Ireland Part 2 - Doolin & The Aran Islands

Doolin

Lafayette, CO - Ok, here's part 2 of Ireland. Amazing what you can get done when you're not painting all day. Not that we're done, mind you. It's just that I had to take a break to get our income taxes done, send out the invitations for our wedding in September, plan a canoe trip in June, do some mountain biking in Moab, a little climbing in Arches National Park and put in another few days of skiing. So on Monday, I'm back on task.

Anyway, in this second installment on Ireland we'll be checking out Doolin in the County Clair & The Aran Islands. My friend Gary gave me a ride north. However, he needed to go back to work the next day, so he dropped me off at a hostel in Doolin with a short list of "must sees." Included in that list, were The Cliffs of Moher and The Aran Islands.

The Cliffs of Moher

Although October is pretty much as off season as it gets in Ireland, I did manage to find a boat out to both Inisheer (the eastern island) and the next day, Inishmaan (the middle island). Gary had told me I should spend a day out on Inishmaan or Inis Meain (Irish) as it was his favorite of the three and one of the least touristed. He said I needed to check out the walls. So, I did just that.

Inis Meain / Inishmaan

As usual there are lots more pictures and stories in the slide show. Just click on the walls ->

Ireland: Part 2

Ireland Part 1 - Kay, Oliver & The County Kerry.

Lafayette, Colorado - I'm a little ashamed. 4 months have gone by since my last entry. 4 MONTHS!!! Crazy. I hoped to keep the blog going with photos and stories from Colorado, but well...I've been busy. Suwei and I been spending a heck of a lot of time working on renovations to our house. The decision to do the painting ourselves has added quite a bit of time to the project. At this point however, the floors are just about done, we have just the master suite, the upstairs hall, and the downstairs bathroom to paint, the baseboards to install and a bit of touch up at the stairs. Oh...the back door needs replacing and I think we are going to do counter tops and light fixtures next. We're getting there. When we're not pounding away on the house, we're usually skiing. It's been a great season!

Anyway... for this post I've still got some photos from the last destination on our tour. So, to pick up where we left off...on October 26th I flew from Brussels to Shannon, Ireland, where I was met by Kay.

I'm not going to write a whole lot here as I would like to get something posted. If I wait until I'm inspired to write... well... it could take some time. Could be another 4 months. In any case I put a whole lot of info into the slide show, so check that out.

For my first few days in Ireland, I was staying with my friend Kay and her husband, Oliver in Milltown in the County Kerry. I met Kay through Gary when he invited her out to Burning Man a few years back. I met Oliver when we got to the house that evening. Gary had praised Kay as being quite the tour guide and that weekend she was able to show her prowess as Oliver drove us around both the Dingle and Iveragh Peninsulas, The Ring of Kerry, and the Skellig Ring. However, she did elect to stay in the car every time Oliver and I wanted to check out another graveyard, or if it was raining, or if the wind was blowing, or if she was sleepy. In any case it was a great tour. Here are some photos.

Colorful Boats in Killarney National Park

Ross Castle / Dingle Pub

The Dingle Peninsula

View of The Skellig Islands from Valentia Island

Gary & Kay in Killarney National Park

I promise to have Part 2 out sometime within the next four months. In the meantime, check out the slide show here:

Ireland: Part 1