Virginia Scottish Games and Festival

Your globe-trotting summer concludes much like it would in the Scottish Highlands, at the Virginia Scottish Games and Festival. Don your best kilt and indulge at one of the best cultural feasts of the year. Yes, there will be haggis, though those with weaker stomachs can choose from a variety of meat pies, lamb sausages and burgers, fish and chips, and authentic Scottish pastries. Wash it all down with Scottish beer and, of course, scotch. The centerpiece of the two-day event, the Highland Games, pits burly competitors in seven feats of strength, including the caber toss, where one attempts to flip a 20-foot tree trunk end-over-end through the air, and the weight-over-bar toss, which involves tossing a 56-pound weight over a horizontal bar. Highland dance competitions, bagpipers and fiddlers, and car shows complete your tour of the Scottish kingdom.

-- Alex Baldinger (June 26, 2009)