Well, first let me tell you what my expectations of Ireland were. I have been to England twice and I expected it to be just like England only greener. It's the Emerald Isle, right? Well, granted it was April - but I didn't see too much that was green. I daresay there were many parts that reminded me of Moses Lake. Anyone else surprised at that? I was. They have an area that is called The Burren. Everyone said we had to go see it. Well, maybe after a few pints at the pub that place looks inviting, but to us sober tourists it was just rocky and flat with some water in sight (a la Moses Lake). I'd attach a picture, but I don't even think I took one.
Let's talk about the castles. Now, like most tourists, I love a good castle. I have been to some amazing ones in England, Whales, Italy and even California - so I was pretty stoked to see Irish castles. The guidebookes fail to mention that in Ireland all of the castles are crumbling ruins. They seem so proud of their castles. (Do they know that right next door in England many castles are still intact with furniture and everything? I bet they don't or they wouldn't brag so much about theirs.) If you are going to be touring Irish castles anytime soon you'd better bring your rose colored glasses and a vivid imagination.
Finally, we came across the Muckross House. It had furniture and everything! Now we're talkin'...
They have some crazy signs in Ireland. The first one is one of my favorites. It is a warning about getting too close to the edge of the cliff. I guess it is a guy stepping on the grass with a silouette of the mountais in the background, but to me it looks like a guy who is stepping on a fire as a couple of birds are flying by. Just to be safe, I stayed away from grass, fire and birds.
I was prepared for scary driving but this had to be the worst. The roads are so narrow and there are no lights at night. I just can't adequately describe the feeling of terror that I felt most days in the car - and we did a lot of driving! I couldn't wait to drop that car off and never have to drive in a car in Ireland again!! Poor Kacey had some motion sickness with her pregnancy (which she announced on the trip - yeah!) so she had the fear and the nausea.
The cottage we stayed in was so lovely. It was in a picturesque setting (aka "middle of nowhere"). We thoroughly enjoyed our home away from home.
The best part of the trip was getting Kristy back! She looked great and we had a wonderful time touring her mission sites with her. Yet, we spent most of the time visiting places that she had not served. David was following the guidebooks and Kristy kept saying she wanted to go to Northern Ireland and show us around the areas where she had spent the most time. The guidebooks had nothing good to say about Northern Ireland but, in the end, I loved Northern Ireland and could have spent lots more time there! Kristy says we should have listened to her...
My favorite part of the trip was getting to meet families that were special to Kristy. The Irish people are so nice. They loved Kristy and Kristy loved them. It is not easy being Mormon in Ireland. I can't really say why, it just isn't. The work progresses, but it is so slow. There are good, good people there, though, who are stalwart and faithful. We got invited to dinner by a family that Kristy knew and they said for us to follow them home from church. We were still driving an hour and a half later - that is how far they live from church. It's not that the area is remote, there just aren't enough members to warrant buildings so there are very few. How would you like to be a missionary and tell people about Christ's true church and invite them to come worship with you, only to have to tell them that they will have to travel an hour and a half to get there and once you are there you meet - not in a church - but in a rented room at the Ramada Inn! That takes a lot of faith, but there are lots of faithful people there and the work does go forth.
Jon had to head home a few days early to get back to work and I feel bad because I think some of the things we saw in those days would have been his favorites. He would have enjoyed the rope bridge and Giant's Causeway. He is the adventurous type. When we went to see the Cliffs of Moher, Jon led the way back to the car. It felt like we were in the "Sound of Music" and trying to escape over the mountains.
If Jon tells you it was boring, don't believe him... he had a "swine" time in Ireland!
We even went "pubbing". I was hoping to experience a pub scene similar to the one in the movie, P.S. I Love You, with great looking Irish guys singing songs you want to hear. Instead we found these guys...
You gotta love Irish shopping...
Who was brave enough to kiss the Blarney Stone? See if you can guess...
Ireland is lovely. We had a marvelous time. (Wow. Did I say marvelous? I sound like my grandmother.)
As Kristy would say, "It was a good craic!"
