Skyline to Sea Hike

Ken and I hiked from Saratoga to the ocean! It was fantastic. I really couldn't recommend it enough - the perfect "intro to backpacking" hike. Including detours, our hike was about 30 miles. We did it in three days and camped out two nights.

Turns out you can't put videos with songs from the Beatles on YouTube - whoops. So here's our trip, uploaded directly to the blog. I hope it plays okay for you!

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO

. . . Aaaaand, I've learned my lesson about Beatles songs on the internet. :-/

Ireland Video!!

Thank you SO much Harris family for letting us stay with you! You're always invited to California.

The dancer at the end (and in the middle) is five time world champ David Geaney, so that's crazy/awesome. But you've already heard me rave about that in my Dingle post. :-) But truly - such a cool thing to see for someone who grew up rewatching Riverdancing. :-) I was glad for the opportunity to stick a bunch of it at the end of the video. :-)

The music is Ed Sheeran's Galway Girl. I think I forgot to mention in the posts - but we accidentally followed his tour schedule for a lot of our trip. We were often in the same town he was performing in either on that night or the night before or after. So it felt appropriate to use his song. Plus at the same Dingle pup that David Geaney performed, someone sang the original Galway Girl, and it was hilarious. So all signs pointed to using this song. :-)

SUCH an amazing trip. Ireland will be a lifelong project. I can't wait to go back!!!

Gold at the End of the Rainbow

Lila, why are you posting twice in one day? (I'm assuming that's what you're asking.)

Because I know me! And I know that despite what I've thought or even promised, I'm not going to post anything else to this blog after we touch down in SF. Or really after we take off from Iceland. Because, let's be real, it's not like I can post in the plane. I'm not paying for internet. What do you think I am, made of money?

I think we got off track. In the past I've thought that once I get home, I'll do a round up post, or go back and add pictures, or do a summary of highlights, or something. And that has literally never happened. Check out the right hand side where it has all the categories - I've blogged a lot from a lot of different places. And never once have a done a post-trip post. (Outside of posting whatever video I make months later). So, I'm just being real. This is probably the last post.

. . . unless I post again from Iceland.

Because right now, we're still in the Ireland airport (we got here really early, remember? We've had plenty of time). We've now had breakfast and coffee and are waiting at our gate. We'll begin boarding in probably about a half hour. . . maybe. Apparently the pilot is excited to leave, so maybe we'll leave early. Can you do that? 

Anyways, picking up where I left off: the middle of nowhere.

It was around 4:30 that we decided, "Ya, okay. I'm about ready to get dinner and find a B&B in this area."

The problem was that there was literally nothing. Just spots of houses, and "towns" that had a bar and Chinese food, but not anything that looks like we wanted to stop for. 

We were choosing our path by loosely aiming toward Tayto Park (more on that later), and aiming increasingly at larger towns in hopes of finding a B&B or food. "Larger" town is obviously a relative term. But we figured - larger the town, more chance of food and a B&B!

Along the way, we stopped in a town called Fore. We had diverted in this direction because there was someone on the map called "Seven Wonders", and we were curious. I have no idea what it was referring to, but what we ended up finding was a old, broken down castle!

Just in case you're curious, there were signs and stuff - so it was meant to be visited. We weren't just trespassing on someone's castle. . . Not that I'm sure that would have stopped us. . . We climbed around in it for a long time. What a great way to stretch your legs. We found two gates that were probably supposed to be locked like all the others, but by some stroke of luck weren't, so we climbed super sketchy stairs to get to the top of the highest tower. It was awesome! 

On our way back, Ken the animal whisperer pet a bull. It was something he had been hoping to do nearly the whole trip, but up until this moment, most of the cows/bulls hadn't been close enough. So this was a happy moment. :-)

There was one dead-end B&B sign in Fore, so we continued on.

Around the time that we were getting restless and ready to be settled somewhere (maybe around 7:30 - we started looking for a B&B around 4:30, remember?), a BEAUTIFUL rainbow appeared! I have literally NEVER seen a rainbow this perfect. It kinda felt like God was saying, "I got you!" . . .  and also, "Hey, look! A distraction!" Disclaimer: none of these pictures will do the rainbow justice.

Shortly after the rainbow appeared, we found an awesome B&B . . . and there was no room.

But there was a B&B! The first one in literally 3-4 hours! If there's one, there must be more! (I know that's usually said about cockroaches, but we were hopeful it applied to B&Bs as well). 

We went through the town of Kells - nothing. But the rainbow was still going strong! Like a friendly reminder that God's got a plan, and also a welcome distraction from our now-grumbling stomachs. :-)

We found two more B&Bs, neither of which had room. 

I forget if it was after or between those two (I think after), but we went on their weird side road and were surprised to find a field full of rapeseed. Rapeseed has brilliantly yellow flowers. Like, blindingly yellow flowers. And the rainbow landed in the middle of the field: the gold at the end of the rainbow!!!

Very shortly after we found our gold at the end of the rainbow, we found a B&B that had room for us. It was a little house on a big sheep farm. Just perfect for our last night "out" in Ireland. 

After settling our stuff into the B&B, we drove into the town of Navan. It was a little deader than we expected. All we wanted was a pub: somewhere where we could get a beer and food. And not spend and arm and a leg doing it. All we found for a long time were divey bars (no food) or fancy restaurants (too much $$). 

Eventually, we resigned ourselves to going back to a burger place that we had seen as we walked into town. It didn't have drinks, but whatever. We'd survive. So we walked into the burger place - and it was connected to a bar through a secret inside door! We could bring our burgers into the bar! Perfect! 

The burgers ended up being a little bit life changing. Not really - but they were delicious. The bar had good drinks and enjoyable live music. To top the night off, we shared a shot of the Middleton Very Rare Whiskey. 

It's so funny looking back on that day. So much went wrong (no ferry, couldn't find a B&B, no food, etc.), but it ended up being such a great day! 

• Road sheep!
• Ken pet a cow!
• We explored a castle!
• Life changing burgers!
• Middleton Very Rare!
• Fun surprise-pup!
• B&B on sheep farm!

Truly, it ended up being a great day. Despite the bit of hunger and hangriness. :-)

Okay, now to talk about yesterday. Our last day in Ireland.

We woke up and headed to Tayto Park. My cousin Kim had recommended, and her husband Amon had discouraged it, which honestly made us want to go all the more. It sounded corny and hilarious and just up our alley.

What we expected was a potato themed amusement park. What we got a was a amusement park founded by a potato chip company - so pretty close! Definitely had some potato themes!

It ended up being a pretty cool little park! Fun rides, a zoo (whaat??), a petting zoo, and some other cool stuff. We got there right when it opened and rode the roller coaster three times in a row. It's the biggest wooden roller coaster in Europe, and easily the best wooden roller coaster I've ever rode! (But Big Dipper, you'll always be my favorite). 

From there, we moseyed on down south of Dublin toward my cousins' house. We stopped at Powerscourt to go to their shop and pick up a cheesecake. It was insanely crowded, and we realized (yet again!) how lucky we've been with our trip. The exact same place was nearly empty when we were there only a few days earlier. 

So we picked up our cheesecake and arrived at Brian & Jeanne's. 

Aaaaaaaand, we're boarding! 

. . .  Aaaaaaand, we're in Iceland!

. . . Aaaaaand, we're being called to board for SF. Wow, that was fast. 

Never mind. At the gate we were told that Ken was selected for a random TSA security check - which means I was selected for additional blog time. :-)

Brian & Jeanne's felt like home. We didn't tell them we were coming back, but they said that they suspected that they would. It was a perfect ending to a perfect trip to spend the afternoon and evening with them. Brian spoiled us with drinks of all sorts, we went out to dinner at their local pup, Andrew (Jeanne's brother) came over and I got to meet him, Amon (Kim's husband) came over, and everyone hung out and talked late into the night. I don't know if it's because they are family or if it's just because of the kind of people they are (I'm guessing the later), but it felt totally like family. I can't say enough good things about the whole lot of them (partially because I know they're reading this!). I wish I could say more about our time with them, but I think what was so absolutely delightful about it was how unremarkable it was - meaning truly, nothing eventful to remark on. Just comfortable and delightful. 

But truly, spending the day and night there was the best possible way to end our trip.

And now we're in Iceland. And the country is holding up to its name, it's quite icy outside. 

In 9ish hours, we'll be home. (Mom & Dad - we'll come pick up Gimli tomorrow!)

What a fantastic trip this has been!!

If anybody talks to me tomorrow, please remind me to pay our Dublin tolls. 

Until next time!! :-)

Bonus Feature: Photos Uploaded While Waiting For Kenny to Get Back from TSA Screening So He Can Give Me His Thoughts (. . . I'm starting to worry. . .but if you see thoughts from Ken below, that means it all worked out!)

Kenny's Thoughts: 

Overall, I'd say that inland Ireland paled in comparison to the amazing coastline that we had spent so much time on. I loved the random ruins that we stumbled across and the fields of green with livestock, but there wasn't quite the same luster driving through as there was at nearly every other place we had spent time. That being said, I enjoyed trekking across the country and seeing all the diversity in the cities and the people. I enjoyed getting a chance to explore a fairly large castle, as well as pet the cows outside of it. What wasn't a disappointment in any way was Tayto Park. I was half expecting a cheesy but really fun experience, but it turned out to actually be a really enjoyable amusement park with the best wooden roller coaster I've ever been on. I felt like a kid running in the doors to the park when it opened to the roller coaster - then jumping back in line three times in a row. Afterwords, I loved wrapping the trip up really well by spending more time with Jeanne and Brian and their family. They really are loving people and incredibly hospitable. I'm really excited to be visiting Ireland sometime in the (hopefully) not too distant future. Overall, Ireland was phenominal and exceeded my expectations in so many ways. I really did love it here. I think that's all my thoughts. 

Kylemore Abbey & Other Stuff

Back at the airport. Dublin airport this time – homeward bound! I say that with an exclamation point as if I am excited (and a part of me is), but let’s be real. If I had an opportunity to stay here another month or more, I would do so in a heartbeat.

But since we are going home, I’m excited to go home. :-)

Speaking of going home, we're in a bit of a funny position right now. We're at the airport too early. Has that ever happened? Our drive to the airport coincided with rush-hour traffic, so we gave ourselves plenty of time. And accidentally ended up here about 1.5 hours before our check-in counter opens. So we're here plenty early, but haven't even gone through security. Still, no complaints hee. I'd much rather be early. No stress. We're just chilling. Kenny so much that I think he'll be asleep within a few minutes. Aaaaand, yep. He's asleep. I'm staying up to keep watch for when our check-in counter opens. I can sleep on the plane - at least the first one.We're going to try to stay awake on the second one in order to reset our clocks and go to sleep at the right time tonight. So sorry to the Noffsingers who are picking us up - you may be picking up two sleep zombies!

But since I am just waiting here, I thought I might as well be writing. :-)

Outside of my little ode to my brother in picture form, I think I last left off after the Dingle Peninsula. Is that right? Ah, not quite. I guess I last wrote in Doolin, which is north of Dinlge and close to the Cliffs of Moher.

The Cliffs of Moher were kind of our last thing on our "itinerary", which would be a very generous term for the lose to non-existent plans that we had coming into the trip. There was a lot more we wanted to do, but most of it was quite a bit north and probably best saved for a better trip. There wasn't anything that we particularly wanted to do that we believed that we could do at a leisurely pace. Except I did find out that Kylemore Abbey was nearby. . . and by "nearby" I mean a couple hours - but what's a couple hours when you've driven as far as we had by that point?

I've probably pinned Kylemore Abbey (formerly called Kylemore Castle) a dozen times on Pinterest. It's one of those places that you secretly kinda think only exists on the internet, but  you can't actually go there. I figured it was Oprah's Ireland Getaway or something. I'd drooled over it for a long time (I think there's even a picture of it on my wall?), but never even thought to look up where in the world it was. I had NO IDEA it was in Ireland until we saw a picture of it on our map.

So we looked it up, and we went, and it was totally awesome. Absolutely beautiful. Every bit as beautiful as it was on the internet, if not more so. I love it when that happens. :-)

/this is a picture of our memory - use the internet to find better pics of the abbey :-)

After the Kylemore Abbey, though, we literally had no idea where to go. We got in the car and were like, "So . . .  do you have any ideas?"

So we looked at the map, and I don't for the life of me remember how we decided which direction to go (ended up going North), and we started going. I think we had a vague idea of where we wanted to end up that evening. . . but even saying that might be giving us too much credit.

We ended up on a beautiful drive (which I truly think you could say about any drive in Ireland). This drive was along Ireland's only fjord. Granted, I don't technically know what a fjord was, but I think Ireland only has one - and we were on it! It was pretty in a way that I didn't know existed in Ireland - desolate and harsh. Not nearly as green as other places had been - in some places, not green at all.

Beautiful drive! And we ended up in the town that we were aiming for: Westport. Now that I've heard about how much everyone loves Westport, I feel a little guilty and embarrassed that we nicknamed it "Worstport". Sorry, Ireland! But you have to understand, at the time we entered into town, we had been driving for awhile, we were hungry, and we didn't want to put up with traffic. Maybe it was rush hour or something else was going on, and the city wasn't greatly laid out for traffic, so it felt congested and overcrowded. Which is a bit of a shock to the system after driving for a few hours on open roads! So. . . not a great first impression. So we decided to blow through and not stop. Parking, turning around, anything sounded hard and like we didn't want to do it, so we didn't.

We blew through town and ended up finding a delightful B&B in the middle of nowhere about 20 minutes East of Westport. And they recommended dinner in - you guessed it! - Westport. We didn't have a lot of options, so we went back into town, passed all the way through town, and had dinner on the other side of town over looking the. . . lake? harbor? fjord? Whatever it was, it was beautiful, and we were greeted with a giant rainbow just to confirm we were in the right place.

We stayed at our B&B (where Ken got to pet a horse and a dog - happy days!), and the next day hit the road again! We were thinking of checking out Clare Island (because we didn't know what else to do), and so we drove through - you guessed it! - Westport. We were laughing that this town that we had decided not to like, we had now passed through 4 times. Probably more than any other town.

This was the start of two days ago. I should warn you that if I write what happened two days ago, it will probably seem like a bit of a miss-adventure. But I hope you know that we had a great time and even though things went a little skewy, I'm not complaining! We still had a great time. :-)

So it started out with us driving to the port to catch the ferry to the island . . .  which we missed by a few minutes. No worries! We weren't sure we wanted to go anyways. Plus, there were a bunch of signs for a bike race in the area, and we wanted to get out of the area before that started. So we charted a new course on some side streets to lead us over to what looked like would be a pretty drive. And we got pretty dang lost on the roads. Well, lost is a relative term. It's not like we knew where we were trying to be, exactly, so we weren't worried. AND in the middle of absolutely nowhere on a road that isn't labeled in real life and wasn't even on our map, I got one of the things I had been hoping for! Road sheep! Literally farmers (shepherds?) moving their herd from one place to another, using the road. The road was COVERED in sheep, and they all ran right by us. It was hilarious and loud and awesome and funny enough, probably a highlight of the trip for me. I'd show you a picture, but it's they're on the black camera, and that's int he black & green bag, which I'm a little bit fearful we'll never close again if we open it before we get home. (Because it's so full, not because we broke your bag, Marshall. Don't worry!). So, no pics. But it was very, very cool. Certainly not something you'd get in the tourist parts of the country!

So from those weird back-roads, we eventually popped out onto a bigger (relative statement) road - right in the middle of the bike race we were trying to avoid!!

So we and about a million bikers took a very beautiful road for a very long time.

We eventually ended up in Cong (I don't know where the bikers went). Cong is where the shot the movie The Quite Man, which is apparently a great movie.

And then from Cong, we headed inland, moseying our way back to the Dublin area. I kind of thought that we find all of these secret treasures that weren't mentioned in the guidebooks, but it turns out that there's nothing in guidebooks about inland Ireland because there's nothing in inland Ireland. Like, really. No B&Bs, no pups, no points of interest. Mostly nothing. 

We ended up finding one pretty cool thing, though!!! And we found some gold at the end of a rainbow. But those things will need to wait, because our check-in stand just opened, and I have a sleeping handsome to wake up.

As always, thanks for reading!!

P.S. This post was supposed to be published awhile ago, but it apparently didn't go through. Oops.

P.P.S. Kenny and I are at breakfast in the airport now! Now that he's mostly awake, here are his thoughts.

Kenny's Thoughts: I was sad to say goodbye to Doolin, I really liked that little town. . . of like eight buildings. The whole drive was really pretty and I enjoyed it thoroughly. Kylemore Abbey was really pretty. And I don't know why it wasn't more talked up, but I thought it was a really nice part of the trip to stop there. And I loved our drive from Westport through the mountains to Cong. It was just beautiful, rugged landscape that I didn't expect to see in Ireland. It was quite lovely. It was also fun having our car surrounded with sheep. I think that's all my thoughts. 

For My Brother Kerry

To my brother Kerry, who has gone 30 years without stores having things with his name on them.

Kerry, I give you. . . IRELAND:

Love you, brother!

We Like Sheep

There's a verse that I think well represents our sentiment toward Ireland:

"We like sheep" Isaiah 53:6

Because Ken and I have become incredibly big fans of sheep. We like sheep, just like the Bible says. We went to the Dingle Peninsula, and in addition to seeing obviously gorgeous views, we also did as many sheep things as we could. We held a baby lamb(!!!), we fed adult sheep, we watched a sheep herding demonstration, and we happened upon what Ken keeps referring to as "fresh sheep" - two little lambs who we assume had literally just been born. Still all wet, umbilical cords attached, taking their first wobbly steps. I happened to see them from the side of the road, I gasped, Ken pulled over, and we watched them for awhile. We've even talked about if we could have sheep back home someday. I don't know why we like them so much, but they're been a surprising and humorous highlight.

And before you comment about it, yes, I know the verse is "We like sheep have gone astray" and it's not actually about liking sheep. Just let me have my Bible humor.

Also - you may have noticed that this blog is taking a different format than the previous one. I'm going back to just writing whatever I feel like. Maybe I'll end it with bullets of things we've done since the last post, but the previous post I wrote about every single thing we did (complete with pictures!) was too long - not fun to write and probably not fun to read. So. . . we're not doing that anymore. I like having a chronology of our vacation, but not at the expense of enjoying it. This babbling about sheep is totally enjoyable.

Right now, I'm writing from a sitting room in a B&B with an absurdly beautiful view. We're in Doolin, if you want to look it up. From the window I can see a sea of green spotted with cows and cottages, ending in the cliffs, and then the actual sea. Right behind us on the opposite side of this window is a little caste. About 5 minutes South of us are the Cliffs of Moher. I had felt like I needed a bit of a break (ha! Isn't that funny - a break during a vacation), and Ken indulged me by letting us stay here two nights. It's been nice to go at a bit of a slower pace. We've dawdled throughout our full trip, which has been nice, but there's a certain luxury in not needing to pack up in the morning. Two nights feels just right - especially somewhere as perfectly refreshing as where we are.

A few other things we've done that deserve mentioning(in the order that I think of them):

• SEE A 5X WORLD CHAMP IRISH DANCER "PERFORM"!!!!!!!!!! I say "perform" because it wasn't a formal show. He happened to be home, his dad owns a pub, we were at that pub, and he danced there. As someone who grew up watching River Dancing on VHS, IT WAS FREAKING AMAZING!!!!! I'd write more, but I'm trying to keep this post shorter for your sanity and mine. :-) 
• Bike ALL THE WAY AROUND Muckross Lake - and be reminded that I have a horrible estimate for how long a kilometers are.
• Explore Kilarney National Park
• Hike (. . .okay, leisurely walk) to a waterfall
• Drive around the stunning Dingle Peninsula
• Go to a chocolate factory, where I fell in love with a Plum & Chocolate Chutney and bought the cookbook that included it
• Ate at a cliff-side cafe on the Dingle Peninsula where Ken pet the doggies
• Visited the giant Cliffs of Moher (where Voldermort hid the locket horcrux)
• Went to a perfumery
• Explored the Muckross House & Gardens
• Tried to beg a chef into giving us a recipe for a deep fried mashed potato miracle. No luck. 

Kenny's Thoughts: What do I want to say. . . I didn't know that I needed a sheep fix and a lamb fix, but I really did. Feeding the sheep and petting the lambs was so fun. And watching the sheep dogs herding was really fun and interesting as well. And not surprisingly, everywhere has been unbelievably beautiful, just with how green everything is. I'm loving our B&B out in Doolin. It's really relaxing and has the most spectacular view. And not to mention the best breakfast we've had all trip. I'm also excited that I'm about to finish the book that I've been reading for many months. Ya, I think that's all my thoughts. 

The Cliffs of Moher were a little windy

Wicklow to Kerry (Clear Your Schedule - This Is a Novel)

Okay, I’m doing it! A catch-up blog!

But before I start, here are a few non-chronological thoughts:

• The green here is unreal! It looks like a novice to Photoshop oversaturated the world. When I try to take photos on “Auto” it actually dulls the color. It’s insane. Absolutely gorgeous.
• I like traveling with Ken because it increased my wardrobe. For example, right now I’m wearing his gym shorts over my leggings and his socks. Marriage has good perks.
• I love potatoes.
•  I love it here.

Okay, now to backtrack a bit.

. . . Let’s see if I actually get caught up.

To keep things organized, I’ll go by day. . . ish.

Ah, man. I hate to reduce everything we’ve done to bullet points, but allas. . .

Wednesday: Introduction to Ireland

·         Landed

·         Guinness Storehouse

·         Time with my cousins

·         (You know about these things)

Thursday: County Wicklow Part 1

• Spent time going with cousins at gardens, jails, and seeing Sammy the Seal (you also know about this)
• Walked down to the beach from my cousins’ house! This happens to be where they’re shooting the obscenely violent Vikings show, which is cool if you’re into that kind of thing.

Friday: County Wicklow Part 2

Spent the morning going up to cousins’ farm so we could see a real Irish farm. Super cool! They had beautiful black sheep, lots of land, a Shetland pony, and a cute dog named Muffin – to name a few. They were extremely generous with their time and let us walk all around. Ken’s Thoughts: I really liked it there, and I was shocked how much I really enjoyed having sheep around. Plus Muffin was the coolest Pomeranian I’ve ever hung out with. 

• Ken and I departed from the cousins and went to check out Glendelauch! (That’s probably spelled wrong). It’s an old monastic site that was raided by the Vikings. Amazing to walk around, and we walked up to the Upper Lake, which was gorgeous.
  
  
  
• Powers Court was our next stop! Think a Downton Abbey house in the middle or Versaille’s gardens – except, honestly, I liked these gardens better. We had lunch in their Avoca café and then walked the big loop around all the grounds. Amazing gardens! Lots of different types – Japanese gardens, redwood groves, rose gardens, everything! AND a small castle that the owner had built for his kids. Pretty dang cool. Ken’s Thoughts: It was stunning. I couldn’t believe the size of it or the scope of it, and I don’t understand why more of the locals weren’t as taken aback by it as we were.
  
  
  
• Back home to the cousins’ for a BBQ!
• Walked to the house where my family generations back grew up! A cousin (Peter Valentine) is still living there, and he and his wife Mary were insanely generous in letting us drop in, then giving us homemade ice cream and caramel, and then showing us around the property. Amazing to see!
  
  
  
  

Saturday: Training Wheels Removal

• Started the day with a Farmer’s Market with Kim (cousin), Amon (sp?), and their kids Sam & Daisy. Super cute little craft shops and food stands! We definitely got lost on the way,  but we eventually made it and enjoyed soaking up the sun and chatting with them.
  
  
  
• We removed our cousins-training-wheels and set off on our own!
• Stopped in Waterford, the oldest city in Ireland! And we. . .

o   Went to a Viking VR (virtual reality) experience, which sounds super corny (and it was a bit),  but it was also totally engaging and educational and interesting.  It was awesome because you start in a Viking-ish hut  in real life, then you put on the VR headset and it looks like you’re in the same hut. I felt like Harry Potter in my invisibility cloak, looking down and seeing the seat I was sitting on but not my body.

o   Lunch at a pub

o   The Waterford Crystal factory! Mom – all our Waterford Crystal COMES FROM HERE! Did you have any idea it was Irish? Me neither! The tour was amazing. We actually got to see the people making real cut crystal (by hand! All by hand!) and ask a lot of questions and look around the shop. Very cool!

o   Ken’s Thoughts: Both tours were really neat and both exceeded my expectations quite a bit. I didn’t know how far back the history of Ireland went. And I really enjoyed learning about the first Viking settlers there. Also, the Waterford Crystal Master Craftsmen were unbelievable in their skill. It made me appreciate cut crystal all the more.

• Ended in Ardmore – the lazy beach town where I wrote the previous short post before getting seduced into comfort by my inviting bed. Cute lazy beach town! Dinner at a small, underground (literally) pup with people whose accents I had a very hard time understanding. This town is actually where Christianity came to the country, which is pretty cool.

Sunday:  Travel Day with Fun Detours

• From Ardmore we drove West, choosing the longer/scenic routes whenever possible
• The drive was laughably beautiful
• We stopped in Middleton at the Jameson Distillery for their tour, which is the best distillery tour I’ve been on! Our guide was fantastic and went in depth into each step of the process and was able to answer all of our questions. We opted to do a tasting at the end, and of course, my favorite was the Middleton Rare (Ken says it’s ~$240/bottle). It’s funny how I have consistently expensive taste, regardless of the category. Obviously we didn’t buy a bottle, so no, I can’t share any with you. But it WAS fun to try. I liked a lot of the other ones as well, which surprised me! Going into it, I felt like it was something we were doing as “Kenny’s thing”, but I learned a lot and really enjoyed it! We had a delicious lunch there as well. I basically had a brie grilled cheese sandwich, which I didn’t realize was allowed. So good. Ken’s Thoughts: I really loved it. I’ve been to a bunch of distillery tours and this was hands down my favorite. I really liked learning about why a distiller performs each step as opposed to just what steps the take. I also really enjoyed the side-by-side tasting comparison between Scotch, American Whiskey, and Irish Whiskey. I still think my favorite part was the private tasting we did some of the best Jameson varieties. I really liked them all. Overall, I think that tour was a highlight of the trip for me. I honestly think I liked it better than the Guinness Tour.
  
• Next stop was Cork, which was crawling with girls getting ready for the Ed Sheeran concert that night. We (eventually) parked near the city center, got coffee, walked around, and each got a new book (since we’ve both finished the ones we came with).  A super fun, bustling city! Reminded me a bit of Berkeley in the young-ness of it. The streets were once just canals, so they’re all super narrow and kind of cool. Feel like a maze of alleys instead of actual streets. Totally fun to walk around in and spend some time there. Kenny’s Thoughts: Even though I wasn’t that impressed while driving through Cork, I really enjoyed spending time in it. It’s a city you can’t drive through to appreciate – you have to walk through the little old side-streets that used to be canals to enjoy the hustle and bustle of people running between shops. Even though we only got coffee and books there, it left a really good impression on me.
• Drove a super pretty back roads way to Kenmare. Absurdly beautiful. How-is-this-possible-beautiful.
• Knocked on a bunch of B&Bs until we found an affordable one with room. Ended up in a castle-ish one that I’m sitting in now!
• Went into town for dinner. Ended up at a pup with some of the best food I’ve ever eaten that started with live, impromptu music and ended with a drag show for charity run by fake nuns. It was bizarre. We stayed to watch two contestants, then came home to sleep.

Monday: Ring of Kerry!!

We got an early start on the day today (early meaning in the car at 9, which is not that early after all) to drive the ring of Kerry. The weather was apparently rubbish according to what everyone else said, but we absolutely loved it! I feel like the fog added to the mysterious beauty of the place. And sure, we couldn’t see what are now widely called the “Star Wars Islands” (where a scene in a recent Star Wars movie what shot), but we weren’t too fussed about it. What we DID do was awesome!

• ·         See (. . .and climb on) a fort that was ~2000 years old built simply by stacking stones – no mortar.
  
• ·         See (. . . and climb on) some monastery ruins and a castle-y thing
  
• ·         Drive on insanely beautiful roads
• ·         Go to a chocolate factory
• ·         Climb to (and pay for!) the view of Kerry's Most Spectacular Cliffs. Ha!
  
  
  
• ·          Bought a sheep at craft fair
• ·         Saw other Ring-of-Kerry views

On the way home, I took a nap. But Kenny woke me up (I asked him to) so I could be awake for the portion of the drive when we drove through Kilarney National Park. It was so beautiful that we’re changing our plans for tomorrow! Instead of trying to bomb it up to the Dingle Peninsula to see it tomorrow,  we’re going to mosey up through the park – taking as much time as we want to hike and explore. Absolutely beautiful!

Man – if you actually read all this, you deserve an award! Let me know if you did (maybe comment?), and if any of the chocolate we bought actually gets home without us eating it, some if it definitely has your name on it! J

Thanks for following along!!

Now to cuddle in with my honey, each of us with our books from Cork. We’re on a couch in the common room of a B&B. The big window looks over a giant, glassy lake. The sun just recently set, and even though I can’t see the lake, I like knowing that it’s there. Life is good.

P.S. This took an absurdly long time to write and get pics for. I'm probably never going to do a catch-up blog like this again. Maybe just pics? Or lists? But this is a limited edition blog post. There probably won't be another one like it. So I hope you enjoyed it, and thanks for reading. :-) 

Nothing Happens In This Post

It’s funny – we’re trying to go at a slow pace. But when I think back through these past few days, it’s just insane how much we’ve done. How is that “slow”? Maybe it’s just a testament to the ridiculously fast-paced city we come from. Even a moderately quick speed seems like a break.

But we are trying to take it slow. Right now, for example, we are laying on the bed in a very cute B&B in a lazy beach town (yes, they apparently have those – at least one) on the Southern coast. Ardmore, if you want to look it up. So we are doing things slowly. Don’t be food by what I am about to tell you.

But before I tell you about what we’ve done, let me tell you about one thing I got here that will probably make you laugh: a sun burn. It’s amazing! The sun was out for one day, and I got burnt. But here’s the funny thing: so did (it seems) everyone else in the country. My people! It’s funny. I feel like when I went to Cal for orientation and was finally around people who got as excited about academics/learning as I did. I thought, “It’s more than just me! I’m not alone! My people!” So too with getting a one-day sunburn. In California, people would hardly have noticed the  sun, but here  - I’m not alone! My people!!

Okay, no onto the activities. I don’t know how I’m going to organize them. . . I don’t want to skim over anything that was so much fun, but at the same time, I don’t want to be here for hours. This bed is super comfy.

So let’s just dive in and see how/where  it goes, shall we?

. . . Except. . . maybe another time. Like I said, this bed is really comfy. And we’re taking this trip slow, so I feel no guilt about climbing into it.

I'm a bit sorry to leave you hanging, but then again, the title did warn you. 

Night!

Hooked Already

Well, I’m hooked on Ireland. I wouldn’t be surprised if we come back here over and over throughout the course of our lifetime. In fact, I might insist on it.

Our flights here were easy. Our plane from SF to Iceland was HUGE! Ken could stand it in no problem. We slept occasionally and read a lot. From Iceland, we flew into Dublin on a slightly smaller plane. 

We’ve been here just over 24 hours, and already all our plans have changed. Originally, we planned to drive the whole coast of Ireland, starting in Dublin and heading south and clockwise until we ended up back in Dublin.

Now, we’ve still started in Dublin, and still plan to head south and counterclockwise. But we don’t expect to make it around the whole of the country. We’ve decided that the pace matters more to use than the destinations, and we’d like the pace to be slow. Thus, the new lifelong project. We’ll return in years to come, and pick up the island-circumnavigation wherever we leave off this trip. And continue our moseying. Ireland isn’t for rushing.

Like I said, we’ve been here just over 24 hours, but it’s been a delightful 24-ish hours. We arrived yesterday in late morning and went to pick up or car rental. We had to upgrade our car a bit in order to get one that fit Ken, so we’re in a car that is much nicer than the ones we have back home – which is a bit of fun. Ken has done a great job at driving in the flip-sidded car on the left side of the road. I’m so thankful that he’s taken on the driving responsibility!!

From the airport, we (eventually) made it to downtown Dublin to see the Guinness Storehouse. Note: We opted out of GPS on our car rental, so I’m brushing up on my navigation/map reading skills. I think I’m doing a pretty good job! We got where we needed to. J The Guinness Storehouse was very cool. As you might expect, it’s the Guinness museum. We started the experience with lunch – a steak pie and a Guinness. The perfect way to kick-off our Irish experience. 

We then toured the storehouse, which was super interesting. It’s a well though-tout . . . I almost hate to use the word “museum” because it’s so much more exciting/interactive than that. “Experience” is more like it. You walk through a room representing each of the steps of Guinness creation: ingredients, roasting, samples, etc. Really well done, and really enjoyable.

From the storehouse, we drove down to Newcastle about an hour (??) south of Dublin to visit my cousins. We found the house much more easily than I expected, and arrived way earlier than we planned (we had budgeted a lot of time to get lost). But my cousin Jeanne and her husband Brian (both of whom I had never met) welcomed us with open arms! We spent the evening relaxing, talking, eating, laughing, and learning about our family history. We met their kids, and their kids’ kids, all of whom I will call “cousins” because adding the “removed” or “second” or “third” gets much too confusion. You’re family? You’re a cousin.

When Kim (the cousin closest to my age) and her family were leaving, we walked home with them. Ken helped administer medicine to their chicken. I wish I had my camera. J I know it’s not much to you, but I’m writing it here so that I’ll remember it for the years to come, because it was quite the scene with Amon (Kim’s husband) holding the bird, Ken opening the beak, and Kim squirting the medicine down the mouth. Meanwhile, Daisy (5) and Sam (3) ran around to pet the chickens. So fun.

Ken and I went to sleep early, and 13 luxurious hours later, we woke up around 10am this morning, having kicked our jet-lag.

This morning, we had a nice breakfast and then drove to the Kilmacuragh Garden to have a walk around. Beautiful! It was so relaxing just to mosey around, taking in the scenery. The ranunculus were huge and in full bloom, towers and walls of red and pink.   

We took detours on the way home. First a street stand where we picked up some potatoes for dinner, then down to the Wicklow harbor where we met Sammy the seal and bought some fish.  Next up to the old jail where we took a really quite well done guided tour, and then had coffee with a scone after. Then we drove home.

Now we’re sitting in the sun room. The weather is gray and cozy. The outside is bright green with spots of bright flowers - tulips mostly. Jeanne and Ken are reading. I’m taking a small break from reading to jot these thoughts down.

I love it here. I’m confident I’ll be back to Ireland many times over my lifetime. I’ve been here just over a full day and I’m already hooked.

I’m not sure how much I’ll be writing in the future, so I thought I might as well take advantage of this moment of wi-fi.

Thanks for following along! J

Kenny's Thoughts: I love it here. It's stunningly beautiful, and I love the pace of things. It's been a really cozy life the last day.