Wandering the West

Lou and I were graced with our first visitor for the holidays - Dave Doth! We celebrated Christmas in Dublin at home with a feast of lamb shanks and traditional Irish Christmas pudding. We then took off on a four day driving tour (Lou did all of the driving as he has become somewhat of an expert navigating the left side of the road) through western Ireland, making stops at the Rock of Cashel, Kinsale, Dingle and the Dingle Peninsula, Galway and Connemara. The landscape was everchanging....some areas were filled with mountains, kelly green hills and lakes while others were barren and so rocky it looked like we had landed on the moon. We also stopped to see the infamous Cliffs of Moher. To say we got wet running up to view the cliffs is an understatement. The wind and rain soaring up the 630 foot cliffs were so strong that at one point I was crawling on hands and knees to get down the path and the wind held Lou running in place to get to me. It was a good laugh! Here are some good pics that captured the trip!! Miss everybody and happy new years!


The Rock of Cashel - it was closed when we were there so we walked around the castle walls (about 20 minutes from Kilkenny, 2 hours from Dublin).
A pint of Guiness in one of Dingle's 52 drinking holes (pretty good for a town of about 6,000)
We then made it to a bar called Dick Mack's, which was formerly a shoe store, then started serving drinks, then recently shut down the shoe operation and didn't really clean up that part of the store. Important to note that there are two bars, Curran's and Foxy John's, which still operate as an antique store and hardware store during the day before opening the taps at night. Dick Mack's was amazing; its the only bar that doesn't hire its live music and instead relies on local musicians to stir the criac. The guy playing the harmonica chatted us up all evening and sang Irish (Gaelic) during the improv. It was a very rare and amazing experience. Our Dingle pub crawl nearly began and ended there that night.
It ended here for this lad as well.On the Dingle peninsula with the famDingle fisherman's port, a true fishing village.Dingle peninsula - the landscapes were utterly beautifulOur castle (manor) hotel in Tralee, we had a very relaxing night here to catch up from the two furious previous nights.Evidence from the previously described Cliffs of Moher experience, I am screaming while Erin managed a smile!We did manage to get a half-decent photo of the huge cliffs before our cameraman fell off the cliffs;-)At Ashford castle, in Connemara, absolutely beautiful!USA popsicle colored sheep. You need a big freezer to hold a 12 pack of these guys. It was a great time spent with our dad, can't wait for our next visitors, James and Marissa!!! Thanks for everything Dad!!!!