Glo's Graduation Trip to Ireland--Day Six

With only two days left in the North, we knew we needed to get serious about planning out the remaining time so we got on the computer and bought tickets for the remaining visits.

Since we are here in the off-season, and since the weather has been so dodgy, we've found that many of the sites are fairly easy to book (not Newgrange or the Gaol in Dublin however).  Carrick-a-rede bridge, a Kennedy classic, had a million tickets available.

Thankfully, the rain held for most of the day today (and even if it hadn't, we would've been prepared as always).  But shoot, the views on a clear day from the top of Carrick-a-rede can't be beat.  We could honestly see the shore of Scotland.

It was a beautiful walk out to the bridge.  We tried our best to get some good shots of "the Bridges" but the rangers kept us going fairly steadily across the bridge.

One interesting thing that we'd never seen before: between each group that would go across, a ranger would walk out to the middle of the bridge with his anemometer, a hand-held device that measures the wind speed.  We asked him what the winds were--they were sitting at 32 mph.  We then asked him if they shut down the bridge at some point.  Yes, at 35 mph.  So yeah, they were monitoring it pretty closely.

Now listen, I've been across that bridge many a time, but never with wind speeds like today.  It was a *wee* bit frightening!

But again, the views!

On the way back, we found some European goldfinches splashing around in a river, and they were fun to watch. There were also European robins hanging out in the bushes.

John had been asking if we could visit Dunseverick castle for which he had seen the signs.  We pulled over to the marked parking lot....and saw one column of ruins.  However, it was like the Alps between the car park and the column, so I opted to stay in the car and take photos of the three more adventurous people.  Five minutes later, they were back in the car ;-)

I told them that this photo reminds me of the final credit scene from The Sound of Music when the family is escaping Austria.  All we need is "Climb Every Mountain" playing in the background! (Notice the other people in the bottom center to get perspective....)

We then came home, had a lunch of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, G&G took short naps, and we were off again.

Dunluce Castle was our next and final stop for the day.  I love this castle because it's the perfect mix of ruins (and not all reconstruction) but enough ruins (and not just a single column).  I love the guide as well--it takes us through each room with one paragraph of information, leaving enough room for our imagination.

As we looked off the cliff, we could see wedding pictures happening.  Wow, what pictures those will be.  At the end of the tour, we ran into a couple of people from the wedding party, trying to sneak in a visit to the castle.  Turns out they were from Utah, and yes, they were LDS.  What an amazing place for a wedding, for sure, but as John puts it, you don't need to worry about rain and wind in the temple ;-)

We came home and made chicken, roasted potatoes and roasted carrots.  John found these amazing spice mixes at Tesco that include the bags for the meat.  Put everything in the bag, put it in the oven for 40 minutes, and it comes out perfect.  Yes, we're headed to Tesco tomorrow to buy about 50 more of them for home.

And with that, it's been really fun cooking at home with everybody here.  Groceries are so inexpensive here, and everything comes packaged easy to cook.  I really wish we had this kind of ease in the States.  And everybody chips in, and dinner is effortlessly ready within an hour.  I really have loved it.