Hello all! Long time no blog... we just got back home from our tour of Ireland and wanted to provide you with a few snippets of our trip. Our itinerary was a bit ambitious given we were driving with 3 kids, so we modified it and ended up skipping Northern Ireland; still, we managed to see and learn a lot about Irish culture and history.
We were really surprised at how diverse the towns, topography, accents, and you name it differed from county to county. I (Mark) was expecting a big version of Cornwall, but did not expect snow capped mountains or rocky plains. And I didn't think that Guinness would taste better in Dublin, but it did!
A few highlights of the trip:
- Kilmore Quay (Quay is pronounced "key"), where Laura's Ancestors (the O'Neills) orinated. Best chowder on the trip.
- The mountains in Killarney, near Muckross house/lake
- Irish stew made with lamb... my God that was good
- Many very ancient sites... one (Newgrange) pre-dated the pyramids by 500 years
- Trinity college library and the original Irish harp (national symbol)
- Road over Connor Pass on the way to Dingle Peninsula
- The Guinness Brewery tour
- Northern Wales... absolutely beautiful
Some funny things that happened on our trip:
- We dragged all 3 kids to the top of Blarney castle. I carried Miah, Laura carried Olivia and Lochlan walked up the steepest 11 stories of stone spiral staircase I have ever seen. At the top, it was basically a salad bar of places where the kids could step off to their certain deaths. I don't remember much more than being in a constant state of terror the entire tour (must have missed the chapter on safe parenting in the manual...)
- The one time we didn't bring the diaper bag, Miah had a huuuuuuge poop... she was commando as we checked out Ross Castle, and kept doing squats for some reason...
- A guy was sitting beside us on the ferry. He looked OK, although it was pretty rough. Lochlan started to puke big time, and for some reason this same guy had to run to the bathroom...
- In a simulation of a winter solstice solar lighting of Newgrange, they first turn off all the lights. In the silence that followed, Miah loudly stated the obvious... "I can't see!"
If you do feel like looking at a few more photos, we have some extras posted at:
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| Ireland Trip 2008 |
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