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