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