North Trip Day 4: Sligo to Louisburgh

Day 4 was a beautiful day as well, which was perfect for the day of visiting tombs and cairns while driving back to Louisburgh!

A statue in Derry showing how Catholic and Protestant are bridging the gap -- really cool symbol.

The remnants of my Skittles ice cream. SO GOOD.

Other highlight of the morning -- Katie K and Taylor had A LOT OF COFFEE!!!!!!!

The bridge, I believe crossing the Foyle River, that breaks up North and South.

To be extra tourist-y, we didn't just drive over it, but we got out and walked on it.

It had some very pretty views and it was a very nice morning, so I didn't mind :)

Owen pestering Brittnie :)

First big stop of the day -- a court burial site.

Cairn = lots of rocks!

We were trying to figure out if the stones were arranged to be kind of like a ship. I like the idea.

Once again, teeny tiny archways

Second major stop: Drumcliffe, where Yeats is buried. This is a statue representing one of my favorite poems of his, "Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" <3

The swan doors.

Drumcliffe itself is a cool church that Yeats' relative was the reverend of, way back in the day!

Yeats' tomb!

Me attempting to be cool and tourist-y at the same time.

Interior of Drumcliffe -- a very pretty church

Tom and Pat with Yeats' tomb!

Pat memorized one of Yeats' poems, 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree' and recited it for us :D it was really cool to stand there and listen to the words he wrote!!!

Third and final major stop: Queen Maeve's tomb. Sadly, it involved a huge uphill hike to get to. This is the view back from a little ways up...

The path ahead (can't even see the tomb yet)

The tomb is visible!! But oh wait, we still had to climb a lot more to get there...

The tomb! Legend has it that Queen Maeve was buried here standing upright, staring down her enemies in Ulster :) it's a 40' tall stone cairn, kind of like the Creevykeel one we saw earlier, but cooler.

At the top of the tomb are yet more stones -- these are brought up by pilgrims. I was never told why, just that I should grab a rock to bring up. I brought a palm-sized pebble, but clearly others bring larger offerings.

Calla and I enjoying the wind at the top of the tomb

View from the top :)

There was a different path off to the side that offered a really nice view of the shore, so I rambled on that for a little bit to get my calves to un-cramp...

Calla, Katie K, Ava, and Sara starting the trek back down

As Taylor so aptly phrased it, Bailey getting a ride on a "Kyle taxi"... not that she was very happy about the situation...

Every time we see Croagh Patrick, I know we're home again :D

 And there you have it, friends! A successful trip to the North. We have much less than a month now, but we're enjoying every second of our remaining time :) I'll try to post again sometime in the near future with all the fun things we're getting up to!

-S

North Trip Day 3: Giant's Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede, and Derry

Hello friends! Sorry for the delay -- I'm hoping to get the last two days of our trip blogged for your viewing pleasure today :)

Owen and Katie M skipping to breakfast :)

Nobody wanted the tomato in their Irish breakfast. I GOT SO MUCH LYCOPENE, GUYS

Calla and I both agreed that this mannequin looked an awful lot like a zombie...

The sun decided to come out and stay out today!!!!!!

One thing I really liked about being in the North was that we were never very far from the water :)

The long road to the Causeway -- the part of this trip I was most excited about!!!

Since it was the first big weekend for tourism, the place was crawling with people...

See? Tourists everywhere. I felt kind of silly after realizing I was indignant about it, though, since I am a huge tourist myself.

Giant's Causeway consists of a big area of amazing scenery. Loved it.

Same picture, but with the accidental inclusion of Quizzical Man.

Lots of the rocks have names around here, since there's so much mythology to go with it. I think that point out there had something to do with another foot.

This is why I liked Giant's Causeway so much -- bunches of the rocks are hexagonal for NO APPARENT REASON. Hence, why people think that giants made it instead of nature. I like both theories :D

The twisty part of the Causeway was really cool, but hard to climb on when wearing inappropriate footwear...

I did learn a few names -- the rock that child is reclining on is either called the Giant's Foot or Giant's Shoe. I've already forgotten. There goes my credibility...

This part I know for sure is called the Organ. Taylor and I hiked up here, and were saddened to see that the road beyond it was closed because of a rock slide.

I actually blonded up a little this day because of the sun -- so nice!!

We made it our mission to get to the ocean as often as possible while strolling around the Causeway. The waves definitely made me miss surfing though!!

Brittnie and Beaner being adorable in the parking lot

Taylor and his favorite two red-heads!

Our secondary destination of the day -- a very cool rope bridge called Carrick-a-Rede

BRIDGE!

The water near it was super clear and very pretty

A better shot of the wonderful water

I mentioned earlier I was wearing poor footwear for the day. My decision-making skills were as follows: "I'm wearing shoes that might fall off on the bridge. So, I'll take them off!" What's the first thing I do but stub my toe and bleed all over the place. It was stupendous.

Katie M and me, triumphant bridge-crossers!

The bridge, in this photo, looks way scarier than it actually was in my view.

Katie K had a standing bet with me that she wouldn't be able to cross it, since she's afraid of heights -- but she practically pulled me across it both ways. So, I lost the bet. But it was worth it :)

Eric: "How far down do you think that is?" Me: "Far enough"

Walking back across :)

The bridge is about 60 feet off the water, which didn't seem too bad. The significance of the bridge is that it connected the island to the mainland -- the island had very important salmon nets that the fishermen needed to be able to check. Now it's a fun tourist thing :D

The path also wound up along a different hill, so we got some more hiking in for the day. It looks far more dramatic from a distance!

Hand-holding besties :D

Ava attempting to figure out if Eric was actually napping or not. He really was.

After a day of hiking up and down big hills and rocks, we decided to cruise around the Foyleside Mall (because, you know, we hadn't walked enough yet). Calla and I found a dress with polka dots on it -- and sitting on those polka dots are cats. FULL OF WIN.

Lots of really cool graffiti in Derry!

 That rounded off a very long but fun and sunny day -- on to Day 4, our journey home!


-S