Ireland, Part 2

After our relaxing night in Baltimore we headed towards the Beara, Kerry, and Dingle Peninsulas. The first was the Beara Peninsula. We drove half way down the peninsula and then we too the very scenic Healy Pass through the Caha Mountains. After living in Chicago for 2 years it was nice to see the mountains again! The mountains of Ireland are different than any mountains that i have seen...it looks like you could walk right up them. They are rocky but not to the extreme that I am used to in the Cascades or the Olympics. Here was the view from the top of Healy Pass...The next peninsula was the Ring of Kerry. This is the most touristy of the peninsulas and the one that is advertised the most but Jim and I are not sure why...we decided it was completely over rated.

Wednesday night we stayed in the town of Dingle on the Dingle Peninsula. This is a very cute town that has its own resident dolphin, Fungie. We did not see Fungie but we did see a statue of her. Her are some pictures of the town...

In Dingle was our first experience with Irish music pub seen. We saw two different groups that night but our favorite was Pauline Scanlon (http://www.myspace.com/paulinescanlon1). Jim and I liked her so much that we bought one of her CDs.

Thursday, we explored our now favorite peninsula, Dingle. This was the most picturesque of all of the peninsulas. Dingle has amazing beaches...

Historic famine houses...

A Donkey...

Beautiful sites...

By Thursday afternoon we were in Bunratty at Bunratty castle.

At Bunratty castle they have a medieval festival where you have dinner in the castle...no utensils of course because that didn't use forks back in the day. Jim went to this festival when he was 15 and remembered it fondly so, he wanted to take me...we had a BLAST! It was great food, great entertainment and Jim even got thrown in the dungeon.

To get out of the dungeon Jim had to sing a song to appease the Earl. Jim...and the rest of the room...sad a great rendition of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. He was a great sport and did a great job!

On Friday we headed towards the Cliffs of Moher. It was VERY crowded there but they were spectacular.

On Friday evening we stayed in Cong. Cong is the town where The Quiet Man was filmed. The Quiet Man is one of Jim and my favorite movies. The director of the film toured all of Ireland searching for the quintessential Irish town and he decided on Cong. This town is a bit sleepy now but it is definitely located in beautiful countryside.

Sean Thornton's cottage...


Right outside of Cong is Ashford Castle. Ashford Castle is not a very elite hotel that costs about $500 a night. The castle had beautiful grounds but I didn't really like the castle...it looked like a castle on steroids. As much as we tried we could not fit the whole castle into one picture frame.



One thing that I started noticing when we were in Cong...a VERY small village...was that there was a Chinese takeout restaurant. Every town we went through regardless of its size had a Chinese restaurant. I was surprised at first but by the end of the trip I was finding it quite humerus. Just for the record...we did not eat Chinese when we were there...pizza yes, Chinese no.

More to come soon.

Ireland Part 1

We had an amazing time in Ireland. It was 14 days of adventure, driving, and breath taking sites. We have so many great pictures and stories that I am going to have to create several posts.

We took off from Chicago on the evening of Saturday, May 10 and we arrived in Dublin Sunday morning. We were tired but we headed right into down town Dublin. The best thing that we saw in Dublin on that first day was the mother of all breweries...the Guinness brewery.

We took a tour through the museum there and not only do you get a free tasting of Guinness...

The give you a WHOLE pint...

The next morning we left Dublin and headed South to Glendalough in the county of Wicklow and we had an amazing hike past on old church and up a mountain.

After our hike we headed to Dungarvan in the county of Waterford four our second night's sleep. Dungarvan was a rough blue collar town but our bed & breakfast had an amazing view of the harbor.

After out night in Dungavan we headed to the famous Blarney castle to kiss the Blarney stone. The legend of the kissing the Blarney stone is that it is supposed to give you the the gift of eloquence or, the gift of the gab. Blarney castle was beautiful with exquisite grounds.

The Blarney stone is located at the very top of the castle and in order to kiss is you have to lay on your back over the castle's edge. A little scary but...there is an older Irish gentleman holding on to you...NOT so reassuring.

Next, we headed for Clonakilty. Clonakilty is one of the towns that Michal Collins lived. Wikipedia described Michael Collins as:

'An Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations, both as Chairman of the Provisional Government and Commander-in-Chief of the National Army. He was shot and killed in August 1922, during the Irish Civil War.
Although most Irish political parties recognise his contribution to the foundation of the modern Irish state, members and supporters of Fine Gael hold his memory in particular esteem, regarding him as their movement's founding father, through his link to their precursor Cumann na nGaedhael, a name adopted in 1923 by the pro-Treaty wing of Sinn Fein.'

Jim has read a lot about Michael Colllons and was really interested to see where he spent some of him time. It was a very nice town and in hindsite...it was one of our favorite towns.

Monday evening we evened up in a very charming town by the name of Baltimore...yes...Baltimore. We LOVED this town. The downtown was one side of one street but, it was a great street across from the harbor.

We sat in the town square all afternoon than then into the evening. The sunset was amazing!

The next day we where off the the Beara, Kerry, and Dingle Peninsula. I will post more of our adventures soon.

A Weekend Full of Adventure

The first weekend in April brought us some great visitors my cousin Alison, her husband Scott, their 2 kids Elizabeth and Freddie, my aunt Mary, and my uncle Fred. They drove down from Minnesota on Friday and then Friday night we had a very nice dinner at cousin Joanne's but Saturday was when the fun really began. Saturday morning we all got on the train to Chicago. Freddie was SO EXCITED for the train but, he has a funny way of showing it...

When we got to Chicago we split up into two groups, the boys went one way and the girls went another.

Girls day...

The girls headed right for the American Girl store. Have you heard of this phenomenon? It is AMAZING!! American Girl Dolls are a line of dolls that come with their own series of books. Many of the dolls are historical so they teach girls all about the time that they "lived" in. This might be the biggest store I have ever been in. This store has 3 full floors of shopping and activities.

As soon as we got to the store we went shopping. At this store you can get the same outfit for the doll as you get yourself...too cute!! Elizabeth and her doll got a very nice new lavender dress. Next we had lunch. This store has it's own restaurant where they have a special seat for the dolls.

After lunch there was more shopping and then the doll went to the hair salon. Yes, there is a special salon for the dolls.

At the store we also went to a live doll review show. After the American Girl store we walked Michigan Avenue, it was a beautiful day out and it was a perfect day for a walk.

Boys day...

The first stop for the boys was a trip to the top of the Sears tower. The Sears tower stands at 1,450 feet and 110 stories high. The Sears Tower is the tallest building in North America and the third tallest building in the world.

After the Sears tower the boys headed to the Field Museum, one of the great museums in Chicago. The must see at the Field Museum for Freddie was Sue.

Sue is the largest, most complete, and best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex fossil yet discovered and a HUGE treat for a 4 year old!

As an added bonus they also say mummys.

After the museum we all met back at the train station for a well deserved adult beverage.

Saturday night we all went to Ted's Montana Grill. Ted's is one of Jim and my favorite places right now. Ted's specializes in Buffalo burgers. Yes, tatonca. They are delicious! They are extremely lean, juice, and just plain finger licking good.

Thanks for coming everyone we had a GREAT time and we can't wait to see you again!!!

Not exactly the weekend we planned...

Last weekend my mom came to town and it was not exactly the weekend we had planned. My mom came in to town on Thursday and then on Friday my mom, my cousin Joanne, Jim, and I drove to Minnesota for my grandfather's funeral. 5 plus hours later we where in there!

My Grandpa's funeral was very nice. It was Hawaiian themed and very well done.

The highlight of the weekend was spending time with the Suhler-Hart clan and my cousin Joanne's very 1st trip to Starbucks. Can you believe it?!?! Her VERY 1st Starbucks coffee.

My mom and dad had a difficult time getting home. My dad was flying out of Minnesota and his flight was delayed for 3 hours and then they lost his luggage. My mom on the other hand tried to fly out on Monday but...her flight was cancelled and she was unable to get her luggage back and her luggage flew to Seattle without her on Monday. The good thing about that is that i got an extra day with her and her flight did successfully leave on Tuesday.

This weekend we have the Suhler-Hart clan visiting us here in Chicago...it should be a blast!!!