June 27: Doolin/The Cliffs of Moher

A lot of our trip is planned down to 30 minute increments, with tickets already purchased and restaurants already booked. Some events sell out months in advance, and I hate the feeling of showing up somewhere and being shut out of something we would have loved (and traveled across the earth to see!). But I think/hope that my accumulating experience planning trips for my family has given me a good sense of pacing, and I am SO glad I didn't book anything for today. Last night I knew we just needed to let the kids rest; while on one hand it's sad to miss out on something you want to see, we've also pushed through things when we're too tired, and we don't even enjoy them. So I told the kids they could sleep in this morning, and we would skip the 9:00-5:00 all-day trip to the Aran Islands. We had been excited to see them, but we have now already seen many of the features that people go there to see, and even if we hadn't, I knew we would need a rest before the schedule picks back up in England.

So we slept, and when I woke up I took my laptop out to the sunny family room and worked on the blog; soon Erik joined me and took a work call outside. The kids roused at 10:00 am and we all donned our workout gear for CrossFit with Coach Erik. We moved all the tables and chairs out of the way and burpeed our guts out!! It was more fun for some than others (Stone CRUSHED it) but everyone stuck with it. 

Then to the Doolin pier to catch a ferry to the bottom of the Cliffs of Moher - filming site of the scary cave in Harry Potter 6 and the Cliffs of Insanity in The Princess Bride! This is what we came to Doolin for, and they did not disappoint! The boat ride was lovely - the water calm and the sun bright and beautiful. We keep hearing Irish people say this is the best summer in forty years. We can't believe it - it was 60 degrees and rainy the week before we left, and our suitcases are full of unworn sweaters and rain jackets. So lucky!! 

Next, to a lovely lunch at an adorable yellow cafe, where we found fresh salads and the now-familiar, deliciously hearty Irish brown bread. And then, since it was only 2:30 and we were this close, I asked Erik to drop me off with whoever wanted to come at the top of the Cliffs of Moher for a short hike. Everyone else was too scared of heights (they are mind-bendingly high and there is no guardrail. People do die sometimes, though admittedly they are usually drunk or it is very sad circumstances), but Stone came with me! We held hands and promised each other that we would always remember our Mommy-Son day at the Cliffs of Moher.

And now we are all back at the cottage; Erik is still working (it's been a very stressful, very busy few days), and I made all the kids read, write in their journals, and do Math worksheets. There is no tv in the house and I confiscated all their phones so we can really rest and detox. I told them 10 minutes ago that we were going to play Scrabble in 15 minutes, so I'm going to post photos and then sign off. And hooray! I caught up!! Tomorrow we head to more abbey ruins, then Bunratty Folk Park, and then a super special surprise which I hope lives up to our expectations. I have almost blown the surprise for the kids many many times because I am so excited, but I kept it secret!!! I'll post about it later!

P.S. After writing this, we played speed Scrabble for awhile and then Erik and I walked down the street to McDermotts Pub for traditional music. It was so amazing, I texted the kids to put their clothes back on and run down to hear at least a few songs. They had a fiddler, a bagpiper and an instrument that looked like a mandolin and it was the most beautiful heart-exploding music. I will treasure that forever.

Exercising in the cottage

We are hilarious. Plus look what a cute little Irish house!

The Cliffs of Moher from below

Multiple family members are very afraid of heights so the boat was their preferred way to see the cliffs

Amazing rock with 10,000 birds nesting in the crevices

Gorgeous cliffs

My loves

This place has the cutest cafes and restaurants!

Stone was the lone brave one who accompanied me on the top of the cliff. Look at the tiny little human ants on the trail in the background to get a sense of how high the cliffs really are.

Rick Steves says "The Irish don't believe in guardrails, just natural selection."

And of course castles everywhere we go

Lucy has been missing dance so she did some Ballet exercises using a chair as a barre.

We love speed Scrabble!

During Tristan's college days he stayed in this hostel, just a few houses away from ours!

I wanted one more chance to hear traditional music in a pub, so I recruited Erik to walk down the street to McDermott's Pub when the kids were getting ready for bed. The music was so good, I texted them "Get out of bed and throw on a sweatshirt and run down the street right now! You cannot miss this!!" They were tired but they trusted me, and were so glad they did. We only stayed for a little while but we heard that the bagpiper, Blackie O'Connell, was famous in the area. He was amazing.

Sunset on the walk home at 10:45

June 26: Dingle to Adare to Doolin

Annnnnndddd it hits. Travel fatigue. There were some pretty hairy moments on the bike ride, but only because it was really hard, and only Sophie, for whom it was hardest. Everyone was still in love with Ireland and euphoric pretty much every darn moment. We're now starting to get tired of traveling and spirits are starting to lag. This is to be expected, but makes me nervous, seeing as we have not even been gone a week and will not go home until August! I am in charge of every moment of the trip and I feel a lot of pressure to make it wonderful for everyone, and sometimes I wake up with anxiety, thinking "what have I gotten us into??" I read so many books and blogs and travel reviews before I planned our trip, but it's still impossible to tell how things will feel in real time. Will people feel too rushed? Too much planned with no time to rest? Or will people feel bored? Will the schedule get laggy? Will Erik have enough time to work? What will be the surprises that exceed our expectations, and what will be the surprises that are not as cool as the pictures made them look, or the weather makes them miserable, or people are just in bad moods? There is no way to know.

I told everyone to get dressed in their cutest clothes because after our morning run and checking out of our Doolin apartment we were going to drive through Adare, apparently "Ireland's prettiest town," so they would want lots of pictures. Then we would arrive at our air bnb in Doolin, which is a little whitewashed cottage with red trim and green grass and flowers that I have been envisioning on our family Christmas card. First of all, the drive to Adare made Erik just about swear, it was so narrow on the edge of a mountain with no guardrail, and cars passing each other with literally inches to spare. Second, The Golden Compass is fun for us to listen to, but Erik's brain is too engaged in the dangerous driving to hear it well enough to pay attention, so he got so tired he had to turn it off and start talking. He launched on a 30 minute lecture about the different methods of energy production and the benefits of nuclear energy, which was mildly interesting to us (Lindsay and Lucy later told me they were fighting to stay awake) :) but kept Erik awake with passion for the topic. Soon... Adare. Which was not as cute as we hoped, and we were tired, and it is HOT here. Not just warm, but the hottest week on record!! We ate a lackluster lunch in a hot, stuffy space with slow service and then walked sweatily to the car for the next leg of the journey to Doolin, Sophie and I taking a token picture since we had gone to the trouble of wearing cute clothes.

We drove past a grocery store on our way into Doolin and Erik mentioned that it might be smart to stop and pick up some fruits and veggies and breakfast food (which we've done in every town so far)... but we thought we would be fine in Doolin so we kept going 18 more kilometers. And shoot, it turns out that Doolin is a really REALLY small town. It looks kind of like very rural, remote Idaho, but with scattered ruins here and there and a row of pubs and bed-and-breakfasts, and gigantic cool cliffs and rock formations a few kilometers away. But houses are kind of Utah-ish style, and the whole landscape is drier than Dingle and very farmy. Still green, but with some big yellow patches. Our white cottage with red trim is farther from the pier than we thought, and is not surrounded by grass and flowers, but with small rocks, right up to the front door. Its thick walls keep it cool on these hot hot days, and it's charming and quirky so we love it, but it probably won't make it onto our Christmas card. But no grocery store in town. Not an apple or jug of milk in sight. Just restaurants.

We arrived and checked in, and then headed to the pier to meet our tour guide Evin, who promised to take us 300 million years back in time, explaining the crazy rock formations and why this land looks the way it does. No one felt like leaving the house - there were some rather earnest protests as I told them to get their shoes back on - but this turned out to be the highlight of the day, and perhaps of our time in Doolin.

Evin AND HIS DOG took us (and two other tourists, also from the Bay Area!) around part of "the burren," the fascinating limestone structures along the coast. We learned so much and were shown things we never would have noticed on our own. It was very affordable and was the perfect way to spend the evening before dinner.

And dinner was decent - an outdoor table at an Irish pub with a really really nice really really Irish waiter. We can tell this isn't Dublin - the accents are much thicker and the teeth are crookeder and people say and even write "ye" instead of "you." After dinner Stone found a decrepit old playground with a zipline (throwback to Spain!!) right across the street from our house. He played until he was drenched with sweat, making obstacle courses for himself until sunset at about 10:20. I have got to get the kids on an earlier schedule soon - I get so grumpy if I am on parenting duty every single moment of every single day. But the whole European schedule is just later, and the sun stays up so late, and I do love these little buddies of mine. Also, wow, am I proud of their ability to roll with things that they aren't used to. They've done a great job so far.

Packing up the van in Dingle

See how the left lane only lasts a few feet. Then that one lane is all there is!! Also notice how the wall on the left disappears after a few yards, while that single lane continues along the side of the mountain! Erik did a great job but it may have taken some time off his life.

Sophie and I in Adare after lunch

Our tour guide Evin, pointing out the salt deposits on the limestone. Erik and Stone tasted it and yep, salt.

Exploring the burren

Stone + dogs + free exploration on rocks = joy

Such weird geological/biological phonomena!

The grassy/turfy part of the burren. Such a unique landscape, unlike anything we had seen before

There are arctic, tundra, and Mediterranean plants growing in those cracks between the rocks. It's a very special place, protected as  UNESCO site for its strange and wonderful biological properties

Pub for dinner. The World Cup was on inside, where it was dark, smokey, crowded, and loud. Thankfully they had a table for us to the left outsdie

Our cute cottage at 10:00 pm

June 25: Dingle

Tourists go to Dingle for the beautiful coastline and adorable little town. Most people drive the Dingle Loop or the Slea Head Loop, which is a circle around the peninsula, gazing at the rolling green hills and the stunning blue ocean, stopping along the way to see stone beehive huts used by monks in the 500's and prehistoric ring forts used by Celts in 3-2,000 BC. We were excited to see the sites but tired of sitting in the car, so I planned a bike ride instead! I had heard great reviews of electric bikes from friends, which are just normal street bikes that have a battery pack that gives a little boost whenever you need, especially on hills. I booked the bikes last minute - about a week before we left - and grew progressively more nervous as the day approached, imagining a giant tour bus careening around a hairpin turn and smashing into my children before my eyes, or Sophie (who has the least experience riding in traffic) panicking at a confusing roundabout and launching headlong into an oncoming car. The night before and the morning of the ride I had a sick feeling that something bad would happen... but it was the same sick feeling I had before I went to Israel and to Chile and before my first day as a teacher and before the births of each of my kids and before Spain and before the first day of graduate school. Also small things like my first time boogie boarding and jet skiing. So I have learned to breathe through my fear, which I did again... and I was so glad I did!!!! We got fitted to our bikes at a big open space where we could practice riding around for awhile, and even though Stone's bike was too big for him, he learned to hop forward instead of to the side; Sophie looked totally comfortable. The bike guide Cathal was completely confident that we would be fine riding the Slea Head loop counter-clockwise, so he gave us a tutorial, outfitted us with helmets and yellow visibility vests, and off we went!!!

I wish so much that I could have taken photos as we rode, but it wouldn't have been safe. Here are some of our stops along the 30 mile route.

After biking up a few steep hills - difficult even with assistance - we were in desperate need of water! We found a roadside pub and guzzled.

Churches and ruins everywhere, dotting fields full of sheep and cows

Our bike locks were on spiral boingy bands, which Lucy put on her head and said, "Look, I'm at Coachella." To which Lindsay rolled her eyes. :) We hopped off our bikes and hiked along that path to the point in the distance, which ended at the ocean.

Stone was in heaven. He jumped off his bike and we said "two rules: be nice and don't die!" He ran free over the spongey turf and crazy rock formations

Stone had a blast climbing on those crazy rocks

At about the halfway point (at which the kids found out how long the ride actually was and nearly mutinied) we found a tiny cafe overlooking the sea, and the food was actually delicious! We rested for awhile before climbing back onto the saddle.

We still hadn't seen any ancient ring forts or round stone huts (which were used in the recent Star Wars movies where Luke is hiding on the island when Rey finds him), and I hoped we hadn't biked past them accidentally. Luckily, just a few kilometers past the lunch spot we saw a hand-written sign that said "Ancient Ring Forts. Hold a baby lamb." Um... yes please!!! We pulled off the road and found a young man whose property included many stone forts from the early Christian era. I asked him how long his family had owned the property, and he answered "for generations." Apparently the government gives grants to farmers with ancient sites on their land, and imposes stiff penalties (fines and prison time) if they harm the sites. So this guy charges a couple of Euros for tourists to tour the forts, and he keeps his sheep farm going as his ancestors did, but with the entrepreneurial addition of charging for 15 minutes of cuteness. And boy was it worth it for us!!

This cute little thing was only a week and a half old

He feeds his lambs once every three hours (like human babies!) and we happened to arrive at the exact right time!!!

Stone also snuggled with the farmer's dog, named Buddy, and laughed and laughed at the lamb's crazy suckling on the bottle.

Beautiful red, yellow, and purple flowers everywhere along the path

Early Christian stone huts. Erik is going to Photoshop light sabres in later. :)

Next stop: prehistoric Irish ring forts. Erik had started to sing his trademark song, "Old, old, old, old, this is old, that is old," and plus he had lots of work to do, so I told him to sit the next site out and get some work done via his phone. He also performed the task of watching our bikes. What a view, right??

This is a complex of round stone huts from the ancient Celts, about 3-2,000 BC. They lived in family groups, and the stone ring around their neighborhood added extra protection to the ocean and cliff. There was an open area as well where the druid would perform their pagan rites.

A narrow passage leading to an underground cave where they would hide in times of trouble.

Stone took a photo in the underground cave

Walking back to the bikes

Stone got reeeeeeeally tired by the end. Sophie had many tearful spells, but pushed through like a champion. Erik and I are so proud of our kids!!!

After returning home, Sophie and I thought it was worth it to walk back to town to try the restaurant regarded as having Ireland's best fish and chips. It was AMAZING and worth the leg pain. Erik, Lindsay, and Lucy chose poorly and stayed near the house for Ireland's best pizza, which they reported was terrible. :)

Dingle is the most beautiful town! I took this picture to send to Lindsay and Lucy because I am terrified of Moriarty on Sherlock; look at those beautiful store fronts!!!

We were really sad to be leaving Dingle the next day - Stone said he wanted to live there forever.