(I still don't have photos ready, but here is the recap I posted on KiltsRock.com)

As promised, Patti and I arrived late in the evening and immediately headed over to the Tilted Kilt to meet other XMarkers. Unfortunately, we got there so late we caught them leaving the joint and only had a brief hello. But we had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Bill and Al G. Sporrano along with their wives. Very nice folks and after some pleasantries, Patti and I went inside to check the bar out. Fun place. The food leaves a lot to be desired, but the waitresses do not!
Cool moment: The same belt buckle design I was wearing was in a frame on the wall above our table. I was wearing art!

The next day, we headed out to the games and had a wonderful time. The VIP package was well worth the $100. That paid for our admission tickets, VIP parking, access to the VIP tent (with free food and drinks), a free program, and a kilt pin. We saw the Wicked Tinkers perform twice, visited our friends from the Celtic Craft Centre, and saw some very talented dancers.
Cool moment: Saw our first athletics competition and some amazing athletes...hammer throw of 110', a perfect 12 o'clock caber toss, and a Class B competitor tossing the weight over a 14' bar!

After leaving the games on Saturday, we hit up some casinos and shopping. (For the men folk: Keep your wives away from that damnable Tiffany's store! It looks sweet and pretty, but it will beat the b'jesus out of your wallet!) One hundred dollars kept me alive at a blackjack table for an hour and a half and I walked away with $105.

Saturday night saw us venture into Fremont Street to catch up with the party at Hennessey's. Oops. We missed the party again. The bands played within an hour of getting there and split early. Oh well. We met some wonderful kilted gents (James Mason and his son Mike, of Clan Sinclair) in an elevator and spent the evening at Hennessey's with them. There are not enough nice things to be said about these fine folks. We also met Chris and his wife Shannon from Clan MacLean who were great to eat and drink with and learn a bit about drumming from.
Cool moment: Griping about the horrible service together, we all had something to laugh about. Without knowing it, we later discovered that James Mason paid for our dinners...and in his words, he didn't know it either!)

We were supposed to meet up with the Masons at the Clan Sinclair tent and Chris and Shannon at Clan MacLean on Sunday. Unfortunately, we again seemed to arrive after the fun! Wind had forced most of the tents and events to move or shut down entirely. The Clan MacLean tent was empty when we arrived and we didn't catch up the Masons until just before we left. When we finally caught up with James and Mike (and Mike's wonderful wife who was also named Patti), they were just packing up the Sinclair tent. But there was a vendor who needed some help packing and we were all trying to get out of there before the winds got worse and the rain arrived. So we all went over the the "Pendragon Jewelry" tent and got to work. For a whole variety of reasons, this was a lot of fun and we felt great that we were able to help these folks condense a 5-hour job into just over an hour and a half. Everyone departed rain free!
Cool moment: After we finished, James suggested we all go to dinner and we were starving. After missing an exit or two and stopping for gas, we found a great restaurant called "The Old Tavern Mining Co.". Best of all, the General Manager's name was Robert Patrick Burns!!!! The food was incredible, prices respectable, and I was able to repay Mr. Mason's kindness by paying for dinner. After dinner, we traded contact information and parted ways with some new friends.

The Las Vegas Celtic Society puts on a wonderful Games and we are already looking forward to next year. If you can make it, I wholeheartedly recommend you attend and get ready for a great time. We'll see you there!