Greetings from Belfast

We woke up to rain on Monday that continued for most of the day, which was not a problem at all in the afternoon since we were mostly indoors at the massive Titanic Belfast museum, but made things slippery in the morning walking on the Causeway Coast! After a big breakfast at the Da Vinci Hotel, we drove to Magheracross to see White Rocks Beach and the views below, then went to Dunluce Castle -- the inspiration for C.S. Lewis's Cair Paravel in the Narnia books -- with dramatic open ruins overlooking spectacular rock formations and many cormorants at this time of year. 

Then we went to the Giant's Causeway, a bucket list place for me since I first learned of its existence: tens of thousands of interlocking basalt columns created by an ancient volcanic eruption, leading up into the hills and down into the ocean. Though the columns are the same shapes as the ones at Devil's Tower and Reynisfjara Beach, there is really nothing else in the world like the Giant's Causeway and though the rocks were slippery from all the rain, it was absolutely spectacular to see. We ended up eating lunch in the visitor center cafe, which had curried chick pea rolls. 

We drove to Belfast past the last remaining White Star Line vessel, the SS Nomadic, to visit Titanic Belfast, which is right next to the slipways where the ship was designed and built. The museum is excellent, with artifacts, a multi-level ride through a reproduction of the shipyard, reproductions of rooms and equipment on board, and displays about the sinking and the recovery, but it also comprehensively covers the design, building, and fitting-out of the ship, and I found it very sad: we all know about the loss of the passengers and crew, but there was a lot of loss among the builders too. 

It was raining again when we left the museum, so we didn't walk the full docks. Instead we took a walk around C.S. Lewis Square, which has murals and statues pertaining to Narnia and to Lewis's life as an Ulsterman, plus we drove by places he had lived and gone to school. By then we were hungry and still wet, so we went and had dinner at the Beechlawn Hotel, whose restaurant had a wedding -- lots of people in very fancy clothes, including the bride -- plus a 21st birthday party, a Sweet 16 party, and several other large family groups; we were surprised until we found out how good the food was.

Greetings from Northern Ireland

Sunday was overcast most of the day, with dramatic clouds over the hills, but again it only rained when we were in the car. We ate breakfast at the Sligo Park Hotel's buffet, then drove to nearby Drumcliffe Church to see W.B. Yeats's grave and the beautiful chapel. Then we went to another tomb, Creevykeel Court cairn, which is at least 3000 years old. Our next stop was Tullan Strand, a beautiful beach beneath ancient sea stacks whose wide gaps are called the Fairy Bridges and a Wishing Chair formation said to be magical. 

Continuing our tour of regional megaliths, we went to Beltany Stone Circle, a large Stone Age site marking the seasons...surrounded by sheep and cows, and also quite generously dotted with cow manure so walking in it was exciting but treacherous! And we went up into the winds to see Grianán of Aileach, a royal hill fort built before the 6th century high above sea level, with fantastic views of the surrounding countryside, Inch Island, and the lochs leading to the sea...huge, spectacular, and giving the impression one would be blown right off! 

Then we drove to Derry, though we were surprised that there was no sign or indication when we crossed the border from Ireland into the U.K. We went to lunch at the Scullery for sandwiches, salads, and pasta bowls (one of few places open on a Sunday) before visiting the Visitor Information Centre, which in addition to having information on local attractions and upcoming Halloween events has a short film about Amelia Earhart, who landed in the area at the end of her first solo flight across the Atlantic. 

From there we went to the Tower Museum, which in addition to Earhart artifacts has a permanent installation on the history of Derry from prehistoric time through the Troubles -- somewhat different perspectives on the English than at the Limerick museums -- plus an exhibit on the Spanish Armada including pieces from a shipwreck recently discovered in the water nearby, and the Derry Girls Experience with props and costumes from the show. After walking on the Derry city walls, we visited several Amelia Earhart murals and plaques, ending at the sixth hole at the Foyle Golf Club, which is what's now where she landed.

Greetings from Sligo

Saturday was another nice day -- there were a couple of periods of rain, but fortunately those were while we were driving between destinations! We began the day at the Lahinch Coast Hotel's enormous breakfast buffet, then drove to the Brigid's Well in Liscannor -- this one in a little cave decorated from top to bottom with offerings and prayers, with a statue of St. Brigid outside. After that, we headed to the spectacular Cliffs of Moher, which did not disappoint, from the visitor center with its videos of puffins to the cliffs themselves, surrounded by sea on one side and cows on the other, with grand sea stacks and romantic views of the Aran Isles. 

Then we went to the Burren Visitor Centre, where there are displays about the history and amazing geology of the region. Next door is what's left of Kilfenora Cathedral, so we visited that before stopping at Caherconnell Stone Fort, which has a cafe so we ate lunch there. Our next stop was the Poulnabrone Dolmen, set in the midst of incredible rock formations and lots of wildflowers even this late in the year. We walked around the newly restored Cahermore Ringfort and took pictures of the stratified hillsides, then we went to Fanore Beach, which the Visitor Centre had identified as the best place to see fossils -- and it did not disappoint! 

After walking along the beach and taking many photos of fossils embedded in the limestone stretching into the Atlantic Ocean (which felt very cold to my touch but there were people swimming in bikinis), we began the two-plus hour drive to Sligo, where we're spending the night at a big hotel with a spa complex attached. Along the way, we passed the ruins of Leamanah Castle, the dramatic and largely intact Dunguaire Castle, dozens of other castle and tower ruins, and hundreds of sheep, cows, and horses. We weren't very hungry after lunch so we grabbed sandwiches and yogurt from a convenience store for dinner, plus Cadbury! 

Greetings from the West Coast of Clare

We had sunshine for most of Friday, and it was fine when we didn't because we saw two rainbows after brief showers. We started our day with eggs, toast, and various other items for breakfast at the Muskerry Arms, then we drove the five minutes to Blarney Castle, whose uppermost reaches require climbing precarious spiral staircases. I chickened out on kissing the Blarney Stone (I don't see how anyone under 5' tall can reach it without being put on a rope), but the castle ruins themselves, garderobes and all, plus the extensive gardens are spectacular...including megaliths, ancient trees, waterfalls, poison plants, and color-changing ivy on the curtain walls. We grabbed a picnic lunch in town and ate it on the way to Grange Stone Circle, with the biggest diameter of any circle in Ireland. Some stones have trees with roots growing around them and there were a couple of pagans performing a ritual in the center. 

From there we drove to King John's Castle in Limerick, which has extensive history exhibits on the ground floor, a courtyard with historical games from horseshoes to seesaws and displays of smithcraft, masonry, and musical instruments, and the remains of the castle (destroyed after extensive siege warfare from the archeological excavations underground to the towers with beautiful views of the River Shannon. After much climbing medieval staircases to see what's left of the rooms there, we headed to Lahinch, where we dropped off our things at the hotel and walked to the beach just in time for sunset. The tide was out, so we also got to see mussels, clams, and limpets, plus seagulls looking for them and several people walking friendly dogs. We picked up fish and chips for those who eat fish and a veggie burger for me at a local place and watched a special about the late great Maggie Smith we found on TV. 

Greetings from Blarney

Again I could only manage to upload one photo, but we have had a glorious day among rocks and ruins, starting with the Rock of Dunamase a.k.a. Dunamase Castle, a town dating to the 800s which has been crumbling since 1650 yet remains an imposing, impressive ruin. From there we went to Holycross, a restored Cistercian abbey from the 1100s with a relic of the True Cross. Then we went to the famous Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary with its 12th-century tower, 13th-century Gothic cathedral ruins, and sheep. We stopped at the Cashel Woollen Store to buy Aran sweaters -- I have wanted one for years and was never sure of my size, so I finally got to try them on. 

After grabbing lunch at a nearby travel plaza, we drove to St. Patrick's Well, which has the remains of a ancient church and stone cross as well as the spring-fed water. We spent a lot of time after that in the rain at Cahir Castle, built in the 1100s, besieged by Essex for Elizabeth I, restored in the 1840s, and largely intact now, even the prison cells -- you've probably seen it in a movie or TV show, it's appeared in everything from The Tudors to Excalibur (and has a sword in the stone). A large flock of geese, ducks, and swans tried to persuade us to feed them, though the crows and rooks were not impressed. Now we're in Blarney, where we just ate dinner at the Muskerry Arms.

Greetings from Kildare

On terrible hotel wifi so can't really post photos, but I am in Ireland so everything is great! After spending most of yesterday traveling east from Seattle, we flew overnight from Dulles to Dublin (taking off an hour and a half late because of a catering issue, but it was a much bigger plane than originally planned, so we could spread out across entire center rows and get some sleep). 

We met Cheryl at the airport and drove from Dublin to Kildare, where we spent the afternoon seeing Brigid sites -- Brigid's Well, the Kildare Heritage Centre with its VR Legends of Kildare (which knows Brigid was a goddess before she was a saint), St. Brigid's Cathedral, tower, and cemetery, the Carmelite Friary Church, and St. Brigid's Parish Church. It was drizzly and cool.

We just ate dinner at Soul Burger, one of the restaurants at the Kildare House Hotel, which has plenty of vegetarian and vegan options and we needed something light after eating at weird hours on planes for a day and a half. Tomorrow we're on to Blarney and various other castles, plus hoping for more views of farms and more sheep obstructions in the road like we had today!

Placeholder for Tuesday

At Dulles after a flight from SeaTac en route to Dublin with Paul (meeting Cheryl). More soon!

Greetings from Juanita Bay

Had a very busy day getting ready to travel (and I'm not sure I'll be able to post tomorrow night -- depends on how timely our arrival is for our stopover). The only major excitement today was our smoke detector going off persistently in the morning, which I hate as much as the cats do; the maintenance guy took it apart and found cobwebs in it, which is not my fault since it's screwed into the vaulted ceiling much higher than I can reach even on a chair. 

We walked to the park early in the afternoon so we could Skype with my father-in-law before it got too late in Pennsylvania; he has moved from the two rooms he and my mother-in-law shared into one room, but he seems pretty happy with the layout, since he can fit both his computer and his TV on the same wall opposite his chairs. From yesterday, here are some photos from Juanita Beach Park's boardwalks, including migrating flocks of birds and autumn color.

Greetings from Kirkland

The first day of fall was lovely here, partly cloudy and not too warm. We did chores in the morning while watching some football and the start of the Orioles game, then we ate lunch and went to the PNW Witches' Market in Juanita Beach Park. The Mabon event was bigger than the Lammas festival, probably partly because the weather was much better, though this one also had a lot more card readers and other mystics. After we wandered through the tents and performances, we walked the lake boardwalk, then drove around Juanita Bay to see the turtles, frogs, and herons.

 

We stopped at Safeway and did some more travel-related chores in the late afternoon while watching the end of the Ravens-Cowboys game. Then we ate dinner and watched the rest of the episodes of Moonflower Murders before the series finale of Snowpiercer, which was kind of a letdown, like the whole season -- it's not that the deaths were unexpected, but so many of them were rushed and anticlimactic, and we didn't get any of the big confrontations we deserved after four seasons but had a mediocre new villain thrown at us instead; still, I'm still glad the final season aired.

Greetings from Everett

We got a late start on Saturday -- I'm still feeling jetlagged, and we still have piles of chores to get done -- but it was a gorgeous day, and in the afternoon we went to Everett, which is always a pretty drive through farms and wine country. We visited Funko HQ, always a very fun place (and the Star Wars and Marvel sections are reopened), to get Daniel a Funko of himself with his dogs for his birthday. 

Then we stopped at Safeway to pick up flowers and a chocolate mousse cake and went to Cahaya's parents' house where Cahaya cooked dinner for all of us with his help (three dishes involving butternut squash, all of which were excellent). It's also always fun hanging out with the five dogs! Now we're watching the first episode of Moonflower Murders, the sequel to the enjoyable Magpie Murders.