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