Chasing the Sunset / "Forget about it, we just climbed Croagh Patrick!"

Hello all! What a busy weekend we've had -- Thursday night we had a really clear sunset, so Melissa & Colleen & I walked down to the beach and waited for the sun to set over Clew Bay.

The view between two of the housing developments on the way to the beach

My favorite hill en route to the beach

I don't know what this hut used to be used for, but it was framed really nicely against Clare Island in the distance :)

The road down to the beach

The hills and Clare Island framing the sun as it sinks over Clew Bay!

From where we were, the sun didn't sink directly over the water, but it was pretty close!

I had to take my flats and socks off to climb onto my perch for watching the sunset; and because it took about a half hour for the sun to properly set, I took a picture of the rocks and my shoes. Artsy.

That's as far as it set before we got tired and went home... still a very pretty view!

The same hut as before, framed against different hills!

Me and Brittnie, hanging out after the beach adventure. It was such a nice night, a lot of people were outside hanging out and fooling around :D

 Friday morning was the big day -- the first group climb of Croagh Patrick!!! For some, it will be our first and last time, since it was a very difficult climb, but others are sure to do it again...

The brave explorers, getting ready to set out!!!!

The view from the first hundred feet in...

All three boys climbed the mountain without shoes -- here they're taking them off by a statue of St. Patrick

Barefoot champions! Taylor, Eric, and Kyle

The view of the challenge ahead of us...

Calla and Croagh Patrick

There were 3 distinct 'legs' to the climb -- here we took a break maybe halfway through the first leg and took a picture of how high up we were. At the time we thought we had climbed a really long way... little did we know...

Status picture #1: sweaty and aching calves, but none the worse for wear yet. The first 'leg' of the journey had a pretty good incline to it but the rocks were safe to climb on and it wasn't very windy yet...

Amber illustrating the raw power of the WIND as soon as we hit the beginning of the second leg. It quite nearly blew us off our feet, and some people were turning back because it felt too dangerous. We, of course, walked sideways through it and kept going...

Me and Melissa trying to stand still in the wind, and kind of failing...

The second leg of the climb was mostly flat and a clear path, but the wind was phenomenal. I wish we would've had a wind gauge, to see how fast it was going -- it felt like tornado speeds at least.

Amber and Melissa, with the rest of the group in the distance -- not too bad of a path along here

The view from the second leg. You can just see the corner of a small lake on the right -- very misty and maybe raining off in the distance? It didn't rain on us, but it did get cloudy and cold for a little while

Status picture #2: just starting the third and final leg, very tired, not amused but hanging in there...

You can see the trail behind us, the second leg mostly...

The third leg, dubbed 'Hell' -- almost vertical climb, lots of loose rocks and sand, and very hard on the legs. The most difficult part of the climb, hands down...

The view from the top!!!! There are supposed to be 365 islands out there, but we could only see a few, because some clouds occasionally wandered across the area

Status picture #3: happy to be alive

Melissa, Taylor, me, Katie Murphy, Eric, Amber, Colleen, Bailey, Calla, and Kyle -- CHAMPIONS of the mountain!!!

The three Duluth Pack bags that made the climb with us: Amber, Kyle, and me

Calla, Katie M, and Taylor. The church is in the background

Bailey and I coming back down the third leg -- photo credit goes to the gale-force winds for ruining the picture....

Bailey expressing her happiness about being on level ground again, as we start leg 2 again

There's a tradition of writing names around this lake, though I couldn't figure out why... still really cool

Status picture #4: halfway done with leg 1, almost done -- very pleased!!!

Amber and I on solid ground again!!!!

Teeny tiny sign, should've been a lot bigger :P

Waiting for the van to pick us up again... happy to be alive and whole still :)

Looking back at the mountain -- an incredible experience, but very very difficult!

Status picture #5: happy to be sitting and ready to rest up/eat something/shower...

 All in all it was a splendid few adventures we had... We had more on Saturday as well, but I'm at the pub and the Ireland-France rugby game is on, so I'll post about Saturday later!!!

-S

How We Do (AKA Downtime In Louisburgh)

Greetings! It's been a while since I've blogged, so I figured I'd put up a quick post of some of my favorite sights around Louisburgh. It's been a very quiet few weeks since Dublin, and I've gotten very bad at carrying my camera around with me -- so most of these pictures were only taken on sunny days. Surprisingly, we've had a few of these these past few weeks, so you'll be seeing the 'best of' of Irish weather :)

The sun trying to peer through on our way to school!

I realized the other day that I hadn't actually taken a picture of the outside of our cottage yet -- Cabin 6!!

Katie Murphy, over to visit :)

The view out of our living room/dining area window, where I sat my butt down at the table and made myself write for almost an entire day. I mostly took the picture because that black speck in there is definitely a random cat wandering through the underbrush. Made my day.

One of my favorite views in Louisburgh -- a hill near the beach, which I try to walk or run or jog to every day.

The road to the beach! The left branch brings you down to the beach, the right one brings you to another neighborhood. I haven't explored down there yet, but I will soon, I think.

The beach <3 If I could somehow have a little hut right where I was standing when this picture was taken, I would easily be the happiest person ever.

One of the islands off in the distance; Clare, if I'm not mistaken. There's a saying here that one of the locals told us -- "If you can see Clare Island clearly, it will rain tomorrow. If you can't see Clare Island clearly, it's raining today." :)

Good old Croagh Patrick -- rumor has it that if our beautiful clear weather continues, we might try climbing it tomorrow!!! Challenge accepted :D

Proof that it really is spring here -- there are daffodils blooming EVERYWHERE. Love it!

The spider episode: we got back to our cottage to find this guy chillin' on our wall. I took a picture (still kind of blurry because of the poor light) and Katie, from her perch on a chair, instructed me to kill it. Since I like spiders (how can you hate something that kills mosquitoes?!?!) I refused and tried to haul it outside using newspapers. He pulled a runner, though, and I ended up stepping on him on our slate floor. I have since been lectured several times that I have to kill spiders on sight...

This ice cream bar deserves two awards -- one for how delicious the ice cream was, and another for how excellent that wrapper is. I have never seen any other item that shares my love of the paired question mark/exclamation point. ?! is just so wonderful for conveying a certain point!!

LOOK AT THE SUN!!!!! We really didn't know what to do with ourselves today, because the sun is very warm but the wind is still chilly and so is the air temperature. I tried sitting outside to do some homework, and it was great until the wind picked up. I was sent scurrying back inside thinking of putting on mittens, and how pathetic that would be, so instead I'm at the pub, posting this for all of you lovelies back home :)

 So that's kind of a summary of how life has been thus far -- tomorrow we might climb Croagh Patrick, which will involve me documenting the experience, and Saturday we have a day trip to Kylemore Abbey/Castle, and Clifden. Pictures will indubitably result from this trip as well, since it's supposed to be a very picturesque area. 

ALSO, the week after this one, MY PARENTS AND BROTHER WILL BE HERE TO SEE ME!!!!! This will be a very well-documented experience, full of adventure and excitement on everyone's behalf :)

Until then,

-S