Abbey's Road

That's what they call the highway between Durango and Ouray because of the gold ore in its base. I couldn't tell it had ore in it, but it sure is scenic and a bit hairy going over 3 mountain passes. I don't remember seeing many, if any, guardrails and the drop was quie precipitous in many places. Avalanches are quite common in winter if the road itself isn't enough excitement for you. On Sunday I took my time getting up and drove west to Montrose (not at all exciting) and then south towards Ouray. This area is much drier and desert-like than Crested Butte or the ski areas up north. It starts to feel more like the desert southwest, but not completely barren. Ouray calls itself the 'switzerland of America' though I don't know if I'd go that far. Switzerland is so green, and Ouray is not. However, it is situated in a deep valley surrounded on 2 sides by sheer mountain walls and another side by the steep climb up to a pass which is the only way out going south. It's yet another one of these old towns from the mining days which has turned to tourism. I don't think I'd want to live there, but it isn't a bad stopover. I got Abbey out for a walk around the town. She gets restless if we ride for too long. This area is much warmer than Crested Butte where it was in the 60's and 70's most days we were there. In Ouray, Silverton and Durango it has been in the 80's and 90's. Even high up it's been close to 80 or more. On my way to check out a campground just north of Silverton, I found an area for dispersed camping (not much in the way of services '? only toilets '? but free!). I found a real nice spot and got settled in just before a hailstorm rolled in.

The hail and the thunder were enough to keep Abbey on edge for the rest of the day. I felt pretty wiped out from the drive and my cold, so I just read and ate dinner the rest of the day.

Monday morning I didn't feel up to a big hike but I didn't want to sit in the RV all day either. So I picked a short hike with little elevation gain to Potato Lake, affectionately referred to as Spud Lake by the locals.

Mary Beth and I had gone to the Durango area a number of times before we left Austin for Germany, but I didn't remember doing this trail. And I didn't remember the killer road on the way to the trail. It was one of the rockiest roads I've been on so far, but thankfully it wasn't that long '? a little less than 3 miles. I got a few looks of surprise from people on the way up, including a couple who were packing with llamas. I'm sure they've gotten some surprised looks themselves. Once I got to the trailhead, though, I recognized it as one we had done before. I asked Abbey if she remembered it, but she didn't seem to. It was only a mile to the lake which was about all I wanted to do anyways. On the way up we saw some great views of Engineer Mountain, which Mary Beth, Buster, Abbey and I had climbed a couple of times, though we never made it to the top.

We spent a bit of time up there and I let Abbey go in the lake a bunch. I just tried to keep her from disturbing the fishermen. Now that I know how much concentration fishing demands, I try to be more careful when we're around them ;)

We got done early so I decided to head to Durango. It was one of Mary Beth's favorite areas to go to. She even talked about moving there for a time, so I wanted to see if it still felt the same. It has grown a lot since we were last there 7 years ago. It was always more than just a mountain town, but it seems a bit more hectic and definitely more built up than it was. I'm not sure I like it as much, but the area still has enough outdoor activities to make me want to go again. On the drive back to Switzerland (I mean Ouray), I got a different viewpoint going north into town. The setting did look more spectacular from that vantage point so I guess I can't make fun of them too much for their description. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any good pictures because there really weren't any places to stop on the road. I don't think pictures could have done it justice anyways. When we finally got back to Silverton our camping spot was still there waiting for us.

This morning I still felt like I didn't have enough energy for a hike, but Abbey and I went for a walk down the forest service road near our campsite. The morning seems to be Abbey's best time. She likes to explore a lot and check out all the smells. Since it wasn't a well-traveled road and I didn't want to chase her through the fields and brush, I let her run off leash. We ended up walking about 2 miles before turning back. We were both pretty tired. Later on I drove onto Telluride, which is a really nice little town. It's smack dab right up against the mountains. Like a lot of the Colorado mountain and ski towns it has really been growing. I think I could live here, but I'm not sure I could afford it. I saw an ad for a 1300 sq. ft. condo in town for only $650,000. What a bargain! It is a nice place to visit though. Tonight I'm staying in a state park a little ways north and I'm actually plugged in to 'shore power' for only about the 5th time. And, I'm watching Late Night with David Letterman, which is a first for me in the RV.

Posted by Ed at 12:30 PM | Permalink

Normally in the mountains the thunderstorms come in the afternoon, but we woke up Friday morning to some nasty ones. I figured the day was going to be shot and I was planning on doing laundry. Even if the weather cleared I didn't think I'd get Abbey out after those storms. By the time I drove into town and found the laundromat the sky was perfectly clear and blue. I decided Abbey, or not, I was going to take advantage of the day and take a hike. Surprisingly by the time I got to the trailhead, about 6 miles outside of Mt. Crested Butte on a dirt road, Abbey seemed anxious to get out of the RV. She was a little slow at first but she did pretty well. I picked the Copper Creek Trail which goes up to Copper Lake and up to East Maroon Pass in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness. Eventually you can make it all the way to Aspen from there. While I was filling out a permit at the wilderness boundary two ladies caught up to me and we started talking. One thanked me for having Abbey on a leash. I haven't seen it as much lately, but apparently it is quite common for people to hike with their dogs off-leash, even in wilderness areas where leashes are required. We then got to talking about other wilderness policies. One of the women had apparently been involved on the political end of the Wilderness Act or, at least, the local ramifications thereof, and she started walking a lot faster. It was obvious she wasn't really interested in engaging in the conversation, especially after I made a comment about grazing rights in wilderness areas. The other woman did have some good points about the grazing situation I have to admit so I quickly tempered my comments. I don't think it bothered them, but I probably should've just kept my mouth shut. They were cordial enough the rest of the way though, as we ended up passing each other a few times. The hike was supposed to be 4.5 miles to the lake but it sure seemed longer to me. We finally made it to the lake and I tried to enjoy my lunch while I tried to keep Abbey in one spot. She seemed restless for some reason. When I was just about finished I noticed the two women had passed by the lake and headed up the trail to the pass. I had thought I wouldn't try the pass so as not to push Abbey, but when I saw the actual trail they were taking it didn't seem too bad. So I managed to get Abbey to go on up to the pass and we were rewarded with some real nice views into the Aspen side of the wilderness and the wildflowers were great. I can't believe how many places I've still seen wildflowers this late in the summer. At lower elevations they are definitely on their way out, but at the top of Maroon Pass they were still in full bloom. On the way down I actually met up with 2 more women who had started at the trailhead in Aspen that morning. They were going to stay the night in a hotel in Crested Butte. It sounded like a real nice trip to me. It's funny but the first 3 groups I met on that trail were all groups of 2 middle-aged women. I was beginning to wonder what was up with this trail when I finally met some groups of couples and families. I did manage to get my laundry done when we got back to town, but not until after I had a great hike on a beautiful day. Luckily, there were no more storms that day. At least not any that we could hear which is all that counted.
View from Copper Creek Trail
Copper Lake
On top of Maroon Pass
I really like the mountains around Crested Butte, and the town itself too. It is surrounded by wilderness so there is a lot of hiking, and there are also a lot of mountain biking trails. There must also be good dirt bike and ATV trails too. I think I was there during dirt bike week or something, because they were everywhere. Luckily they weren't near any of the trails I was on. I only saw them going into and out of town.

I thought I'd better give Abbey a rest on Saturday as she was real tired after Friday's hike and I worry about her leg. I was originally planning on doing a hike near where we went the day before, but I got up a little late and didn't really feel like making that long drive into and through town on some long, bumpy dirt roads. So, I found a trail right near the campground and tried that. After a short while it was obvious that it wasn't really going in the direction I wanted, but I kept on it anyways. I didn't make it to the pass I was hoping to, but the trail did surprise me with some nice views of the mountains in the Raggeds Wilderness. Plus I got to eat my lunch in peace and relax as long as I wanted since I didn't have Abbey there pushing to go. Later I got something to eat in town because I was too tired to cook and felt like I was coming down with a cold. I went to bed early, but the next morning when I woke up I realized I did have a cold. I really hate summer colds because unlike winter it's so nice out I never want to sit inside and rest. Besides, I don't want to sit in the RV all day. So I drove on to Ouray and Silverton hoping I would feel better soon.
Lake Irwin - next to campground
West Elk Wilderness in background
View of the Raggeds Wilderness
Pinnacle Peak (I think)

Posted by Ed at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In Frisco, I found a forest service campground that was on Dillon Lake and also close to town, though it wasn't anything super. Tuesday morning I took Abbey on a hike up Meadow Creek. Much of the way was along the creek so she got to get in a lot and it also meant I didn't have to carry water for her, which is a bit of a pain. It wasn't steep at all until the very end when the trail went up to Eccles Pass. The trail led further on to Vail, but the top of the pass was far enough for us. It ended up being over 9 miles round trip. The views from the top of the pass were real nice and we also managed to get down before the thunderstorms started. Have I mentioned that they're pretty much a regular afternoon occurrence out here? One thing about trails in this area, a lot of them are noisy because they aren't far from I-70. Plus, since Colorado is pretty much in the center of the US and this area is central to Colorado, airplanes seemed to fly over us every few minutes. It seemed like it was non-stop at some points. It got a little annoying for me personally, but because of Abbey it can be a real pain. She has gotten better about not getting too nervous from the plane noise, but sometimes it just really bothers her. For Wednesday I had a bright idea. I thought I'd give Abbey a rest day and go mountain biking. I got a late start because I needed to find a bike helmet, but I took the free Summit Stage bus from Frisco up to Breckenridge. There's another free bus that takes you up to the ski area and close to the beginning of the trail. I had a little time to kill before it came so I checked out Breckenridge on my bike. For a ski area, it's probably really nice. It's fairly commercialized and touristy, but at least it seems like there are a lot of diversions for people who don't want to ski all the time. And, it doesn't look too tacky even though most buildings are quite new. Well, the trail looked great, but I didn't get very far. I only got 100 yards down the trail before my front tire went flat. I had thought about bringing a spare the night before, but somehow didn't think about it that morning. I was really bummed, but I couldn't do anything else but walk back down to town. While waiting for the bus back to Frisco I tried to cheer up a little by treating myself to a coffee toffee milkshake. I took Abbey on a short hike, but it wasn't that great and didn't really make up for the aborted bike ride. To cheer us up we went to Abbey's Coffee and Abbey actually got to go inside. One of the girls working there fawned all over her and gave her a biscuit so she was happy. I did find an RV dump station nearby that only charged $2, plus it had drinking water so the day had some good points.

Thursday morning we headed out for Crested Butte. I had heard of Crested Butte a lot, but had never been there. It's pretty isolated and not so easy to get to from I-70, but it still seems to get a fair amount of traffic. On the way there I drove through Leadville, Buena Vista, and Salida. I think these are all old mining towns that have remade themselves into tourist areas with access to all kinds of outdoor activities nearby. Leadville didn't look too bad. It even had 3 coffee shops (they seem to be the guage of a small town's status in Colorado much like the way a Dairy Queen does in a small Texas town), which was a little surprising because it didn't at all have the touristy atmosphere of Frisco or Breckenridge. Salida also had a lot of shops, restaurants and outdoor stuff, but Buena Vista was pretty dull. The ski area, Mt. Crested Butte, is not what I expected. I don't know how it is as a ski area, but aesthetically it is pretty ugly '? some big, ugly hotels and tons of non-descript condo complexes. The village of Crested Butte is much better. It is similar in style to the old mining towns of Leadville and Salida, but a little nicer. It isn't all gentrified BS as my brother would say, like a lot of the ski area towns. They seemed to have kept a lot of the authentic flavor of the town. A word on dogs in Colorado '? the state seems to be real dog-friendly as a whole. In Boulder, you can actually get fined for leaving your dog in your car on even a mildly warm day. In Crested Butte, there are signs that say 'it is unlawful to leave your dog tied up on the public right-of-way (meaning the sidewalk in front of stores)'. Some people would say this is dog-friendly in that it is a safety measure for the dog, but as a single person with a dog, it makes it a little difficult for me. Like when I want to go in a coffee shop, for instance, I have to put Abbey in the RV. Which I don't think is very dog-friendly, but I guess Crested Butte wouldn't agree with me. OK, I'll get off my soapbox.

I did manage to find a real scenic campground on Lake Irwin outside of town a ways. The only problem with it is that the road from town quickly turns to dirt and it is quite bumpy. Pretty soon just about everything in my RV will be rattling. I guess that's the price I pay for not staying in RV parks right off the main road. Well I sure managed to fill up a lot of space for not having done much the last few days. More on hiking in Crested Butte in my next update.

Views from Eccles Pass

Posted by Ed at 8:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ever since I started out on this adventure I've been attracted to small, independent coffee shops, partly because of the crowd that hangs out in them and partly because they often have free wireless internet access. I guess I just like the atmosphere. I saw this place in Frisco (CO not CA) and couldn't resist. So I bought it! Abbey doesn't think the sign does her justice, though. OK, I only bought a cup of tea, not the place, but if it was for sale it might be tempting. Maybe I'll come back next year and see if they want to sell.

On Saturday morning Abbey and I headed up to Columbine Lake. The road up is pretty bad so I took Jim and Jeri's car, which they graciously offered. When I went to Snow Mtn. Ranch last year with my brother's family and my parents we did this trail. It was such a nice trail, and not too long, so I decided to do it again. Believe it or not, my mother hiked it with us last year and she was 75 then. It's about 3 miles long with around 1100 ft. of elevation gain. The lake is beautiful and the views from the trail aren't bad either on the way back down.


We got done early so I headed into the town of Grand Lake for a while. I was hoping to find wireless internet access somewhere, but it's not to be found in Grand Lake. I could have gotten on the internet at a coffee shop, but they wanted $15/hr! I've paid $2/hr before, but even that bothered me. Wireless access should be free if you ask me. So I said, 'No thanks!' Other than that drawback, Grand Lake isn't a bad little town, with the emphasis on little. Though I think it's pretty dead in winter, which lasts until June. Jim and Jeri seem to like it there, though. The scenery is gorgeous.

Sunday didn't start off too well. I had wanted to do a hike that actually started in the NP, but was mostly in the National Forest in the Never Summer Wilderness. It was one that Jeri suggested. Normally you can't take dogs on the NP trails, but she thought it wouldn't be a problem because you are only in the park for ' mile. Well, when I got to the trailhead, not only were there signs prohibiting dogs, but there were a bunch of Park Service workers across the meadow right where I had to go. So I decided it wasn't worth it since the weather looked iffy anyways and headed off down towards Winter Park. I figured I would spend some time catching up on updating my blog online. I found a place in Fraser that supposedly had wireless access but it didn't work. This has been one of the harder areas I've found to get wireless access, especially free. After getting frustrated with the internet situation I decided I would try another trail. I probably should've turned back when the sign said it was 14 miles to the trailhead on the dirt road I was driving on. Well, the road soon got pretty bad (made yesterday's look pretty good) and it took me over an hour to get to the top. But I made it and the views were great and I got a lot of smiles and laughs from people on the way up who must have thought I was crazy to drive an RV up there. Of course, a lot of things in the RV got pretty shaken up, and Abbey did too when the thunder started. Needless to say, I did the hike by myself. It wasn't a long one, but it was still pretty nice, starting out on the Continental Divide and passing 3 lakes.
King Lake

Betty Lake

Winter Park Area

It was a nice place to eat lunch at least. On the way down I missed a turn, but before I figured it out a huge bull moose jumped out in the road about 100 ft. in front of me. He wasn't too accommodating as he was trotting down the road and I had to try and take a picture out my window while I was driving to keep up with him.
Unfortunately, the pictures didn't come out at all. He did jump back down into the woods and when I stopped I could see that he was standing only 20 or 30 ft. in the woods. I thought about getting out to see if I could get a picture, but then thought better of it. Bull moose aren't really something you want to mess with. I could just see him banging into the RV as I ran back and hopped inside.

When I got back to town my luck changed in the internet arena. I found a Mexican restaurant that had wireless access. The wait staff didn't know it, but it was actually free. So I updated my blog for a few hours (yes, it takes a while to upload all this stuff) while I ate some real good fish tacos and drank a few Fat Tire Ales. (OK, it was 3.) Guess that's why I fell asleep early last night. Monday morning we headed off to the Frisco/Breckenridge area in Summit County, but not before doing one last hike in Grand County at the top of Berthoud Pass.
Indian Peaks Wilderness from Berthoud Pass
Frisco seems like a nice little town (as I mentioned above) and I'm anxious to check out the hiking here. Summit County is well-known for the great ski areas '? Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper Mountain and Vail among others. I've always heard of it, but never been here before so I'm looking forward to spending a few days here. Who knows, if I like it I can always make an offer for 'Abbey's Coffee'.

Posted by Ed at 5:22 PM | Permalink

It took me awhile to adjust to the time change. Usually flying west it is easier but not this time. On Wednesday Dan & Bonnie's oldest daughter, Laura, moved into her college dorm to start her freshman year at Colorado State. It's hard to believe that I saw her a few days after she came home from the hospital as a newborn and she's already starting college and I got to be there her first day. We went out to a good Mexican restaurant with real good margaritas in Ft. Collins to celebrate. I was real glad the next day that I didn't have a second margarita. They were pretty potent.

I finally got reacquainted with traveling in the RV on Thursday after not sleeping in it for a month. I was starting to get anxious to get back on the road, which I think is a good sign. I had to drop something off at the Moats in Grand Lake, though, so I wasn't exactly on my own yet. They talked me into staying the night, but I slept in the RV in their driveway. I wanted to feel like I was back on the road. I was going to take off the next morning, but their hospitality was too good to pass up. Jim and Jeri actually left for a short vacation, but they offered to let me stay there and use their car if I wanted. They also gave me some good hiking ideas in the area. Plus the possibility of still having a hot shower for a little longer was too enticing. So I am 'camping' in their driveway for a few nights. Since I am eating and sleeping in the RV I figure it's like being in a campground with showers, bathrooms and TV, if I want it.

On Friday Abbey and I took a hike for the first time in 3 weeks. We went farther than I planned on (about 9 miles), which is probably why we were both wiped out that night. We took a real nice hike on the Cascade Creek Trail into the Indian Peaks Wilderness. For some reason, I always feel more like a real outdoorsman if I go into a designated wilderness, even if it's just for a dayhike. In any case, it was a beautiful day and we didn't even get the customary afternoon thunderstorms that are so common in the Rockies. We saw a couple of nice waterfalls and had some real nice views along the way.
Cascade Creek Falls
Monarch Lake

Posted by Ed at 5:14 PM | Permalink

We decided to stay closer to the airport on Saturday night since Susan and Tim had a very early flight in the morning. Saturday morning we drove up to the town of Quin, not far from Shannon. Tim's last name is Quinn (the protestant version is with only 1 'n' apparently) so he wanted to check it out. They did have a really nice abbey ruin there, that was actually in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, it was in too good of shape to climb on, but there were lots of rooms and stairwells to explore. Before we left the town, we found an inexpensive B&B to stay for the night. Then we headed down to Bunratty Castle, one of the few castles in Ireland that isn't a ruin. Someone bought it in the 50's and restored it and now you can tour it, along with the adjoining folk park. It was actually quite a nice castle and the folk park had lots of restored old houses and buildings. For dinner, we had reservations in the Corn Barn of the folk park for their 'Irish Nights' festivities. We were greeted inside the door with an Irish Cream aperitif which we thought was a fine way to start the evening. They had a traditional Irish meal (Irish stew of course) with Irish music and dancing for entertainment. During the meal they picked Tim out of the crowd, along with 3 other guys who were all pushing 70, to go up on stage and dance with the Irish dancers. Luckily, they served plenty of wine with the meal to help loosen Tim up a bit. And lucky for Tim I got some good pictures!

It was a long flight home and it became even longer when my flight from Chicago to Dallas got turned around because the cabin wouldn't pressurize. I did get on a flight that night, but I only made it as far as Dallas. At least they put me up in a Hyatt in Dallas. Since I was still on Irish time I had a hard time sleeping so I turned on the TV and saw the story about the Greek airliner that crashed because the cabin lost pressure. That really made me feel good. It's no wonder I got no sleep that night. The next day, Monday, I finally made it to Albuquerque and then drove 8 hours to Loveland, where I had left Abbey and the RV. I was thinking to myself, 'It's good to be home. Well, back in the US at least.' For now, I guess home is where my RV is.
Quin AbbeyBunratty Folk Park
Dancin' Tim

Posted by Ed at 10:48 PM | Permalink

We had a pretty full week this week, and we still have tomorrow to go. On Monday Tim, Cooper and I went fly fishing with Mike O'Brien, a 3-time world champion fly fisherman. He also tells a pretty good story. He took us to a lake up in the hills and the fish were definitely out. Mike had to teach Cooper and I, and since Tim hadn't been in a while he also had to "fix" his rusty fly casting. I actually got the hang of it after a while, but towards the end I got tired and my casting went downhill (Mike had another term for it that I won't use here). Tim improved greatly and managed to catch 3 fish, but that was after Mike gave him the rod I was using. I had to use the rod that Tim couldn't seem to get to work and I actually caught a fish - my first fish ever. I guess I can now add fly fishing to my resume. In any case we had a good time and fried the fish up for dinner that night. I must say they seem to taste better when you cook them up fresh.

On Tuesday we finally got our Blarney obligation out of the way. I think most everyone, when they come to Ireland, has to go to the Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney Stone, or else people won't think they really went to Ireland. So we paid our dues and kissed the stone. I was asked to show proof on my return that I had kissed the stone, but unfortunately I left the task of taking the picture up to my sister and she blew it. She swears she pushed the button, but..... So, Andrew, you'll just have to take my word for it. The stone itself is pretty anti-climactic, but there is a great garden on the grounds with all kinds of rocks and stuff to climb on. Are you getting the idea that we could just as well have stayed home and gone to a nice park everyday with rocks and stuff to climb on? Of course, the pubs with the Irish food, the Guiness and the Irish coffees did add a lot of flavor to the trip, not to mention the beautiful Irish countryside. The scenery isn't as spectacular as some of what I've been seeing in the western US, but it sure is enjoyable nonetheless. And the towns really are picturesque too.

Wednesday was the start of the Puck Fair in Killorglin, a short drive from the house. Apparently it is one of the oldest running town festivals in Ireland. Unfortunately, it seems to have gone the way of a lot of festivals these days. It was full of vendors selling all kinds of junk including bootleg DVDs. The DVD bootleggers actually provided a fair bit of entertainment as they kept running and hiding whenever the cops would come around. The day started off with the horse fair just outside of town. We had a hard time figuring out what exactly was the point of the horse fair. We walked into this field where there were a bunch of people were standing or milling around holding, or leading, their horses and mules. Noone was wearing any numbers or anything and there didn't seem to be any judging going on. Some people were riding the horses and one area was roped off for riding as well, but there really wasn't any formal event going on. There were a lot of beautiful horses there along with some babies, but we were really puzzled as to what the purpose of all this was. We even asked one guy with a horse and he said he really wasn't sure either since it was his first year. Whatever it is they were doing, they've been doing it for over 125 years so it must really be exciting to someone. We did read later that it started as an opportunity to sell and buy horses and was widely known throughout Europe, but if they still sell the horses today it wasn't really obvious. The festival did give us a chance to hear some traditional Irish music. Recently in Ireland, along with banning cigarette smoking in public places including the pubs, they have also enacted an equally blasphemous law. Children under 18 are not allowed in the pubs after 9PM. Since the music doesn't normally start til after 9 we haven't gotten out to enjoy any of the traditional Irish music that is quite common in the pubs. It would have seemed unbelievable if we had been here for 2 weeks and not heard any drunken Irish songs being song by real Irishmen, so we did manage to hear a couple fo groups in the afternoon in the pubs. The boys didn't care too much about the music but they had a good time running around the pubs. I wish I could be there when their teachers ask them to describe what they did on their summer vacation.

On Thursday we went to another well-known Irish landmark, the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare. First, though, we went to the lesser known cliffs of Kilkee. They were actually pretty spectacular in their own right, and made a great spot to have lunch. The cliffs at Kilkee were more rugged looking, but the Cliffs of Moher made up for that in their sheer height. After we got passed the very touristy visitor center, the parking lot which charged 4 Euros, and all the vendors hawking all kinds of stuff on the way up, the cliffs still provided a pretty spectacular view. Susan did have quite a stressful day though constantly worrying about the kids being so close to a several hundred foot drop into the sea. Of course, I usually didn't help by going close to the edge myself whenver the opportunity presented itself. The rest of the day we spent looking for good ruins to climb on but we pretty much struck out. They were either no good for climbing or locked up. We managed to salvage the day at Bofey Quinn's Pub with some very tasty Beef and Guiness stew. After dinner Tim, Sue and the boys headed back home, but I decided to stay the night in a small town at the northern end of County Clare called Ballyvaughn. I thought I had done pretty good surviving 12 days with a 3, 5 and 7 year old, but I thought a night by myself might be nice. After trying several B&Bs I finally found one that had a room available. It wasn't the nicest place, but an elderly woman ran the place and she was quite nice. Plus the price, 20 Euros, was too good to pass up, and the breakfast in the morning really made it worthwhile. I had a traditional Irish breakfast with a poached egg, sausage and ham, plus toasted soda bread, coffe, OJ and muesli. I think I got my money's worth out of that one. Thursday night I went to a bar in town where they actually had some Irish music. The music wasn't that great but it was nice to go out and enjoy a pint and an Irish coffee. OK, I have done that quite a few times the last few weeks, but not in a pub, after dinner, listening to music. In the morning after breakfast I checked out yet more castle ruins and then took a nice hike on the hills above Galway Bay. I made it to the point where the Bay met the ocean where there was also a good fort ruin so I got my climbing in for the day too. I took my time driving back down the coast, having lunch at a seaside pub and pretty much enjoying the day. I did have to stop at one point while a farmer herded his cows down the middle of the road with his tractor. It's not everyday you get to see that.

Tomorrow we're back to County Clare to see some more sights and go to Bunratty Castle. For better or worse, this one is not a ruin, but it supposedly is a great one to tour. We're going to stay the night near there because it is close to the airport and then on Sunday we say goodbye to Ireland, castle and abbey ruins, the sheep and the cows, the green rolling hills and the pubs. At least there's still Guinness and Irish coffee back in the States.
The Proud Fishermen
The Catch
Infamous Blarney Castle
Kissing the StoneThe Blarney Quinns
Cliffs at Kilkee
More Kilkee Cliffs
Cliffs of Moher
Yet Moher Cliffs

Can You Read?
Another interesting sign
Seaside Castle
Irish Rush Hour
Traditional House with Thatch Roof
Town of Kinvarra

Posted by Ed at 10:19 PM | Permalink

Friday morning we woke up to a beautiful day. It was almost hard to believe we were still in Ireland. And, we actually got out of the farmhouse fairly early in the morning. Our first stop was shortlived. We had heard that there was a beautiful beach at a small place called Inch. Unfortunately, a huge busload of tourons got out right before we got there. But it didn't look all that great anyways so we moved on to the ruins of an ancient fort called Dun Beag. We had to pay 2 Euros to walk down to see this ancient pile of rocks, part of which had already fallen into the sea, so we made sure we climbed on all the rocks and had a good game of King of the Hill with the boys before we left. We quickly figured out that any type of ruins are far better than a well-preserved castle or abbey. The boys (and me, I have to admit) love to climb on the ruins and since they are in fact ruins, we don't have to worry about them destroying anything. And I used to think that ruins were boring.

We stopped for a while in Dingle town to do a little shopping. We saw this funny looking hearse that I had to take a picture of (see below). The boys also got a kick out of all the old-fashioned Guinness signs on a lot of the pubs. After we had our fill of climbing and Dingle town, we headed to the very edge of the Dingle Peninsula to a place called Slea Head. We found more beautiful scenery and a gorgeous beach. You had to park on this tiny little road that wound its way down to the beach. Thank God for tiny cars. We actually ate our lunch first on the cliff overlooking the water and then Tim and the boys went for a swim in the ocean. As you can imagine the water was pretty much icewater, so Susan stayed out altogether and I got my legs wet up to my knees. After my feet turned numb I decided to lay on the beach for most of the time. We made one more stop to check out yet some more amazing scenery and climb on some more rocks. This time we had the added adventure of chasing some sheep halfway across the peninsula. Finally we took the short way back to Dingle town and found, believe it or not, another Irish pub. The food wasn't all that great, but the Irish coffees after dinner sure hit the spot. I think they were half whiskey, but we didn't complain.

Saturday was another rainy day and it was also a family history day. It was no wonder I was half asleep all day, but the exhibit we saw at Cobh (Queenstown) was actually quite interesting. It was on the role of the Cobh port in the Irish emigration to America and other places. Cobh was also the last port of call for the Titanic, and the Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat right off the coast. Luckily it was a rainy day so we didn't waste a good day and Tim got to do more digging on his family history. On Sunday we spent the morning and early afternoon back at Killarney National Park. This time we took a boat ride to Inisfallen Island, which was the site where an abbey was built in the 6th or 7th century. Of course, as you probably guessed by now, we had more ruins to climb on and we soon had a lot of the other families following our lead. So far none of us have fallen or broken anything yet and we hope it stays that way. When the boat driver dropped us off he said he would pick us up in 30 minutes, but we could stay longer if we wanted. I think he was a bit surprised when we were finally ready to go 2 hours later. I guess he thought that there really wasn't that much to see on the island, but we somehow managed to cover most every bit of it. We certainly covered all of the walls of the abbey. After lunch in the park, we headed back to town to meet up with some of Tim's relatives at a hotel near the lake. It was actually quite nice to meet them. They had a little boy Nathan's age and the 4 boys were completely captivated by some old farm equipment on the grounds while the adults talked, enjoyed the view and a few pints. Tomorrow Tim, Cooper and I are going to try our hand at fly fishing. Actually Tim has done it a lot, but for Cooper and I it's our first time. I'm really kind of worried because if Cooper catches a fish and I don't I'm going to be pretty embarrassed.

One thing that has been quite a revelation to me on this trip is the amount of time that small boys have to spend going to the bathroom. It never seems to fail that as soon as we get some place, often a remote place, that one or more of the boys have to go. Travelling with 3 small boys has been a real eye-opener for me having never had kids myself. I think for now I'll be satisfied to just "borrow" other people's kids for a while and return them when I'm done playing with them or when they get hurt or something.
Irish Hearse
Guinness For Strength
Seaside Road

Dingle Peninsula
More DingleNathan on the Dingle Peninsula
Don't forget your emergency break!

Posted by Ed at 9:57 PM | Permalink

Someone doesn't want me to make this entry. I had typed it up on my brother-in-laws laptop while I was in Ireland and he emailed it to me a few days ago. When I tried to download it from my email, Hotmail in its infinite wisdom decided it had a virus in it. Who knows where that came from. Then, I decided to write it again on the fly and I hit the wrong key and poof......I lost it all. So, I have asked Tim to resend it to me, and if it doesn't get rejected again by hotmail, I will update this the next time I get a chance. In the meantime, suffice it to say that I went to Ireland with my sister, Susan, her husband, Tim, and their 3 boys - Cooper (7), Jack(5), and Nathan(3) - for 2 weeks. We rented a farmhouse on a working dairy farm for 2 weeks outside of Killarney. Here are some pictures from the first few days. Hopefully, more info. will be coming later.

Later is already here. Hotmail let me download it this time. I LOVE technology. Here is the original:

On the way to Albuquerque I stopped to see some friends from Austin, Andrew and Stephanie, who were staying in Pagosa Springs, CO. I stayed the night there and it was great to catch up with them. I hadn't seen them in 5 or 6 years (they claim 6) so I really enjoyed it. After a long day of flying on Saturday, I arrived in Shannon Airport Sunday morning. My sister, Susan, Tim and their boys were already there and waiting. Luckily, Tim's cousin, Helen, also met us there to lead us to the farmhouse we are staying at for the 2 weeks. It's in a rural area so even Helen had a bit of trouble finding the way. Not only did I have to get used to driving on the left side of the road, and making sure I went to the right side of the car, to make things more interesting I rented a car with a stick shift which meant I had to get used to shifting with my left hand. I'm actually getting the hang of it and starting to have fun driving on these tiny, narrow roads. They are often walled by hedgerows, which are nearly impenetrable walls of shrubs, weeds and vines that give the effect of driving through a topless tunnel. The few times I am able to drive fast I feel like I'm in one of those old James Bond movies. You do have to keep your eyes open for an occasional stray sheep or lost tourist, though.

Tim's ancestors came from this part of Ireland so there are lots of things he wanted to check out. On Monday we wasted no time getting started on this pursuit by stopping at Ballymalis Castle, not far from the farmhouse. It was once in his family's possession so the boys were pretty excited that their family had a castle. It's now owned by the state but we had a great time climbing all over it. They really liked the 'secret entrance' and it didn't dampen their enthusiasm when we told them what the chute was most likely used for. We also found out something about Tim's ancestors. You have to understand that Tim is a died-in-the-wool Irishman. Or, so we thought. It turns out that his ancestors came over to Ireland with Lord Cromwell from England to claim Ireland for the royal crown and to convert the Catholics. The castle was part of their bounty so to speak. No wonder his family tree is gotten quite sparse over here. When the Catholics reclaimed Ireland, they must have fled or been run out.

The farm we're staying on is a working dairy farm, complete with authentic smells. The farmhouse is actually very nice and the guy running the place looks like the quintessential Irishmen with his sweater and wool cap. It's not far from Killarney, which prior to this trip I had only heard of in the Christmas song. Killarney happens to be one of the most touristed places in Ireland, but it still has a lot to offer. There is a beautiful national park here with an abbey ruin (another thing for us to climb on) and great scenery. We spent parts of two days exploring the park and another part of one exploring the town of Killarney.

Wednesday we spent driving the famous Ring of Kerry. The ring refers to a highly traveled tourist route that 'rings' the Iveragh Peninsula in County Kerry. The amazing thing is that the route is essentially made up of some 'major' (major being a relative term) roads connected by a bunch of backwoods roads that in some spots are barely wide enough for 1 ' cars, yet alone for large tourist buses. They were probably originally used by farmers to move their sheep or cows from barn to pasture, and sometimes still are. Half the adventure of the ring is negotiating the undulating roads while viewing the beautiful scenery, which is quintessential Ireland - rocky, green, sheep-covered hillsides giving way to the craggy coastline and surprisingly beautiful sandy beaches. We checked out some more abbey and fort ruins (this country is loaded with ruins) along the way and had a nice picnic lunch on a hillside near one of the forts. The funny thing is that the abbeys are usually surrounded by cemeteries and when they run out of room in the cemetery they start burying the dead inside the abbey. Of course, at this point the roof and floor are gone. By this time I had been dying to have some fish and chips and a pint at a real Irish pub. It was getting quite late so we went looking for a pub in a small town called Cahersiveen. The pubs there really didn't look conducive to eating with small kids so we found a restaurant that served fish and chips among other things. I figured since this was Ireland they would definitely have beer. Lucky for us we got the last 3 cans of Harp Lager that they had. I couldn't believe it, but it tasted good nonetheless. The pub would have to wait for another day.

The weather up til Thursday had been quite good, but things changed. It was a rainy, foggy day so we headed to Tralee and an indoor water park. I hadn't been to one in years and now I've been to 2 in the last week. This was much smaller than the one in Colorado but it was fun for the kids and I spent a bit of time in the sauna and steam room so I was happy. It got quite crowded as it seemed like it was the only thing to do in town on a rainy day. Later we finally had our Ireland pub experience, though with Irish coffees instead of pints. I had fish and chips again following my father's philosophy of eating the local specialty until you get sick of it since it won't be the same at home. The other good thing at the pubs is that they pile on the vegetables so you don't go away hungry. It's the Irish version of supersized.
The Farmhouse
View from the Bathroom
Tim's family castle - Ballymallis
Muckross Abbey in Killarney NP
The Quinns on a Jaunting Car
Killarney National Park
The Quinns at Ladies View - Killarney NP
Molls Gap - Killarney NP
Abbey Ruin - Ring of Kerry
Castle Ruin - Ring of Kerry
Staigue Fort - Ring of Kerry

Posted by Ed at 9:20 PM | Permalink