March 18 - Cliffs of Moher and More!

We got up this morning and had breakfast early, packing up and saying goodbye to Ballynihinch. Our travels took us west through several small villages and what seemed like the ruins of towers or castles every 15 minutes or so, as the van traveled around super windy, curvy and hilly roads. The scenery began to smooth out a bit and be less rocky and craggy, and we were no longer dodging sheep.

It's amazing the sheer amount of stone walls we saw all over the island, and though they were all fairly short (3 feet or so), they went all the way up mountainsides, and broke into different grazing areas. When thinking of the manpower thousands of years ago that was used to build these and that they still stand - it's pretty awe inspiring.

We stopped in Oughterhad to get cash and to pick up supplies for Kate. We then moved onward to the Cliffs of Moher, i.e. the Cliffs….of INSANITY!!!! From Princess Bride and has been featured in other movies, such as Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Snow had been falling for an hour or so prior, but wasn’t sticking much, but between the wind, elevation and overall low temps, it was a cold trek.

We tried to get many pictures, as the scene was gorgeous and breathtaking. O’Brien’s tower was in very good shape and as snowy and grey as it was out, the water was choppy and angry. We stayed around 40 minutes before hopping back in the van and heading on to County Kerry after driving through several other smaller towns, such as Limerick. We discussed music, talking about Sweet, Thin Lizzy, Mott the Hoople, etc. When we got to Killarny to the Muckross Hotel and Spa, we were treated to yet another lovely place.

We checked in, then went out for dinner, first at O’Connors, but they were not serving food today and recommended the Laurel’s a few buildings down. For a Sunday evening, the city

was pretty active - many stores lit up and a very full shopping and service area. We had dinner at The Laurels, then got Ice Cream at Murphy’s, where we visited with Sam - the very young "owner" / manager. He gave us some recommendations of what we might want to do while in the area.

On the way back to the hotel, we found The Shire - a Lord of the Rings themed Pub/Restaurant that will are definitely going to check out tomorrow. We went back to the hotel - Tim, Lori and Kate came to our room and played Exploding Kittens and enjoyed visiting a bit.

Amy and I are definitely getting our steps in during the activities!