my home land......ireland

i could write pages and pages from our two weeks of adventures in Ireland! Wow it was one good time. It was more than I even hoped it would be. I was told by many that Ireland is amazing and so pretty and the people are great........and they were right!

The Wicklow mountains were amazing. It was our first day in Ireland and we did this amazing hike. We saw a ton of sheep and goats on this hike. The picture to the right is of us at the lake before we hiked the mountain. This next picture (below) is from the top of the mountain.

After wicklow we went down to Waterford and camped almost right on the beach! We hiked a waterfall and of course.......we went swimming! Waterford is known to be the "sunny part" of Ireland. I think my definition of "sunny" is quite different. It was a cold swim, but not too cold. The picture below is of us after the swim. (not too sure what is up with Charlie's hair)

We did so much and I'm trying to just pick some great highlights so i dont bore you, my faithful readers. ok so the next really cool thing we did was we biked all around Beara pennisula. It was one of my favorite places. Its little motto is "the undiscovered pennisula." It was beautiful. We just kept stopping to take in all the beauty.The short little video below shows the view from the top of this hill we biked up (i think i would like to call it a mountain we biked up cause it was hella high)

Another one of my favorite days we spent in Killarney National Park and hiked Torc Mountain and saw this really amazing waterfall. (really amazing because it had been raining so much) This picture doesn't really capture its height or beauty so well.
The top of Torc mountain was really incredible! I'm running out of adjectives to use to describe Ireland. Nice, pretty, amazing.....well you get the picture.

we camped for 13 of the 15 nights. We really liked most of the campgrounds we stayed at. It was fun to stay with other campers. our tent was by far the smallest tent. These campers had some serious tents and camping equiment. we had a little dome tent, tarp, and a campstove that is smaller than a fist. It rained everyday. It rained like some sort of record rainfall we heard from the locals. They said rain is normal in Ireland but not this much rain. (even though it doesnt look like that at all in our pics. i guess we only tooks pics when the sun came out for its daily 30 minute viewing.) Two of the nights we stayed inside. One night we were really fancy and we stayed at this hotel called lake house hotel it was REALLY REALLY nice. This picture is the view from outside our room window.
There was this AWESOME outdoor hot tub too! It was for sure cold enough in Ireland to spend some quality time in there!

And a last little memory to tell you about are the Aran Islands. We were told that the Aran islands were one of the most beautiful place in the world. So we bought us some ferry tickets and planned to have a little island time before leaving Ireland. The night we got there it was raining so hard and it felt like we had to walk so far to our campsite. And when I say "campsite" I mean it was someone's field and it had toilets and sinks. So our wet soggy selves got to the campsite and we were pretty cold and hungry kids. We cooked some food in the lady's room, set up our tent, and slept. Slept for a few hours......... until some high schoolers came back to there tent and make so much noise. Oh....... the Aran Islands. We rented bikes the next morning and rode for about an hour until we were so wet we decided to return the bikes and pack our tent and return to the mainland of our beloved Ireland by ferry. That ferry ride is a whole other story. All I have to say is "have you seen a the movie A Perfect Storm? Ok well I almost lived that movie" (I can hear charlie now "jes....now I think your being dramatic, it wasnt that bad.......) The picture below is a view from our bike ride. It was really pretty. It was. I think we were just too wet and cold to see it in its beauty! Ireland.......... It was wonderful! It was beautiful and one day I will return to see it again.

England and Millay

I spent seven wonderful days in England, all over England, with my good friend Millay. We both treasured every minute. Just not knowing when we'll get to see each other next.

Millay and Andy live in Manchester and i really liked the area. We visited Liverpool. London. Oxford. I fell in love with Oxford. It was beautiful AND...... C.S. Lewis wrote The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe when he lived in Oxford. Now how cool is THAT!! I saw the lamp post and a creature that looked like Mr. Tumness. (Maybe I've seen this movie ten too many times) It was rated G and my parents allowed this movie, so of course I've seen it and have it memorized from my childhood days.

And now.......Back to my visit.......... it was just good solid time with a friend I know I will have for always.

We took a walk up the Peak district and here is a little pic from the windy top.

After out walk we stopped in a local pub and had tea and chips. England is one FUN place.

We talked and talked and enjoyed being together!

I feel like I saw so much of England.

The last place we went was London and it was raining pretty hard and so we found a little cafe in Soho and drank soy hot chocolate and ate pitas.

A great trip to England. And my journey continued when I flew Ryanair for like $25 to meet Charlie and explore Ireland.......... (stories are coming soon)