Te gorgeous Portland area. Thursday, June 27, 2013

Tom and I arrived safely in Portland last night. We had an easy and trouble free flight which was nice after all the trials Carrie and I experienced traveling to Ireland. The two hour flight was a breeze after the long haul from Europe last week.

We spent the day today driving along the  Columbia River Gorge following the historic highway from Portland to Hood River. We enjoyed the cool weather hikes to see a number of waterfalls, although the most spectacular waterfall was the Multonah Falls, the second highest year round waterfall in the United States. We are so in love with the amazing amount of green everywhere. There is either moss or lichen on every tree, bush and sidewalk in sight. The lush vegetation and abundant number and size of old trees is mind blowing. There are blackberry bushes tantalizing me at every turn. They are weeks away from being ripe and I am hoping that the warm weather the Pacific Northwest is currently enjoying will ripen them up before we return home. We also really enjoyed the Vista House, a building with the most amazing view of the Columbia River Gorge.

After the Columbia River drive we drove a section of the "Fruit Loop". It is a vineyard, fruit, and flower growing region that is directly off the historic drive. We went to a farm that allows you to pick your own fruits, which given more time, I would have jumped at the opportunity. We wandered the fields taking pictures of the gorgeous flowers and I ate blueberries fresh off the bush, after I took their picture of course! This particular farm grows flowers, blueberries, cherries, strawberries and pears. We ate lunch at the food truck parked on the property and I bought a pint of fresh cherries and a quart of blueberries for the road. Yum!

We drove west  from there, with our destination being Canon Beach. This beach is famous for the haystack rock off shore. The rock is 235 feet tall and is sometimes accessible from the shore when the tide is out. What a beautiful sight to watch the waves crash around the rock and sea birds who live on the rock flying along the beach. Puffins and seagulls, among other birds call the rock home.

We had hoped for a beautiful sunset over this more northern section of the Pcific ocean but no such luck. The oceanfront and 15 miles inland was socked in with what we know in So Cal as "June gloom". We enjoyed a couple mile walk down the beach before heading back to the car and the drive to our hotel back in Portland. Tomorrow is a full day. We drive to Seattle to meet our friends Sue and Roger, see a bit of Seattle, and prepare for the trip to British Columbia.

Trinity College library

Temple Bar pub

Gelato toast

Gelato in Temple Bar

Headed for home. Thursday, June 20, 2013

Well, the party is (almost) over...

Carrie and I are sitting at the Dublin airport and I guess I am destined to spend another 5 hour time slot here. Our flight is currently delayed for 3 hours so the 5:45 wake up time was unnecessary. Fortunately for us we each had a 5 hour layover in Chicago so as of right now we are still scheduled for our original flights home from there.

One last adventure as we prepared to leave Ireland. We had a basket of tomatoes we had purchased on our marathon trip through the gas station grocery store in Northern Ireland. We saved them to eat on the plane neglecting to factor in that we would go  through US Immigration and customs while still in Dublin. When Carrie admitted that she had tomatoes in her bag she was whisked off to the secondary stage to be questioned. She spent a nerve racking 20 minutes for her turn for customs officials to speak to her  while I waited and wondered what the heck was going on behind closed doors. When they finally got to her, they basically thanked her for being honest as they confiscated our lunch.

With all of the TSA, customs, immigration, second round of TSA and more men in suits asking for our passports the time delay was eaten up. We promptly boarded our flight where we were disappointed to learn that it was going to be impossible to sit together as we had hoped. The only available seats when we booked our flight were one in front of the other. I was certain that we would  find a nice somebody to trade seats. It turned out that the reason there were only single seats left was because there was a large tour group on board and they were all couples sitting side by side in rows of three seats.

When we arrived in Chicago Carrie and I only had enough time to grab a quick lunch and say goodbye. She dropped me off at my gate and I boarded immediately. She was supposed to board her plane a very short time later but in keeping with her bad luck with flights this trip she was delayed two hours.

I spent the flight from Chicago to San Diego sleeping as I have never slept on a plane before. Complete exhaustion following a great holiday with my sister whom I adore.

Happy 50th birthday Sister!

A day in Dublin. Wednesday, June 19. 2013

Today was our day to explore Dublin. After the generous free breakfast at our hotel, We took the bus downtown. We wandered to St. Patrick's cathedral, Cristchurch, and we wanted to see Dublin Castle. Fortunately it was more that wanted to see another site on our heritage passes rather than a burning desire to see the castle because it was closed to visitors for an extended period of time.

We found our way to the famous Temple Bar area of the city. It is the hip and happening place with cute boutiquey stores, famous pubs and lots of tourists. We enjoyed a little window shopping and a gelato before calling it a day. We had packing to do and a quick trip to the grocery store in search of the delicious chocolate covered rice cakes we had both fallen in love with. That proved to be unsuccessful because there was no large store close by and the mini market was almost out of the type we were looking for (dark chocolate covered!). We also discovered a delish sourdough whole grain gluten free bread that I intend to try to duplicate.

 On every trip there is a foreign goodie to discover and fall in love with ...that you then can't find at home. It's all part of the joy and adventure of travel.

The Causeway, ancient burial site and a grocery dash. Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Our mission today was Giants Causeway, our main reason for making the trek to Northern Ireland. The sight of those pillars, some concave and some convex, and all so symmetrical was pretty amazing. The pillars are multiple different colors, depending on  their exposure to the sea when the tides come in. You can also find sea creature filled tide pools in the tops of some of the pillars.

When we left the causeway we debated whether to head for Belfast or try to make it to Bru na Boinne, our intended destination on the day we instead spent dealing with the rental car. We were concerned that we may not be allowed into Bru na Boinne because they only allow a certain number of visitors per day and it would be well into the afternoon before we would arrive. We decided to chance it and we were lucky that tourist numbers seem to be way down because there was no issues with us getting tickets.

Our car rental agreement called for the car to be returned empty rather than full so we spent the last couple of days trying to gauge how much fuel we would need to allow us to coast into the rental lot on fumes. We decided another £10 should do it and that would require a gas stop before the border to spend our last 20 British Pounds. We decided on £10 for gas and £10 for ??? After filling the tank we hurried into the store to shop. We very in a hurry because we wanted to arrive in time to get our tickets for the burial sites. If you had 5 minutes  and $15.00 to spend in a mini mart, what would you buy? We chose 2 bottles of water, a tiny container of milk, a basket of tomatoes a couple of apples and three giant Cadbury chocolate bars. Yum. We were like two little kids in a candy store trying to add up how much everything cost so we could spend every last pence. We walked out with  about 28 pence. Not bad and we giggled our way through one of the delicious candy bars as we rushed to our next adventure.

Bru na Boinne  is the name of a neolithic necropolis with multiple ancient burial areas. We were able to visit Newgrange and Knowth two very different burial sites. Constructed around 3200 BC,  Newgrange is older than the pyramids in Egypt by 600 years, and older than Stonehenge by over 1,000 years. We toured both sites and decided that we both  unexpectedly enjoyed Knowth more. It is smaller and more personal and contains a huge portion of the ancient art in all of Europe. The art mainly consists of rock carvings on hundreds of 3-10 ton boulders. Newgrange was interesting for the opportunity to go inside the passage tunnel and experience what it was like to be inside during the winter solstice, a date of great significance to the pagan people who built Newgrange.

After our visit to the tombs we headed toward the Dublin airport where we returned our car and took the city bus to our hotel. Dinner was a picnic in our hotel room with the mission of finishing up the last of our groceries.

The attractions of Northern Ireland Monday, June 17, 2013

Well, the day we planned is delayed as Carrie is on the phone trying to deal with complications using a hotel voucher. She and the hotel clerk are each on their phones calling headquarters in Ireland and the US trying to work out the problem. It's a frustrating reminder of the car rental incident at the beginning of our holiday. 

On our schedule today is some time touring Derry, and then on to the Antrim Coast. 

Later the same day...

We were able to drive into Derry and park on the outside of the city wall and walk the freedom bridge into the city. It was a beautiful morning and  we were once again blessed with blue skies with puffy white clouds. We walked the wall (the only fully walled city left in Ireland) and went to see the memorial to the victims of Bloody Sunday. The memorial is in the same neighborhood as the Bog City murals, political murals memorializing the victims of Bloody Sunday (the day British troops fired upon and killed innocent civilians, including a 14 year old girl. The events of that day were blamed on the supposed rebels despite the onlookers cries of the dead victims innocence. The court decision was overturned after many years and the responsibility for the events that day were properly placed on the troops).

After Derry we drove to the beautiful Antrim coast which is the northern coastline of Northern Ireland. The coastal road winds its way along some gorgeous beachy areas  and we stopped in Portrush, a small beach town with an amusement park alongside the waterfront.

After a walk on the beach we headed for the Giants Causeway (37,000+ hexagonal pillars of stone create when molten  lava flowed in to the sea). Due to the late hour and transportation issues we decided to leave the Causeway for the following day. We instead moved on to Carrick a Reide, a rope bridge originally used by fisherman during the summer months to reach a nearby island.

Carrick a Reide suspension rope bridge was a challenge for Carrie who is not a fan of the potential of falling from high places. It was quite a hike out to the bridge and then a short wait as others crossed back to the mainland side of the bridge from the island. The span of the bridge is 60 feet and it is 80 feet above the crashing waves below. I crossed first so that I could Katie pictus of Carrie as she attained her brave goal of crossing the bridge. I was alone on the bridge and took the opportunity to bounce around a bit. As Carrie took her turn she stopped fork the picture and as she moved forward a family of five jumped on behind her and proceeded to jump around and shriek at their adventure. Unhappy Carrie. Across the bridge is an island that was like entering another world. It is small and peaceful in a way that is hard to describe. Almost everyone who arrived on the island immediately sought a little solitude in their own little corner, lying down in the grass and closing their eyes and breathing in the peace. I was certainly no exception to that group.

After my zen moments in the grass I began to take some pictures. I was approached by a young woman who was alone and wanted someone to take her picture for her. She volunteered to take our picture and following that  we went back to tackle the bridge once again.

Carrie was able to cross alone this time and we hiked back up the stairs and path to our car. It was one of those paths that is mysteriously uphill both directions...

We headed out in search of our hostel with the view of the sea from our room. The hostel owner had spent the day in Belfast and needed to make up the beds in our room so we hit the kitchen and jumped into making our dinner. She was pretty surprised when she appeared in the kitchen a little while later and we were in full on dinner prep mode. She had intended to point us in the direction of the nearest store but we were fully stocked with everything we needed and were enjoying our dinner 30 minutes later.

After dinner we decided on a sunset walk on the beach. As we left the hostel we ran into the young woman we had taken a photo for at the bridge earlier. She greeted us and we began to chat and ended up inviting her on our walk. Hr name is Edith and she is Hungarian. We discussed my recent trip to Hungary, and all manner of other "getting to know you" topics. She was as curious about us and our lives as we were about hers and passed an enjoyable hour walking together. We parted with an exchange of email addresses and promises to contact each other.

After our walk it was a cup of tea in the parlor, showers and falling into bed. 

Peaceful interlude on the island connected by a rope bridge

Cows are not dogs. This one was NOT interested in being petted.

This wisteria was gorgeous

Early Christian cross in ancient cemetary

A new day, a new country

Sunday, June 16, 2013

We were as packed as we could be when we woke up this morning so we finished getting our things (which have grown considerably since we arrived two weeks ago!) into the car and we were off for Northern Ireland!

For those not familiar with Ireland, it is really two separate countries. The south is The Republic of Ireland and the north  is Northern Ireland. In the Republic they are on the Euro and measurements come in kilometers, liters and millimeters. In Northern Ireland they are on the British Pound Sterling and measurements come in miles, gallons and miles per hour. There was no noticeable defined border to announce we had arrived in Northen Ireland, simply a sign that said " speeds calculated in miles per hour".

On our way up to NI, we made a stop in Sligo to visit an ancient megalithic burial site called Carrowmore.  Carrowmore was staggering in its size and the number of unanswered questions it left us with. It was truely amazing and interesting filled with cairns, dolmens and stone burial circles. All of this was in a gorgeous flower filled meadow.

We drove on to Donegal to see Donegal Castle. We were determined to make good use of our Heritage Pass today. The castle was on of the smaller that we have visited but it was nice, and we enjoyed getting out and walking around after so much time in the car.

When we returned to the car Carrie realized she wasn't sure if she had directions to our hotel. As she was checking, she received a pop up message saying she needed to connect to the Internet. the next message was a list of choices. There was apparently a neighbor with unsecured WiFi and we were in business! Thank you  to the McDougall family for helping us find our hotel!

We checked in to our hotel, ate dinner in our room and made the decision to stay in for the night because we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. The Internet is terrible but the price is right.

The SURPRISE was on us

Saturday, June 15, 2013

 We stayed home today because tomorrow is moving day. We are leaving the timeshare and going to Northern Ireland.  We have laundry to do and packing of our backpacks and souvenirs.

We stopped by the local pub earlier in the week to ask about music.  We were told they would have music on Saturday so we planned around that, looking forward to some more live "Trad" music. 

We had dinner at home and then headed out to the pub. When we arrived we noticed someone was planning a birthday party there. We chose a table and Carrie ordered and Irish coffee and I ordered a Guiness. We chatted while waiting for the music to begin. Suddenly the entire place went quiet as the front door opened. A man walked in and most of the pub yelled "surprise!". The birthday boy had apparently arrived and the music started. They were playing a version of Wagon Wheel, a song popular on country stations at home. Huh, weird.... I decided to go check out the band and found... a DJ.... Apparently we hadn't been specific when we asked about music night.  We were looking for a live band, playing traditional Irish music like we had heard a few nights before.  What we got was a DJ playing American country music. Drink up Carrie, lets go home.

Dingle

With the faux Fungie

There is a resident dolphins in the Dingle Bay names Fungie. We never spotted him so we had to settle for the faux Fungie

The Dingle Ring

Friday, June 14,2013

Today was our trip around what is known as the Dingle Ring.

We drove for several hours to reach Dingle, a town on a peninsula in western Ireland. When we arrived in Dingle the rain had beat us there. We raced from the car into a restaurant in search of a bathroom and a warm cup of tea.  After this stop we braved the rain to visit a bookstore I had read about, and to see a bit of Dingle town before we hit the ring.

On the way to Dingle we had a choice between two roads to get to town. We chose the "exciting" route but we were disappointed because it was supposed to be a gorgeous drive on a clear day. Our day was anything but clear so we drove the scenic, hairpin turns in a cloud. 

The Dingle Ring is a circular 30 mile drive beginning and ending in Dingle. 

Our first half of the day consisted of scenic stops hindered by rain and fog. We arrived a beautiful, wild beach along the coast and we were the only people brave enough to drive the winding road down to the actual beach, as opposed to a look out point above. We had this beautiful beach all to ourselves until the sun began to make an appearance. Suddenly people noticed that we were there and began to show up in droves. We continued on our drive and visited the Blasket Islands center and a megalithic standing stone , along with Gallarus Oratory (an early Christian site built between the 7th and 8th century). 

We visited an ancient cemetery that contained some of the oldest gravestones in Ireland, along with a couple of Ogam Stones (tall, thin stones carved with Ogam (an ancient language made up of  diagonal lines) and a ruined church. This is the type of thing that we both love to explore.

We finished the day back in Dingle with a few minutes of shopping before the town shut down for the night.

9pm view from our dock

This is what 8:30 pm looks like

Tea at the end of a long day

Periwinkle seller

Eat it, it's not meat!

La Hinch Beach

She survived the dangerous cliffs

Just another Irish castle

We stayed away for the dangerous part, I swear!

Gluten free mango pear pudding

Saint Brigits

Free!!!

In Scarriff

Carrie and our leprechaun

"It's not meat" and other adventures

Thursday June 13, 2013

Up and on the road at 7:30 to drive 2 hours to Doolin for our ferry to the Aran Islands. We made good time to the ferry office and the weather was slightly better than when we tried to go a few days ago. We traded our Groupons for tickets to the boat and headed for the dock. We donned our layers of weather protection, put on our anti seasick essential oils and headed for our boat. While standing on the dock waiting for our boat I remembered I had mittens in the car and on this chilly day I wanted all of the protection I could get. As I walked back to the car the sky opened up and poured. I had already noticed that the water was very choppy so that sealed the deal for me.... There was no boat trip in my future. My desire not to be seasick was stronger than my desire to go out to Innisheer and to see the Cliffs of Moher from below. Carrie decided to forge ahead so we will be enjoying separate  adventures today.

Carrie boarded the boat and I took off for parts unknown. I drove out of Doolin and found some single track roads to drive down taking pictures and then I drove to Saint Brigits Well, a natural spring coming out of the rocks below a cemetary. There is a type of hallway leading up to the well that people use as a space to commentate loved ones who have passed, to leave a token and a prayer, etc. I saw everything from photos in frames to religious medallions, headphones, jewelry, eyeglasses, statuary, decorative plates... You name it. There are trees leading up to the well that are decorated with ribbons, children's socks, hair ties... Anything you can imagine that could somehow be attached to agree branch.

After the well and a few more photo stops, I headed for a little tea house that was advertising free WiFi. I ordered a pot of tea and delicious Mango/ pear pudding and enjoyed a few hours of photo organization.

Carrie called me while I sat the and told me how beautiful the island  (and the weather) was, how easy the boat trip over was, and how she wished I had come along.... When I met her back at the dock a few hours later she hung over the railing on the dock  to steady herself and told me "you 100% definitely made the right decision not to go". Apparently the trip out to the Cliffs of Moher and back to the dock was rocky, and rough seas had everyone on the boat trepidatious about their safe return to shore. Carrie had never really been out to sea before and by her reports, won't be doing it again anytime soon! Her pictures of the trip are beautiful but I wouldn't trade the not seasick afternoon I spent on shore for the experience.

There is a resident dolphin named Dusty in the area around the dock and we got to see her while Carrie attempted to get her land legs back.  After we left the dock we stopped in Doolin to wander the shops for a little while before we hit the road for more adventure.

During my time alone I had discovered a small castle tower I wanted to show Carrie, and a wild beach I hoped we could picnic on. We photographed the castle but we couldn't discover a way down to the beach. We drove down the road to another road I had seen earlier and we parked the car at a locked gate and began our illegal adventure for the day.

We have developed quite a back for jumping walls and fences to get where we want to go and today it was a sign that not only said no parking but also no going beyond this point without special permits, etc. sign? What sign? The path lead down to some amazing cliffs that overlooked the beach we tried to reach. It was wild and windy  and very exhilarating and we had a great time watching the ocean crash against the shore and the rocks.

After that we made our way to La Hinch, a small town that had a beautiful beach. We decided to walk the beach and as we approached  two boys were hawking something in little brown bags. I asked "What are you selling?" 

 "Perrywinkles"

"Periwinkles like sea creatures?" 

"Here we will show you" said one of the boys as he opened a bag. He pulled out a little shell and offered it to me. " What am I supposed to do with it?" I asked.

 "Eat it. With a pin"

 As he tried to hand me a pin I said " I am a vegetarian".

 He said "it's not meat". 

I said "it's a seafood".

 He swore it wasn't. The other little boy use the pin to extract the sea creature from inside the shell. As slimy slug like creature dangled from the pin, The boy reassured me that they were delicious and he tried to get me to eat it. I told him to show me so he did.  He ate it. Carrie and  I said thanks for showing us and said our goodbyes. No 2 euro bag of sea critters for us.

It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon and we enjoyed our walk on the beach. I dipped my toes in the water and it was very chilly. Leg cramping chilly. There were plenty of surfers in wetsuits enjoying the water, and one little six-year-old girl.

We found a cute little local café and had a pot of tea before we set out on our drive home. Another home arrival/ dinner at 10pm.

The Rock of Cashel

Standing stone on the Dingle Penninsula

We are enjoying some blue skies between the showers!

Stone fences partition property

Our neighborhood cows are curious to meet us!

The guy clutching his hand is the one who got his hand caught between Hurlies.

The pub we enjoyed live music at

Hurling ball

Hurlies

Cemetary

In front of every Irish pub

Irish roads

Similar views around every corner

Colorful street in Balina

Man of Balina

In and around Scarriff

Wednesday June 12, 2013 Today I requested a rest day. We have been going full tilt from 8 am until 10:30 or so at night and eating dinner at 11 pm. It is a partly sunny day as we discover the small town we are staying in. We drove to a ruin we had seen several times as we entered the town, so we went to look at that. Wile we were there we picked some wild flowers and enjoyed the sun. We stopped into the local health food store and bought a few things and were delighted to discover a bin in the fresh veggies/fruit section that had a sign telling us that the rhubarb in the bin was FREE! What's better than rhubarb except FREE rhubarb! As we returned our groceries to the car we were greeted by a man anxious to talk to the strangers in town. He had obviously kissed the Blarney Stone at some point in his life because he surely had the "gift of gab". He was fun to talk to and very full of Irish " craic". The best part is he told us he is really a leprechaun. Hmn... Next stop was the local charity shop. We try not to pass one by after our great finds in Scottish charity shops. I found a few things to fit into my backpack. We are currently sitting in a small cafe that promised free WiFi, but we are unable to connect so we will have to look further for another connection. After spending some time relaxing and pre making some food for the next few days back at our little home, we went out to the reception of another timeshare (where we originally checked in) to use the WiFi. After connecting, we had Internet for all of 2 minutes before it went out. I could only lay my forehead on the table and groan. The search for Internet that actually works has been extremely frustrating. Most places have a satellite connection and when the weather is overcast they have trouble maintaining a strong connection. After a few moments it was back and I quickly made a Skype connection with Collin. We chatted for a few moments before we were disconnected. While I struggled to reconnect he was calling me and he and Chloe let me a really funny message saying "Tavi, why did you give up on us? Why Tavi, why?" When I was able to get through again Mykael and Annalise had joined Collin and Chloe and they were all anxious to share stories about their new home. Once again I am struggling with having enough memory on my iPad for all of the pictures I have taken. This makes it hard to share current pictures here. There are so many beautiful scenes to photograph and I am especially enjoying he ancient Celtic ruins with their symbols, etc that are so different from all of the roman ruins I have photographed on my last few holidays. Early to bed tonight for our early date with a boat to the Aran Islands.

Castles, cottages and climbing over walls (shh!)

Tuesday June 11, 2013

Today our goal was Cahir Castle, the Rock of Cashel,  Hore Abby and Kilkenny. We managed to accomplish all of them, although we missed the castle in Kilkenny by minutes, as seems to be our luck.

Cahir Castle is considered one of the most intact castles in Ireland. It was quite an experience when we first arrived because you have to climb stairs that are outside (it was raining), steep, and some have no handrails. That made it exciting.

After the castle, we visited The Swiss Cottage. What a delightful little place. It was built in a time when Marie Antoinette made it fashionable for the very wealthy to "play" at being peasants. They would dress up in peasant clothes and pretend to work, as a diversion from the hum drum of sitting around and being waited on by their peasant servants. The Swiss Cottage was built by a wealthy Irishman for his wife. The building was their summer escape into the country where they would entertain friends in the garden and music room.  The flower gardens were beautiful and the cottage itself, with its thatched roof couldn't have been sweeter.

Leaving Cahir (care), we moved on to the Rock of Cashel. This is an imposing fortress atop a hill in Cashel.  It was a fortress fought over for generations until one of the kings " gave it" to the church. Unfortunately it was under construction and with scaffolding everywhere it destroyed some of the most imposing views. Carrie and I enjoyed a laugh over her witnessing me taking pictures of an interesting wall accessory. It was to hold holy water but Carrie hadn't realized what it was and joked about the "ancient cup holder" .

A walk downhill from the rock took us to Hore Abby. The ruined Abby was fenced in by a rock wall, with no visible entrances. The two intrepid travelers weren't about to let that stop us, so over the wall we went and down to the inner sanctum.  We are apparently a bad influence because as we approached the abby, we noticed other people following what we had done. We  enjoyed photographing the ruined building and each other. It became soft" again (the term the Irish  use when its a heavy, misty rain) and that sent us on our way to our next adventure. We went through the typical few minutes of struggle to find our rural road, and we were off for Kilkenny.

With our luck as it has been, we arrived into Kilkenny at 5:25 pm. Our guidebook mistakenly told us that the castle was open until 7pm, which was the latest any building we have visited has stayed open. We searched out the castle parking and rechecked the times listed in our Heritage Card booklet. It told us that the castle closed at 5:30.... About 10 minutes prior to us finding parking. Damn the luck. We had a quick sandwich in the car (lunchtime at 5:45 pm) while we watched the once again "soft" rain. The castle grounds were open until 8:30 so we went into the Kilkenny Design Center and did a little window shopping before heading out to visit the castle grounds. Our picture taking was challenged by the gusty winds and rain, which come and go quickly just as we had heard. We had planned to spend a bit of time walking the medieval streets of the city but the rain, combined with the fact that at quitting time the Irish roll up the welcome mat and go home for the night, we decided to head for home.

Carrie has been doing the bulk of the driving to prevent getting car sick on these winding roads. (My acupressure bands are saving me) I have the job of navigator. My skills failed me on our way home last night. Hungry and exhausted, I missed a glitch on the map where one motorway ended and joined another. I figured we would be allowed to go either direction but alas, one direction only.... And not the direction we needed to go. Well that's not the end of the story because the closest exit to turn around.... 29 kilometers. Oh ya, and through a tollbooth. €1.90 please. We got off and re entered the motorway the other direction. Tollbooth ... €1.90 please.

Home at last, dinner at 10:15, I needed laundry ... So I cried uncle. Day of rest, PLEASE!!!

Pub, beach and everything in between

Monday June 10, 2013 Last nights adventure to the pub was a mixed bag. The food was great, the music was great, the Guiness was great.... But they had overbooked the place so we, along with a family and another couple were sent to a back room to eat which had none of the lively atmosphere of the main pub. When it was time for the music, they took us into the pub and seated the couple and us in the "washing up" area at the back of the room. We sat on bar stools surrounded by miscellaneous coffee machines, dishwashers and extra candles for the tables. We spent 3/4 of the evening there before people at one of the tables left and there was space for us. The good news is the couple were a nice pair from Scotland and we enjoyed each others company and joked about our circumstance. We then shared our good fortune of a table with them. This morning our destination was a boat tour of the Aran Islands and the Cliffs of Moher. We had booked the trip the day before when it was sunny and pleasant. We woke up early and headed for the west coast and the town of Doolin. Upon arrival we were greeted with chilly temperatures and gusting winds blowing the rain sideways. We decided to put off the trip and avoid the guaranteed seasickness. We drove to a local hostel that has a coffee shop and we warmed up with some tea while planning our next move. We decided to wander some back roads and chose a route. Well, Irish roads don't always look like what we would call a road so we ended up driving some very small, single track roads that eventually dumped us out on a road overlooking a gorgeous beach. Fanore Beach was exactly as we expected an Irish beach to be. Windy, rainy, and very blustery, but incredibly invigorating! We laughed as we were almost blown airborne several times. We spoke with a woman from a local "outdoor experience" company. She had a group of kids from the town next to ours out for four days of outdoor adventures. Today was their body boarding experience. Thank goodness for wetsuits! After the beach we headed back into the Burren and stopped at the Burren Perfumery. They had beautiful smelling lotions, etc and we enjoyed the gardens. We drove on and stumbled upon some ruins where we stopped for lunch and the photo opportunity. After lunch we decided to make a dash to Galway. We arrived just after most everything closed but we wandered the town and got a feel for the city. We found the Fish and Chips shop that Carrie had heard was the best in Ireland. We had considered eating there to say we did, but we two gluten free vegetarian just couldn't bring ourselves to do it. Being lost earlier in the day showed us a short cut home, which is always a good thing.

Rhubarb!!

Sites of the Burren

Hiking in the Burren