to wear my kilt skirt and see Sean in his kilt once again.  He looked so cute!!  The PHG website is very informative, with a thorough schedule of the events.  I was able to plan out what we wanted to see most in an effort not to miss out.  There was ample parking and a short walk to the main facility.  While the line inside was a bit chaotic, they moved us through quickly and were very kind in the process.  The three of us checked out the inside vendors first.  This consisted of lots of swords, shields, Jacobite shirts, kilt pins, clan items like t-shirts and pins and stickers, photography of Scotland, shortbread, and more.  I've been trying to find Sean a good flat cap for a while.  He found one here!

We took our shortbread and headed to the main field area for the opening ceremonies.  I would probably skip this portion of the day next time in order to see the sheepdog demonstrations and dance competitions.  The opening ceremony included pipe bands, a parade of clans, and some introduction statements.  After the opening ceremony, we went down onto the field to walk around and look at the food tents and vendors.  We waited in a long line for food (the fish and chips were tasty!) and then headed out to meet up with my Outlander fan group, Outlandia, for a group photo.  We meandered around the clan tents, watched some athletics competitions, and found more shortbread.  By this time, we were all incredibly cranky because of the heat.  We just wanted a shady spot to sit down.  My anxiety was kicking in at this point because of the heat and all the people.  It starts making me feel like I am going insane from the inside out.  Thankfully, we brought some waters with us and eventually found some large rocks under a tree to rest on.  I stretched my legs (the walk from the main field to this one was longer and more uphill than I would have liked, especially in the heat), while Sean bought some popsicles from a waiting ice cream truck.  This is also the portion of the day when I pulled out my USB powered travel fan, which I had pointed in my direction the rest of our time at the games.  If you follow me on Instagram, this is when I took the selfie with my fan. haha

After we finished our popsicles, we walked back to the main field area for the Ceilidh (pronounced Kay-lee) Social Dance.  An instructor taught a couple different folk dances while someone played the fiddle.  I really wanted to participate, but my minuscule hours of sleep and the heat caught up to me.  I just sat down and enjoyed watching the other attendees try to learn the dances.  We left towards the end of the class to go catch a seat at the main field.  We parked it on the bleachers to cool off and watched pipe band competitions (you can see my videos of two of the bands here and here), the children's race, and awaited the Parade of Massed Bands.  The large parade of bands was followed by the Caber Toss, considered the most impressive of the heavy athletics events.  The Caber is a spruce log of about 20 feet and weighs about 120 pounds.  From a crouching position, athletes must cradle the base of the caber and pick it up.  The goal is to the toss it in the air so it lands end over end.  The athletes are scored based on the caber's landing position.  Three athletes managed to flip the log during the competition.  It was very exciting!

Overall, we had a great time.  It was exhausting because of the heat and would be much better in cooler weather.  I also wish there were more options and access for foods of substance and drinks.  There is so much going on all over the place throughout the day, like whisky tastings, fiddle and drum competitions, a drumming class, genealogist workshop, and various performers at the entertainment stage.  I don't think you could ever catch everything every year, but it does give us a better idea of what we want to see in the future.  I look forward to going again, but it would be contingent on the weather.

Pros
- Men in kilts.
- Shortbread.
- Bagpipes and dancing.

Cons
- It was hot outside, which is not the fault of the PHG obviously.  But it is hard for me to thrive under the beating sun.  It made things very uncomfortable.
- Long lines for restrooms and food.
- Though there were various places in which to escape the sun, there were not many places to sit down.  We lucked out finding a couple free rocks to sit on.

Love that kilt swish!

Outlandia