Ask me what I’d love to find in my stocking this year, and my answer is the same as always: the opportunity to immerse myself in another culture, even as a tourist. For example, Scotland’s Highland Games are not an option next year, but I still can watch kilted Scottish strongmen carry 300-pound rocks, flip 25-foot,100-pound tree trunks into the air, play brute-strength tug of war, and other medieval feats of might to honor their clans. Surprisingly, Florida hosts two of the country’s top Highland games, and the biggest one this side of Scotland is barely a two-hour flight away. There’s Scottish and Celtic dancing, border collie herding, food tents, and soul-stirring piping and drumming. Scottish clans gather from around the country and the world, and even spectators (not all of Scottish descent) proudly wear their tartans. Here’s the scoop and some other ideas for the experience-seeker in your family.
For the Scottish Experience
Photo by Rob Randall Photography
Fencing at Grandfather Mountain Highland Games.
On Jan. 13-14, catch the 46th Central Florida Scottish Highland Games in Winter Springs, home of the Boulder Boogie. The current record holder, Lord of the Trolls, carried his 326-pound stone cross a distance of 7 feet. flascot.com
On April 1, head to Dunedin, Florida’s authentic Scottish town, for its 56th Highland Games and Festival. A highlight is the spectacular massed band, where hundreds of pipers and drummers play together. dunedinscottisharts.com
The grandfather of them all is the Gathering of the Clans and Highland Games,
July 11-14, on Grandfather Mountain, 90 minutes north of Asheville. North Carolina has the largest percentage of Scots-Irish descendants in the U.S., and the meadow feels much like the Scottish Highlands. It starts with a torchlight ceremony and ends with Family Day, adding kid-size versions of ancient games, face painting, crafts, and more. In its 68th year, the gathering draws over 100 clans; scores of vendor tents offering food, clan-culture immersion, souvenirs, and tartans; and up to 40,000 visitors. gmhg.org
For the dog
In less than three hours, you and your four-legged bestie can be hiking together on a dog-friendly trail at Alderman’s Ford Preserve, part of the 4,000-acre Alafia River Corridor Nature Preserve, located east of Tampa. Its steep riverbanks, rocky whitewater river, and trails meandering through giant cypress and live oak forests may make you forget you’re still in Florida. 813-672-7876.
For the Kiddos
Courtesy photo
Holidays at Legoland
Anytime is good to play among gazillions of Legos in every shape and size. Still, you’ll see Lego Santa, Lego Elves (and live ones), a giant Lego Christmas tree, dancing gingerbread people, and sensational holiday displays only during Holidays at Legoland in Winter Haven each weekend this month. One family package includes an outrageously colorful Lego-themed hotel room, treats, and passes to the Legoland and Peppa Pig theme parks. Generally geared to ages 12 and under, the whole family, even grandparents, can enjoy Holidays at Legoland. All shows, and many rides, are accessible for people with disabilities, and Legoland Florida Resort is a certified autism center. legoland.com/florida
For African-American Heritage Immersion
Johnny Brown on his Freedom History Tours
More than 23,000 enslaved Africans were brought through the port of Savannah, Georgia, in the holds of ships and sold in the public squares. Yet for over two decades in modern history, their story was shared with visitors primarily by one man: Johnny Brown and his Freedom History Tours.
The native Savannahian, whose great-great-grandfather was an enslaved woodcarver from West Africa, bases his tours on his love of the history, art, architecture, and the untold backstories on the trail to freedom and beyond, especially the struggles and triumphs of the Civil Rights movement. He’ll take you to the Beach Institute Museum and the Laurel Grove South Cemetery and point out significant places like the Second African Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. practiced his “I Have a Dream” speech before the March on Washington. 912-398-2785
Sistah Patt
Last year, Savannah native, activist, and performer “Sistah Patt” Gunn, owner of Underground Tours, partnered with Kelly Gray Line to satisfy the growing demand to dig deeper into the darkest history of slavery (1748-1864). Sistah Patt titles her tours Master Gullah Geechee Truth-Tellers & Enslaved Reenactors. My favorite is her 90-minute walking tour of the historic riverfront. In her singsong African Creole dialect, she narrates the timeline from the arrival of the first slave ships to the auction blocks to the rice plantations, and finally to the rich Gullah Geechee culture that’s enjoying a resurgence throughout the Georgia/South Carolina Lowcountry. It perfectly complements Johnny Brown’s two-hour coach tour from the riverfront to the salt marshes. Both offer other tailored tours and are experts on where to feast on authentic Gullah Geechee foods, admire or acquire Gullah Geechee art, or visit a historic Gullah Geechee community. undergroundtoursofsavannah.info