Highland Games

Well, I made it thru the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games! It was quite an experience. Especially since I am not Scottish. I figured that since I am half Irish and since I was "adopted" by a member of clan Davidson and because I am just so much fun at a party that it would be all right for me to show up. We, the Marquise and I, really did not get a chance to see much of the games part of the festivities. Most of the events were held early/mid morning and since we were staying in Burnsville at the Carolina Country Inn, about 40 miles away, we did not make it to any of the morning events. We did manage to attend both of the Celtic Rock concerts (Fri and Sat nites) and a couple of the concerts at one or more of the Groves. The Celtic Rock concerts that were organized by GMHG were really phenomenal! I don't think I have ever really seen a concert/festival quite so organized or efficient. Each night, they had the bands set up on two or three stages right next to each other. As soon as one band finished, the next band was ready to take "their" stage and start right up. While the second band was playing, the first band was taking down their equipment and the next band was setting up. The only delay was listening to the MC give intros/instructions. Thanks to GMHG, we were introduced to several bands we had not had the pleasure of hearing before. The two I especially liked were Coyote Run and Barley Juice. If you ever get a chance to attend one of their shows, make sure you go. You will not be disappointed.



A quick note about beer. Several of the counties in the area are "dry". You cannot buy alcohol in those counties. The GMHG is in one of those counties. Getting a drink can be difficult. Let me tell you of our adventure. On Saturday, we left the games and went to eat dinner (at a wonderful mexican place, I'll get the name later (Los Arcoiris)). We had a beer with dinner. We decided to stop at the Solo gas station down the road from the restaurant to get a couple of beers for the evening concerts. That particular store did not sell alcohol because they were morally opposed to alcohol. We were OK with that. We got back into my faithful truck and headed on down the road to the next store. Well, the next store was also in the next county and the next county was a dry county. The overworked and tired employee explained the situation to us and told us that if we went 4.3 miles down the road, we would be in yet again another county, but that this one allows the sale of beer and that there would be a grocery store at the end of our little "yellow brick road". My esteemed traveling companion and I were at this point, naturally, quite determined to get our beer. We did find it a little odd that the employee knew that it was exactly 4.3 miles (I checked with the trusty odometer) to the closest place to get beer. I have a feeling that that particular grocery store makes a bundle by selling beer and alcohol to the good residents one county over.



Let me take a moment to give some kudos to the Carolina Country Inn and Burnsville. The Inn there is really, really nice. To be honest, I was not expecting a whole lot considering the price range for the rooms. However, the management have kept the rooms up wonderfully and maintained the atmosphere of the "mom and pop" motels that used to be so plentiful. If you EVER find yourself heading in their direction, check them out.



Burnsville is a another wonderful surprise. There are wonderful views all throughout the town. The people are extremely friendly. The two restaurants we ate at we very good. We had lunch at the Garden Deli on Saturday and breakfast at the Hilltop Restaurant on Sunday. They have a surprisingly vibrant downtown. We took a quick walk thru on Sunday (most stores were closed, of course) and only saw one, maybe two empty store fronts. Considering any downtown of comparable size in eastern NC would probably have a majority of the stores empty, that is a great achievement. All in all, my hat is off to the good people of Burnsville, from what I saw, they all have a great community.