Weekend Update

It was still drizzling Saturday morning, so we eased into the day. It was supposed to clear up and it finally did. We hopped into the car and headed out to the “Historic Columbia Speedway” and the Tartan Day South.

Sidebar: The Columbia Speedway is known as one of the “cradles of stock car racing.” It’s a fairly large, banked track that first opened in 1948 and was used until 1978. All of the early “heroes” of stock car racing ran here. The bleachers and so on are all gone now, but the paved track is there and the infield is used for events. There are plans to eventually build a museum, but nothing yet.

So, today’s event is the Tartan Day South. It’s a celebration of all things Scottish. There was a classic British car show.

Sidebar: Be sure to click on the individual photos so see them better...
 

Celtic music.

Traditional dancing.

Highland athletics where they throw heavy weights (sort of like a combination of shot put and discus throwing)

And one where they pick up huge (telephone pole-like) logs and toss them!

I passed on both the axe-throwing and archery, due to my right arm. We drank Guinness beer and shared some haggis on French fries (really not that bad), a Scottish meat pie and an English banger wrapped in dough. It was all very tasty!

We wandered around for a long time and ended up at a birds of prey exhibit (owls, a vulture and a falcon). I was hoping they would fly the falcon, but they only did it a little bit.

They even had a wandering fairy!

By that time, we were bushed and worried about sunburn (it was cool and only partly sunny, so nobody thought about a hat) so we headed out.

We stopped at a restaurant (whose name I didn’t catch) and I had some excellent fish and chips. It took a while for me to get the waitress to understand what malt vinegar was and why I wanted it. Apparently, it’s not a southern thing, lol! But she finally brought me out an unopened bottle.

Back home, I was beat. So, I just packed up for the trip home and then read a while in bed until I fell asleep.

Sunday morning, I noticed the top of my head was sunburned, dammit! They made biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. Time seemed to speed by and, before I knew it, I was on my way to the airport.

We got there early (I like to get there early, just in case, having missed a flight once). So, after we said our goodbyes, I went and got my tickets. I breezed through security and had some time to kill. I checked out the specials in the two tiny restaurants (it’s communal seating in the terminal for both).

I asked the waitress what was in the “blue cheese crumble” salad. She said she didn’t know, but would go ask. I said, “Never mind, surprise me!” She went and placed my order and then came back to ask, “With or without chicken?” I said, “Without” (I was still kind of full from breakfast).

And she did surprise me! It was lettuce, topped with lots of blue cheese, dried cranberries and fresh mandarin orange slices. The dressing was some kind of vinegar and oil (suspiciously a lot like Italian dressing).

I’ll be honest, had she told me that up front, I probably wouldn’t have ordered it. But it was delicious!

Finally, we boarded and started the trip to Charlotte and then to home.

I had purposely picked a later flight, so I could have more time with Jake and Carla. So, I didn’t land in Detroit until 8:00 p.m. By the time I got my luggage, fetched the truck and drove home, it was after 9:00!

Sidebar: The first thing I did after landing was to put on my coat! WTF? When I left, it was springtime. I came back to winter, dammit! I blame Vicky. I told her to take care of things while I was gone.

It took a while to calm Caley down (she’s always scared when I come back). I didn’t even unpack the suitcase, I just got out what I needed to clean up, took my pills and went to bed…