Ireland - Day Five

Bru Na Boinne - Newgrange and Dowth. Seriously cool structures - that are seriously hard to find and since driving in Ireland is not exactly a treat... - older than the Egyptian pyramids. Newgrange has a really cool winter soltice angle and quite an interesting story in general.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newgrange

Ireland - Day Four

Kylemore Abby is super lovely...with a little church and beautiful wooded grounds. That was pretty awesome. After that, we went to Connemara National Park where I climbed (or rather was hoisted) up on a giant rock for the most spectacular view. We got quite an education on peat bogs too (got your curiosity piqued?).

Ireland - Day Three

It's very cold, wet and there's some fog...

Ennis, Cork, Cliffs of Moher (which was totally fogged in), The Burren, and Irish coastline. I loved it lots.

Ireland - Day Two

Blarney Castle - yes, I kissed the stone. Which is a little gross when you think how many others have too...
The grounds were so lovely. No one does countryside like Ireland!

Ireland - Day One

First day was, well, a lot of fighting to keep my eyes open. Two things helped that. One, driving in Ireland is pretty much a constant state of adrenaline. Yikes. Two, we got a massive cold rain storm as we were walking around the Rock of Cashel. Yep, those two things will keep you awake. Now that we have that out of the way...Ireland is beautiful. (If you're interested in the truly "eye opening" driving experiences, let me know.)

Off in style...

Miss Lori is getting herself married next week, so that's a good reason to gather, eat and open presents, right?

Saint Patty's Feast

What is the perfect day to plan your itinerary for Ireland? Well, Saint Patrick's Day, of course! We were all dressed in green and thought a festive bit of soda bread and Irish stew...but Kneader's was out. Then we decided we should get some green bread or bagels and corned beef and cabbage, but the store was out. (Who knew the Irish were so big-time in Utah?) Next, we decided to pay homage to all things international...French artisan bread, chips and seven layer dip, Italian spiced beef, potatoes (that's as good as Ireland's representation got), Jello-O (America) and an orange grown somewhere in South America. Believe it or not, we ate well and have a darn cool plan for how to spend our time in Ireland.

New Shoes!

My mom came to visit for a day and we finally got to go birthday shopping for me. I bought snow shoes. I had to use them at least once before the end of the good snow. Unfortunately, the snow wasn't great, but the company was!
Beautiful! Lovely! Wish you were here!

Alan and Lorie are finished for the day.