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Deathcheater's Spring of 2008 Ireland Tour
Well, as promised, let me share my second anniversary trip. As a way to celebrate still being alive two years after treatments ended I thought about taking two weeks and riding the motorcycle, which is a story in itself that I will save for another time, from my homebase in Northern Virginia to Key West Florida. After some research I found out that there really aren't any beaches in Key West. And, since this is where I spend just about all of my time when I'm near the ocean I figured there wouldn't be much left to do but drink all week. With that in mind I figured if you're going to drink all week anyways what better place to do it than in a foreign country. I have always wanted to visit Ireland and not really needing an excuse I set up my hotel rooms for the week, flew to Dublin, rented a car, grabbed a road map, and headed out to spend a week following the end of my nose.
After driving and flying all day and all night, and then driving some more the next morning, I had reached Kilmore Quay and stopped for breakfast.
The church was set on the highest point.
I guess this would be the quay ...
... and some of the tools of the trade.
With a few in need of repair.
Well, on to Waterford. Seems they had just about anything that you might want.
Not sure why someone would want to build a brick wall in a wall of rock, but go figure.
Seems any town of substantial size had a town center and that was the place to be.
After one night in Waterford it was time to move on to Killarney. As I was crossing a bridge in Lismore, and realized that I wasn't going to scrape the sides, I looked up in time to catch a glimpse of something that I had to go back and get a better look at.
Definitely worth finding a place to park and walking back. (Lismore Castle)
So I decided to explore the town and came across the Castle Gardens as well.
Turns out that it was a nice little park where people picnicked.
About a 10 minute walk from my hotel was Killarney City Center.
If you want to get more than 5 or 6 channels on the Telly you have to have a dish.
Checking out the back alleys was probably not always the smartest thing to do, but that's where I usually found the more interesting sights.
Not sure what the name of these flowers is but they seemed to easily get a foothold on just about every wall in Ireland.
I did get to go to the beach after all! The beach on Dingle Bay. (Inch Point on the map.)
Looking down the north coast of Dingle Bay toward Dingle.
When they put out a "Men At Work" sign you had to be real careful not to come around a corner and plow into a work crew. I think only tourist actually slowed down though.
Came around a corner and saw this one looking for lunch. I could have spent months just shooting creeks and streams if I had had the time.
Almost there now.
I did notice that the Irish do tend to paint their boats with bright colors...
...and their houses as well
Never did find out what this was across the harbor from town, but from this distance it looked like it might be an old watch tower.
Another one of the traffic hazards were the tractors.
One of the main roads in Dingle.
Again, walking down one of the side streets I came across this place in the middle of town.
On my day traveling to Galway I decided to take the ferry across the River Shannon. Wasn't sure that I still wanted to when I got to the dock.
She looked steady enough on the way in so I stuck to my original plan.
On the way across we passed Tarbert Lighthouse – Built 1831/32
One more traffic hazard while on the back roads. If I had not purposely stayed off of the main highways I would never have seen this. You can't properly see a country with it racing by at 100 kph.
I think that I enjoyed Galway the most of the different places that I stayed.
It is where I found my favorite pub.
Every evening about 5:30 traditional musicians would show up and play. Usually a different group of players each night.
Headed to the Cliffs of Moher on Wednesday I ran across yet another "castle". (Dunguaire Castle)
I kept chuckling as I walked around it because all I could think of was "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". I was waiting for some French guy to start taunting me. (Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!)
Looking across at the town of Kinvarra from the castle.
Another one of the traffic hazards. Tour bus and lorry carrying a bulldozer meet and can't get past each other without unloading the bulldozer.
Does anyone get upset about it? Here in the States, probably. In Ireland you either turn around and find another route or you get out and socialize while things get taken care of. I prefer the Irish way.
At first, the Cliffs Of Moher just looked like more rolling hills.
But once I got closer I saw that the hills abruptly ended.
So I walked to the top and started looking around.
To put it mildly, the views were incredible.
On one side there were the nesting grounds.
Then on the other side, were the cliffs that you see in pictures of Ireland.
It was a hazy day but still impressive enough to make you go "Wow".
It seems that no matter what language it is written in, people just can't read. Or at least choose not to.
Standing on the cliffs and looking back through the hills you could see the town of Liscannor.
I was lucky to visit in springtime because everything was in bloom.
Of course as at any major tourist spot there were people serenading the crowds.
On the way back from the cliffs I stopped and had lunch in a place called Sgt. Pepper's in Ennistimon. Must have been a slow day.
The weather cleared enough to where you could really take in the Burren. From a distance the hills look bare but are actually covered with low growth.
And finally Dublin. I started at City Center with the Millennium Spire.
Then worked my way south across the River Liffey.
Past the Ha'penny Bridge.
Through the Farmer's Market.
Across the Grand Canal...
...and the one that thought they owned the canal.
Last stop was Church of the Scared Heart in Donnybrook.
I wasn't really done seeing Ireland but couldn't wait to get home. It had been a long week. Turned out to be one the best experiences of my life. I'm looking foward to doing it the same way in another place next year for my third anniversary.
Thanks for coming along with me while I revisited the places I had seen.
— Kevin
After driving and flying all day and all night, and then driving some more the next morning, I had reached Kilmore Quay and stopped for breakfast.
The church was set on the highest point.
I guess this would be the quay ...
... and some of the tools of the trade.
With a few in need of repair.
Well, on to Waterford. Seems they had just about anything that you might want.
Not sure why someone would want to build a brick wall in a wall of rock, but go figure.
Seems any town of substantial size had a town center and that was the place to be.
After one night in Waterford it was time to move on to Killarney. As I was crossing a bridge in Lismore, and realized that I wasn't going to scrape the sides, I looked up in time to catch a glimpse of something that I had to go back and get a better look at.
Definitely worth finding a place to park and walking back. (Lismore Castle)
So I decided to explore the town and came across the Castle Gardens as well.
Turns out that it was a nice little park where people picnicked.
About a 10 minute walk from my hotel was Killarney City Center.
If you want to get more than 5 or 6 channels on the Telly you have to have a dish.
Checking out the back alleys was probably not always the smartest thing to do, but that's where I usually found the more interesting sights.
Not sure what the name of these flowers is but they seemed to easily get a foothold on just about every wall in Ireland.
I did get to go to the beach after all! The beach on Dingle Bay. (Inch Point on the map.)
Looking down the north coast of Dingle Bay toward Dingle.
When they put out a "Men At Work" sign you had to be real careful not to come around a corner and plow into a work crew. I think only tourist actually slowed down though.
Came around a corner and saw this one looking for lunch. I could have spent months just shooting creeks and streams if I had had the time.
Almost there now.
I did notice that the Irish do tend to paint their boats with bright colors...
...and their houses as well
Never did find out what this was across the harbor from town, but from this distance it looked like it might be an old watch tower.
Another one of the traffic hazards were the tractors.
One of the main roads in Dingle.
Again, walking down one of the side streets I came across this place in the middle of town.
On my day traveling to Galway I decided to take the ferry across the River Shannon. Wasn't sure that I still wanted to when I got to the dock.
She looked steady enough on the way in so I stuck to my original plan.
On the way across we passed Tarbert Lighthouse – Built 1831/32
One more traffic hazard while on the back roads. If I had not purposely stayed off of the main highways I would never have seen this. You can't properly see a country with it racing by at 100 kph.
I think that I enjoyed Galway the most of the different places that I stayed.
It is where I found my favorite pub.
Every evening about 5:30 traditional musicians would show up and play. Usually a different group of players each night.
Headed to the Cliffs of Moher on Wednesday I ran across yet another "castle". (Dunguaire Castle)
I kept chuckling as I walked around it because all I could think of was "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". I was waiting for some French guy to start taunting me. (Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!)
Looking across at the town of Kinvarra from the castle.
Another one of the traffic hazards. Tour bus and lorry carrying a bulldozer meet and can't get past each other without unloading the bulldozer.
Does anyone get upset about it? Here in the States, probably. In Ireland you either turn around and find another route or you get out and socialize while things get taken care of. I prefer the Irish way.
At first, the Cliffs Of Moher just looked like more rolling hills.
But once I got closer I saw that the hills abruptly ended.
So I walked to the top and started looking around.
To put it mildly, the views were incredible.
On one side there were the nesting grounds.
Then on the other side, were the cliffs that you see in pictures of Ireland.
It was a hazy day but still impressive enough to make you go "Wow".
It seems that no matter what language it is written in, people just can't read. Or at least choose not to.
Standing on the cliffs and looking back through the hills you could see the town of Liscannor.
I was lucky to visit in springtime because everything was in bloom.
Of course as at any major tourist spot there were people serenading the crowds.
On the way back from the cliffs I stopped and had lunch in a place called Sgt. Pepper's in Ennistimon. Must have been a slow day.
The weather cleared enough to where you could really take in the Burren. From a distance the hills look bare but are actually covered with low growth.
And finally Dublin. I started at City Center with the Millennium Spire.
Then worked my way south across the River Liffey.
Past the Ha'penny Bridge.
Through the Farmer's Market.
Across the Grand Canal...
...and the one that thought they owned the canal.
Last stop was Church of the Scared Heart in Donnybrook.
I wasn't really done seeing Ireland but couldn't wait to get home. It had been a long week. Turned out to be one the best experiences of my life. I'm looking foward to doing it the same way in another place next year for my third anniversary.
Thanks for coming along with me while I revisited the places I had seen.
— Kevin
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Comments
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check out my (sports) pics: ColleenBonney.smugmug.com
*Thanks to Boolsacho for the avatar photo (from the dgrin portrait project)
That's wierd. They were there last night and when I went to the gallery this morning the "Share Photos" was checked. If you still can't see them a guess I'll redo the thread from scratch.
"Sorry about that Chief, missed it by that much."
— Kevin
My Site, My Book
www.tednghiem.com
My Site, My Book
You drove in Ireland?? Wow!! I think I want to do that when i go back! How much was it?
www.tednghiem.com
There weren't any Rangers in site and you know the saying "When the cat's away...".
Driving was half of the adventure that week. I got used to it after about a day and half though. Rental price was not too bad. About $150-175 for six days. Gas was killer at $9-10/gallon after conversion and depending on the exchange rate. Coming back here and paying $4/gallon doesn't seem so bad.
My Site, My Book
Wow!!!
I look forward to your trips every year from now on Kevin.
This trip has some wonderfl meaning for me as well. My wife and I traveled to Ireland in the fall of 2003. We were there for 8 days I think. We had a package that included a rental car and coupons for B&B's. We drove wherever we wanted and only saw 1/4 of the places we planned to but had the best time. We took a ton of photos as well (all film unfortunately).
The best part for and the resaon I remember that trip every day...
A few weeks before we left we found out that we were expecting. My wife got morning sick (nausa mostly) every day up until the day we left for the airport. The first trimester ended on that day and the timing was perfect. While driving around Ireland (to many of the same places as you) we of course discussed our baby and potential names.
While sitting and waiting for the ferry (yes that same ferry), I suggested if it was a girl we should call her Shannon Clare (Shannon for the river and Clare for the county we were crossing into). It stuck and now every time I call my daughter (especially when she is in trouble and get the whole name) it reminds me a little bit of that trip.
Thank you for sharing and sorry I had to share as well.
Thad
No need to apologize. I had a grin on my face the whole time that I was there and still catch myself smiling when ever I go back through the pictures.
— Kevin
My Site, My Book