Day 7 - "I'm gonna have to disrobe in front of everyone."

In Dingle, we stayed at a very nice bed and breakfast. B&Bs are so common, it's crazy. It seems like random women have houses with spare bedrooms or master suites and they use them as B&Bs. The ones we've stayed in have been very nice, and it's been a lot of fun. I've stayed in a few in the States, but I think my experience in Ireland has been that it's felt a lot less like a hotel, and a lot more like staying in someone's home (in a good way). Much friendlier and more personable. I've liked it. And the second B in "B&B" has been consistently wonderful.

Traditional Irish breakfasts for all!

Grandma enjoying her first true Irish breakfast (since she wouldn't permit Helen to cook anything fancy for her)

We left Dingle and enjoyed some more of its sights in the daylight (which had been fading quickly when we arrived). We saw tons more signs in Gaelic, lots more sheep, and some breathtaking views from a mountainous road that we decided to take out of the peninsula. We didn't know when we chose that road that it would be a twisty, windy, one-lane, two-direction sort of road, but we certainly enjoyed it. Well, I enjoyed it, and no one in the car vomited or died, so I consider that a success.

There are elections coming up in Ireland, and in Dingle, even the political signs are in Irish


Road signs, too. Turn left to... somewhere


Winding narrow road up a mountain? Sounds like fun to me!

One of the happily married couples on the trip

Do you think sheep appreciate the beautiful views?

One type of road block

Another type of road block

Our tour of the western part of Ireland took us north towards Galway but we had lots of stops on the way. The first was another ferry. Just when Grandma thought the ferries were over, we got to take another. This was the biggest yet, and rather than a short two minute ride, it was a twenty minute ride across a river that we could barely see the other side of.


We made it across, though, and Grandma stayed awake the whole time! She said it helped that she barely noticed we were moving, except for being able to see out a small side window. The ferry was quite large... it even had bathrooms and a snackbar/gift shop! So, the ride was quite smooth, which I think helped quite a bit.

Lots of cars on board

We went by a lighthouse... this picture's for Grandma

Stretching the legs

Along the drive, we saw an old windmill. And then we saw new windmills. It was a pretty awesome sight, actually, that got me thinking. Ireland is a cool place. I'm not saying that other European countries aren't the same, as I haven't seen them and can't compare, but it's so fascinating to me that you can be driving along and see things that are hundreds, if not a thousand years old, and then as their next door neighbor, you see a completely modern structure. That happened at Dunbrody Abbey - how old was it? 800 years or something? Across the street was someone's house. Someone actually lived there, right next to these ancient ruins. And this was another example of that. A really old windmill (obviously restored and in good condition from the picture), but they have modern things, as well, side-by-side with the old things. Quite cool.

The old...

And the new!

We were headed north along the coast, but we had to stop for lunch. We went to a restaurant called McCaughn's (or something like that) in a town called Doolin, because Helen had recommended its seafood chowder. And it did not disappoint. We got amazing seafood there... both seafood chowder and fish and chips. Mmmmm!!! And that reminds me, I don't think I've mentioned mushy peas. And if I have, they deserve a second entry. Mushy peas are... well, mushy ("moo-she," not "muh-she"). They are some special variety of peas that they soak and cook and then mash them up. They are an ever-present side when ordering fish and chips in Ireland. Not super tasty, but not too bad either. "

Relaxing at the table

Now, you may be wondering about now (or maybe you have been wondering for awhile... or maybe the thought has never crossed your mind), "Golly, Jonathan. You and your family are great photographers! How do you manage to get such beautiful pictures with excellent lighting day in and day out? Do you just have sunny days all the time? Isn't it supposed to rain constantly in Ireland? Did you really go to Ireland, of have you just been downloading pretty pictures off the internet and pretending this whole time?" Well, a funny thing has been happening that can explain the answers to all those questions. You see, it has been raining. Quite a lot, actually. BUT, for whatever reason, the Good Lord has answered our prayers for good weather while we're out of the car.

It's incredible... unfathomable, really, how many times we have been outside seeing some castle or Abbey, or whatever, and it's gorgeous and sunny out. Literally within 30 seconds of getting in the car: absolute downpour. I lost track of how many times that scenario has played out. At first we were so tickled by how it happened. Now, it's borderline hilarious how predictable it is. And just to prove that it's not really always sunny and pretty outside...

Wet roads, rainy windshield

Not nice weather

Blah!

The rain here, when it comes, it comes hard. And apparently it has been coming a lot. Helen and her family were telling us that farmers here are hurting because there has been way too much rain, and not enough sun, so the ground has been too muddy, and crops haven't been growing well. But when the rain has come during our trip, it hasn't stayed for too long, and as you've seen from pictures, we have had sunny drives, too.

During a sunny drive - if I had a castle, I'd want it to be on the beach, too.

And when we arrived at our first touristy place of the day, the Cliffs of Moher, it was bright as could be. Who would've guessed? It was, however, the coldest it's been on our whole trip. We got to the visitor center, and Grandma told us that she wasn't going to see the cliffs. We hadn't realized it would be such a climb, and she was tired. Plus, she didn't have enough layers on. We solved both problems, though: with a spiffy red jacket borrowed from her grandson, and a spiffy speedy wheelchair borrowed from the visitor center, she had no excuse left, and we dragged her along to continue her trip of a lifetime (though I think she wasn't a bit displeased at all).

On our way up!

Where'd Grandma get that snazzy jacket?

Wow.

Pretty view

No attraction is complete without a castle

It's cold!


As I pushed her up the hill, it was very windy. In fact, it prompted Libby and Grandma to be talking about how the wind might just pick up and carry away one of the cows that was perched atop the hill beside the cliffs. I was silly and not thinking, and I asked how much Grandma thought a cow weighed. "What? You think I weigh that much that you can't push me?!?" I didn't live down that comment for quite awhile.

The hill Grandma got to ride... and cows perched at the top (small cows in picture means big hill)

How great is our God?

Happy as a clam!

Very patriotic picture

It was very cold out, though, as I mentioned, and we were going to drop Grandma off in the Visitor's Center while I picked up the car. She protested, though, since it would be so much warmer inside than out. "I'm going to have to disrobe in front of everyone!"

The good thing about the rain while we drive is that occasionally we reap the benefits of a rainbow. We saw our second rainbow of the day as we headed to our next destination: the Burren. In fact, it looked like the rainbow ended within the Burren, so we thought we'd look for a pot of gold.

Where's the end?

Now, the place is called the Burren, but it really should be called the Barren. It looks pretty desolate with rocks EVERYWHERE. Literally as far as the eye can see, nothing but rocks. Quite incredible. However, despite its appearance, it apparently has some pretty unique life growing there. The land has a thin layer of limestone on the top and when rain comes, it dissolves the limestone, and it is carried down through cracks in the land, eroding away the land, and it has formed a network of underground caves that are very extensive. (We could have toured some caves, but it seemed like it wouldn't be the easiest walk, and we didn't want to rush, so we skipped it.) This combination of caves and limestone and rocks makes an unusual environment, and as a result, some plants grow here that don't grow anywhere else in the world. Now, we learned all this from our tour book, so we weren't actually able to identify any of these unique plants, but it was fun to be there and see the ecosystem, anyhow.

Can you see the rock in this picture? You might have to squint a little

We found these rocks about to topple, but fortunately Libby got there just in time

After Libby stabilized them, they stayed just fine. This is actually an ancient tomb marker

Is this unique plant life? Who knows?

And what to do with all those rocks? Build walls, of course!

The day was winding down, and we had to make it to Galway before too long, since we had reservations at a B&B there. So, we headed out while it was still light outside. Guess what we saw along the way.

A castle! How'd you guess?

But that's where the pictures end for the day. Why? Because frustration tends to cloud the mind of a budding photographer such as myself. "Frustration?" you ask. You see, Galway is a happening place. It's a decent-sized city. AND there's some around-the-world sail boat race sponsored by Volvo that just HAPPENS to be visiting Galway this week. So, it's an EXTREMELY busy place. People everywhere. No parking. Construction. Detours. Craziness.

When it came time to drop everyone off for dinner (the chauffeur always drops his passengers at the door, since parking is often a distance), usually a navigator (in addition to my little lady GPS) usually comes with me. Just happenchance, no one stuck behind this time. So, when the arrows that "pointed to parking" didn't really point to parking. I got lost. I found my way again and made another pass by the restaurant, but when the arrows on the street that told me I could turn left really put me the wrong way on a one-way street, I ended up getting diverted down to the docks to see the boats (and stuck in a ton of traffic). When I found my way and made a third pass by the restaurant, I was golden, right? Until that street where I wanted to turn right was blocked off, and I again got diverted by the boats. Argggghhh!!! Can't get worse, right? A fourth pass by the restaurant. This time I see the parking! YAY!!! Only, I'm in the wrong lane. Do you think anyone's going to let me get over to the other lane so that I can get where I want to go? Of course not. No one let me in. I ended up parking about a mile or so away at our B&B (where I knew there was parking) and walking. I got to the restaurant at least an hour after everyone else. That was a long day.

The day ended fine, but since not too much happy/exciting happened, that's where I will end this entry, and leave you on the edge of your seat as you wonder what happens on Day 8, perhaps our best day so far in Ireland...