Ireland: Day 7, Donegal, Sleive League

Right back on the road again!  We drove across the island to Donegal Town for a night of Irish music and more sight seeing.  Here the family takes a breather by the River Eske before driving on. 

At the bottom of Sleive League we take a picture to record all of us before parting ways for a bit.  Granny and the youngest stay behind and share an ice cream treat, while the rest of us hike up for better views mindful of the lack of hand rails and deathly drops. 

Below, in the bay waters is "the Giant's desk and chair". 

These are the tallest cliffs in Ireland at 1,972 ft, three times taller than the famous Cliffs of Moher. 

That night we returned to Donegal Town (all of us made in off the cliffs!) to see the show "Slice of Ireland" at the Central Hotel.  It was a fun combination of live music and dance. 

After our night on the town we tucked ourselves into bed at another wonderful place, the Ardlenagh View B&B.  We had the whole upstairs of the main house to ourselves.

Ireland: Day 6, Blarney Castle, Cahir Castle, Rock of Cashel, Grandparents in Belfast

This is one of the busiest and most touristy days we had!  When we told our hostess at the Pine Forest Bed & Breakfast our plans for the day and the miles we intended to travel she thought we were mad.  It was a long day, but very fun, beginning at the Blarney Castle in Cork. 

We were second in line that morning, as we had been warned it gets busy.  This adventure of kissing the Blarney stone is a bit more harrowing than I first imagined! Everyone in the family performed admirably. 

This guy was first and I wasn't quick enough with the camera, so he got a picture on the lovely Blarney bench. 

The modern use for this ancient storage cubby. 

The castle is famous for the stone, but the true wonder at Blarney Castle are the gardens.  Acres of gorgeous grounds with meandering trails. 

We also took a tour of Blarney House, a part time residence for the private citizens that own Blarney Castle estates.  They share their home for a couple hours each day, several months out of the year, and get the rest to enjoy privately, while we pay to maintain it.  Not a bad gig! 

Next stop of the day: Cahir Castle. 

View from the Castle of the surrounding village. 

Before entering the kids amused themselves with the local ducks and then I captured a moment of pure family bliss. (Not too bad for six days in each others constant presence.) 

After locating the entrance we wondered around the castle grounds before the tour.  Castle are full of fun things to play on and around! 

The wonder of Ireland is the history all around you.  At any moment while driving along you can spot buildings in various states of ruin.  To see cows grazing amid Irish towers and ancient rock settlements is an everyday occurrence. 

Our final castle of the day (not the trip) was the Rock of Cashel.  This collection of buildings includes and Irish tower, the remains of a very large cathedral, and several other well preserved structures. 

Throughout most of our trip to this point the weather was great.  A light "Irish mist" here and there, but mainly sunshine.  Our timing was spot on time after time taking a tour during clear sky's and raining during our drives, until here...The sky let loose with drops the size of quarters as we ran down the hill to the car park. By the time we got inside we were all soaked through. 

After five days touring the south on our own we headed north to Belfast. 

Now to the reason behind this trip, a visit to the missionary grandparents!  We found them safe and sound in a nice little apartment in Belfast. One of our children communicates quite frequently by email and had indicated she dyed her hair blue, hence the last picture of the day! 

Ireland: Day 5 Church & Dingle Peninsula

Sunday morning we followed our hotel manager to church.  What a blessing it was to have been introduced to him through our family serving a mission there.  He was member of a very tiny branch in the area.  With one family away on vacation, there were about 25 people present and about 10 of them were visiting for a baby blessings.  A wonderful senior missionary taught Primary (my children plus three) and I went to Relief Society with two other sisters.  It was a very different situation from my average Sunday, but the testimonies born were strong and sweet.

They have this building all to themselves as of two years ago.  Before that they met above a hotel restaurant, the smells were a challenge on Fast Sunday. 

After church we spent the day driving the Dingle Peninsula.  Traveling over Connor's Pass give an excellent view. We got out at the top, after a steep and narrow climb in the car, to walk around.  The children found sheep grazing and tried, unsuccessfully, to pet them. 

This picture speaks for itself! 

Weekend visitors made this a very busy place with little to no parking along the very narrow roads, so all of these pictures are taken from the car.  I have never seen more beautiful views and hope to return here someday when I have the time to sit and enjoy. 

Ireland: Day 4, Hounds, Cliffs of Moher, Tralee

Saturday morning was beautiful and made better by a fabulous Irish Breakfast!  Mairead, our hostess, made every breakfast food imaginable.  After filling our bellies, her husband, Tom took us to see his hounds.  For an extra treat we took a ride in his "vintage" Land Rover.

We each held a precious little puppy under the supervision of their mother. 

These beautiful hounds are never called "dogs" and are exercised daily as conditioning for the hunt. 

Before we left Craig Country House to continue our travels, the children made a game of teasing the rooster. He has been known to chase after running feet, but he was well behaved for our visit (much to the children's dismay). 

As we drove away the hounds passed by on their morning run. 

One of the fun things about Ireland is trying to find your way around.  There couldn't possibly be a map with every back road on it!  We chose to follow a Garmin, and for the most part things went well.  Surprisingly the Garmin is programmed really well with those back roads that look like cow paths, but is missing the newer, larger, motorways.  This led to one of our most adventurous drives.  Travelling from Craughwell to Tralee looked pretty straight forward on a map, so we punched in our destination and followed the directions as they came with no question until "she" said, "Turn Left.  Board Ferry.", at which point Glen and I looked at each other in surprise and said "Did you hear what I heard?"  Sure enough, as we rounded the corner a ferry dock came into view. After consulting the map and deciding backtracking would take too long, we boarded said ferry.

It turned out to be a fun adventure!

After our little side trip we arrived at the famous Cliffs of Moher.  This was the first very crowded attraction, but we made do.

The cliffs really are impressive and beautiful.

The plans for the day included a historical park with re-creations of ancient sites, but the weather was a bit wet and our day started later than expected because of a morning playing with hounds (well worth the time!), so we drove on through to Tralee.  Once in there we checked into our hotel, The Earl of Desmond, with plenty of daylight to burn.  After a dinner of pizza we found this beautiful park in the city center.

I love rule number two. 

This park had so many fun and different toys to play on.  A large basket swing, a zip line, poles for climbing, a large spinning jungle gym, and the list goes on!

Tralee has a festival each year where they crown the "Rose of Tralee", so the park is full of beautiful flower gardens as well. 

Once in our hotel for the night, we settled in for another sound sleep.