Back to writing

Hi everyone, all 6 of you reading my blog. I'm attempting to write again, but I'm writing on my other blog: The-world-according-to-em.blogspot.com. This blog is mostly for my various travel adventures and will be updated as soon as I find a new adventure. The "According to Em" blog is for my random thoughts and opinions on the world and its crazy people. I welcome writing ideas and thoughts. Thanks for reading my meager words and I wish you all happy holidays!

Em :)

Yet Another Adventure Finishes

It's always strange that when I get to the end of a trip, I, for some reason, never feel like finishing my blog. I think that all the "vacation" has worn me out and therefore I stop caring so much about the little things. But, I am here to complete this latest adventure of my amazing time in Ireland and Scotland. I have to say that I loved Scotland a little bit more than Ireland because it was, to me, more beautiful. But then it could have been that Ireland was experiencing a draught - no rain for 15+ days and it's a calamity in Ireland. If only LA had that problem.

Scotland had some of the most amazing castles, lush hillsides, amazing cliffs and rudest people. Ireland had numerous hiking trails, beautiful landscapes, and sweetest people, but my heart lies with Scotland, especially the Isle of Skye. There is just something serene about that Isle that makes me want to go back. It could be that the hostel was friendly and the hitchhikers polite or the fantastic view from the lighthouse and the stunning fairy pools, but I want to go back.

Ireland's Ring of Kerry and Ring of Dingle captured my heart the most. Aside from the annoying tourist buses that really shouldn't be driving on tiny roads and trying to push normal sized cars into the crashing waves below, it held a peaceful air about it. Mother Nature at her best.

I really feel that anyone who travels, you should go to Scotland and Ireland at some point in your lives. You don't have to have a specific reason as to why, you just have to have a love of nature, greenness, beer, and maybe castles. Or my rather dumb reasons (but reasons non-the-less) for wanting to go: to see green rolling hills, to find a road with a cobblestone wall running along it (like from the movie, "Leap Year"), to have sheep or cows blocking the road, and to find a leprechaun. I found everything, but the leprechaun, but there is always next time. I did see a rainbow though, so the leprechaun was about.

Anyhow, after Eli left us, we drove around the Ring of Dingle, because we only had one day in the area and the Ring of Kerry was too packed with tourists. Lots of pretty castles and beehive looking houses next to the water. We ended up in Cork for the night and promptly left the next day. The hostel that we stayed at was essentially a prison. Our room was down a narrow hallway with two more dorms and a co-bathroom off the sides. Upon opening our dorm door we were greeted with a tiny, whitewashed brick 30'x30' cell with 3 bunk beds crammed in. The bathroom next door has two toilets and two showers, but only one working sink for the entire floor. Trash and goo everywhere.

There used to be a time I wouldn't have even blinked at this, but I think I'm older, pickier, and I just want to be able to enjoy where I sleep when I travel. I made up a story about having a friend to stay with and so we wouldn't be needing our second reserved night in the prison hostel. No one battered an eye at this and I was promptly handed my money back. Good thing to because our next hostel was lovely and right next to an abandoned and crumbled Abbey - great for photos.

We visited a couple more Abbey's, a castle, a folk village, and a cave before heading back to the Dublin Airport. The journey was amazing and blessed relief from a couple long years of continual work (not that I'm against working, but vacations help you not burn out) and the fact that I didn't kill Robby is a grand accomplishment. The trip started off rocky, but when we realized we didn't need to plan everything, just go with the flow and see what we saw, everything worked out. So, in the end, I had a great time, but I am actually looking forward to working again. Hum, I must have finally find a job I like. Until the next adventure, thanks for sticking with me on my journey!!!

 For my best Friend, Candice, who is alway Tigger, and I'm always Eeyore.

 Robby and Eli at the Cliffs of Moher

Having camera fun at a graveyard

Robby and I inside a cave.

What a pretty place to rest.

The sun was awesome.

My rainbow, but no Leprechaun :(

Photos that tell a story becuase I'm lazy

 Finally found a sunset

 The Cliffs of Moher. Beautiful set of cliffs that stretched for seven miles and many people decide to take a swan dive off of.

 Random carins at the Cliffs of Moher. Some little boys were breaking them while other people were rebuilding them. Carins usually signify a trail, but these are at the base of the cliffs, so is the trail "down"?

While Robby and I drove the Ring of Dingle, we stopped for a photo break. Beautiful landscapes of hills and lakes.

 My new tattoo for anyone who cares. The little guy is named, Glow, and he is a tree spirit.

 More cliffs, on the Aran Island of Inishmore. I thought they were magnificent and peaceful to watch for hours, my cousin Eli and Robby disagreed and told me to step away from the edge.

 Waterfall inside Aillwee Cave.

 View from Clogher Head on the peninsula of Dingle.

 Wicked old tree in the middle of Muckross Abbey.

 Cork Goal, or old Cork Jail.

 Rain finally came to Ireland.

Little ghost calcium stalactite in Dunmore Caves.

Tattoos, Cliffs, and more Castles.

So, for Robby and my birthday, we thought that we would reinstill an old tradition that we had abandoned....getting a piercing or tattoo every year on or around our birthday. We started with a tattoo on our 18th birthday, much to the dimisay of our mother, and I've since added a few more along the way. I guess you could say that this tradition was reinstated because my tongue ring broke and I really needed to find a tattoo shop to get another one before the hole closed. We ended up in Donegal, a cute beach town near Bunduran, the surf town we were staying in. 

Enter Ruth Zombie and her amazing art work. Robby had been talking about getting a fairy on her back shoulder area for years, but I think she just kept chickening out or just couldn't decide on the exact design, so she never got it. But, she had an idea in mind and so she worked with Ruth to perfect it and voila, she now has a beautiful steampunk fairy dragging a bee on a leash and looking all high and might on her left shoulder blade. 

I had considered getting a Phoenix on my foot for the longest time, but lately I was thinking a weeping willow type tree. It's so hard to decide, but I googled a bunch of images and from four different pictures I found, Ruth created a brilliant gnarled tree losing its leaves with my added touch of a Japanese tree spirit from Princess Mononoke, I named him Glow. (pictures on Facebook)

So that our birthday experience, as well as seeing the Donegal Castle. Couldn't escape a town without seeing the castle now could we?

Eli, our cousin, decided that he was brave enough to spend a few days with Robby and I and do we picked him up from Galway Bus Station the following morning. He lives in England and so a small three day weekend in Ireland was a perfect escape for him. We toured the main square and then headed to our adorable B&B just outside of town. Patricia, the woman running Woodberry Cootage, couldn't have been any sweeter - offering tea and coffee the instant we stepped into her airy, large house. We grabbed some water and sat in the backyard taking in the sunshine and relaxing a bit before a lovely dinner at O'Grady's on the Pier.

Eli wanted to take us to a nice restaurant for our birthday and he succeed. Nothing like watching people splashing about in the water as the sun slowly set over a rocky jetty while you enjoy scrumptious, fresh mussels and drink a chilled glass of wine. Very serene and peaceful. We wandered the beach line after dinner before Eli and I headed to an Irish Pub to experience a little bit of Irish music and for Eli indulge with a Guinness (they're better in Ireland than the US, but still not a beer for me). The music turned out to be Irishmen singing American covers semi badly, but sounding kind of cool because of their accents. Overall, a lovely evening.

Day two of Eli's journey with Robby and I. He still hadn't killed us, but he did get to listen to us bicker a bit. Kind of entertaining from a viewers point of view- Robby's friends love to watch us fight while eating popcorn, but not so good if you're stuck with us for an extended period of time. Anyhow, I had booked us a ferry ride to Inis Mohr, the biggest of the Aran Islands. Said to have some of t he most majestic views and a small enough island that you could bike around in a few hours - exactly what we ended up doing. 

We stepped off the ferry and onto the jankiest bikes ever. I made it about a quarter of a mile before every time I pushed down on the pedal it would switch gears. Seems bikes hate me as much as computers. I switched my bike out and we headed for the Fort at the other end of the island. Now, it's been ages since I've ridden a bike, so I was a little rusty and I'm completely out of shape, so essentially the mini hills killed me. I wanted to walk the stupid bike, especially I because I was afraid to change the gears for fear that they would stick, but I kept pedaling. I have no idea why most of my friends consider biking to be an enjoyable sport.

The fort was great, set high on the tallest hill of the island with a 700 meter drop to the crashing waves below. I laid on the edge to get some photos and enjoy the view. For some reason being super high and looking down at the water is soothing to me. To Eli and Robby, they seemed to think I had a

death wish, whimps.

Eventually I left the edge and we biked back to the ferry. We were in Carey County and near Carremara - a large expanse of terrain with beautiful beaches, quaint little towns, green hills, and stone walls. I think that we drove every main road around and through the region, hitting sunset along Sky Drive- a road over looking the water.

Day 3 with Eli- the a cliffs of Moher, one of the most touristy places inn Ireland, but we still had to go there. They are a series of cliffs that stretch for about seven miles and have some of the most magnificent views. You can even see the Aran Islands from the on a good day, like that evening. We started out "mini" hike up the left trail of the cliffs because there was supposedly a lighthouse near by. After 20 minutes of walking, we saw said light house, but it was still quite a ways away. So much for a small walk, we ended up at the edge of the cliffs two+ miles down. I stopped about every two minutes to snap another photo and peer over the edge while Eli and Robby eventually gave up stopping to wait for me or even yelling at me to "step away from the edge". It truly was stunning.

With Cliffs of Moher checked off our list, we headed to Awilee Cave, some guy's dog fell through the ground and went he went to rescue the puppy, he discovered a large area of underground caves that bears used to live in. Apparently Ireland decided to cash in on the natural wonder and added a cheese making shop down the hill as well as a bird habitats you could pay to see. Go tourism. Anyhow, I thought the caves were cool, especially the waterfall at the end and they were blessedly cold. The weather in Scotland and Ireland has been freakish - in the high 80's and 90's with humidity. I brought lots of hoodies and pants, expecting rain and chill. Maybe Cali weather followed us?

We ended the tour of Ennis County with a seafood chowder at a pub in Doolin while listening to locals sing Irish ballads. Pretty impressive, they just took over a table in the middle of the room, brought out their instruments and started to play. The guy next to them decided to add the lyrics.

We finished the night in an Irish pub in downtown Galway. We couldn't leave Galway without experiencing true Irish pub culture - a pint and live music. Eli kept telling us that you headed to a pub, talk with the locals and if they like you, after the pub closes you head to the local's house to enjoy more song and dance with whiskey and Guinness. We didn't happen to meet any hospitable locals that evening, but the music was nice and the whiskey was delicious. 

Today, our last day with Eli, was a quiet half day of walking around Galway City Center, browsing the shops and indulging in delicious food and gelato. We wandered Salthill, apparently a hotspot for Ireland, but really a tiny beach town that might have been something years ago, but is now more of a geriatrics hub with a side of families trying to cool off in the shallow waves of the rocky beach. Not too lovely, but I guess locals will take what they can get, epesically in the hot weather.

Eli hopped on his bus back to the Dublin airport and we headed to Killarney for the evening. Along the journey we stopped at Bunratty Castle and Folk Village. The castle is used today for reenactment dinner shows of a 1700 dinner feast in the evenings and houses original furniture from the castle eras to show tourists what it looked like to live in a castle during the 15th-19th centuries. 

The folk village consists of original houses and buildings from the 1600's to the 1800's gattered from all over the country and dropped next to Bunratty Castle to create a village of past eras. We wondered through the old homesteads, shops and forests, experiencing history. An interesting and amazing place, even if we had to run through the town as we of course showed up an hour and a half before close. 

Well that is roughly a few days written in two hours and a semi long blog. I guess enough for this entry? Nite dear readers.

Beginning of Ireland

Dublin, a great place to walk around and experience history. Robby and I decided to take a three hour walking tour that went through the whole Viking history of Dublin and Ireland - the Vikings came here to take over, but liked the people and started families, with a few wars thrown in against England. We walked through the Temple Bar area, the most touristy and night clubish part of the city, but it has its own uniqueness and seems like an Irish New Orleans; we saw an old cathedral that has catacombs under it; and basically wandered O'Connell street - a mile long row of shops and hotels.

Since Robby and my birthday was coming up, I purchased tickets to Mumford and Sons weeks before and handed them over to Robby, after making her leave the walking tour early. The concert just happened to be that evening and it was awesome. Well, aside from the public transit dropping us (and everyone else) off in front of Phoenix Park and no one having any idea of where to go, but to just follow the stream of other concert goers for miles down the main drag. We past the zoo, the cricket field, the botanical gardens, and still no convert venue in sight. It just happened to be at the other end of Europe's largest park. Maybe bigger (or similar sized) than New York's Central Park. 

The concert started at three and went to about 11pm. We started out sitting in a grass field, relaxing in the sunshine, but as the evening wore on, more and more people showed up and our comfy little area became overcrowded with drunk Irish teenagers and a cesspool of trash from all the food vendors at the event. We were entertained by the Irish equvelant of "hicks", that wore overalls with one strap hooked, all trying to jump on each others shoulders to see the stage, but falling into the crowd of giggling girls. They would then go around picking up any girl in front of them and hefting them onto their shoulders. Fun so long as they didn't pick us up.

The next morning we headed to Dublinia - a exhibit on the Viking history of Dublin (more history), complete with outfits you could try on and lots of things you could touch. My faborite part was an example of an old fashion toilet, complete with a plastic guy sitting on it and sound effects. I couldn't stop laughing.

Afterwards we walked to the Kilmainham Gaol - the old Jail. Built in the 1700's and disused in the 1930's. It housed political prisoners as well as common criminals. The jail was unquie in that it was the first of its kind to offer sunshine to the prisoner- someone decided that they should try and rehabilitate the prisoners by giving them light, makes people happier, rather than throwing them in a dark dungeon and letting their fury turn them into meaner convicts. The prison also housed beggars- when it was illegal to be homeless or ask for food during the Great Potato Famine, a five-year-old boy that stole a piece of metal, a six-year-old girl that was found on a train without a ticket and since she was too young to have money, she couldn't pay the fine, so she ended up in prison, and a bunch people that they exicuted for treason. The prison has since been restored, by a few former prisoners, and used in numerous film and tv shows as well as for daily tourist visits. 

Done with the jail and completely tried from walking about 6 miles, we ate fish and chips, so good here, and headed off the bed. I also just want to mention, for all my drinking friends, we passed by the Guinness brewery, but kept walking. Huge factory, but since neither Robby nor myself care too much about gross, hoppy beer, we decided paying $30 was a waste of money to take a tour. I took a couple pictures of the outside though, just to say I've been there.

The next morning we got up early and headed up the eastern coast to Bru an Boinne, an area of neolitethic tombs built around 5000-7000 years ago. That's 500 years before the pyramids and 700 years before Stonehenge. They are large mounds with passageways dig int them that leads to a tomb in the center. They were lived on top of, but the dead were buried inside. Some of the little ones housed families. They look like grassy verisons of the turtle from The Never Ending Story. Very cool and we didn't get sneezed on. 

Onwards to Trim Castle, home of Hugh de Lacy, an Irish noble that preceeded over Meath County, the most extensive liberty in Ireland at the time. It was a large fortress that had a Keep - what I originally thought was a castle, in the middle. Castles apparently are a fortified area, so a walled area with numerous buildings inside. The tall building in the middle with the turrets along the top is called a Keep and it houses the King and only the people that he trusts, inside - about 20 or so people. Everyone else sleeps outside in the courtyard or in little tents. So much for trusting the help. 

The following morning we visited Boyle Abbey, an old abbey that was used well into the 1700's but was eventually shut down by the English because it didn't share the same religious beliefs. The abbots that lived there didn't talk and prayed seven times a day. What a boring life, but at least their home was beautiful. Tall stone walls, with large glass windows, letting in the light and a wide inner courtyard to walk and meditate in. 

Next stop on our never ending historical sites road trips, another castle, Parke's Castle. It was originally owned by an Irishman, Brian, that built it and made it his own, but he had hide a spanish general in his house for three months and when Queen Elizabeth found out about it -see England didn't much care for Spain in those days, she had the O'Rouke arrested and brought before her to apologize for housing an enemy of the country. The O'Rouke refused and was thus beheaded in 1591 and the house was handed over to Roger Parke, a Bristish general. Parke evicted O'Rouke's family, tore down O'Rouke's Keep, and built a new one house foor his family with the stone. 

Final stop of the day...tombs. This time, megalithic and older than the ones we had just seen. We visited Carrowmore, a giant cemetery with over 70 passage tombs discovered in it. A passage tomb is a shallow grave with giant rocks places around the edges and a large stone, a Dolmen, placed on top of the other stones. Looks like a mini archway as there is a small entrance on one side, hence a "passage". All of the tombs align with a massive Cairn tomb (large piles of rocks in a dome shape) in the center of the cemetery. There are various other Dolmens and cairns on the outskirting mountains around the county that can be seen from the middle cairn grave and anthropologist think this was done on purpose, all the dead face a central location - maybe because of something spiritual. But the funny thing is that the large cairn in the center of the cemetery was built last, about 200 years after the cemetery was created. I don't think we will ever understand ancient societies. 

There is more, but that will just have to be on another blog as your eyes are most likely glassed over. Thanks for reading if you made it to the end. And your reward...more photos (I know some of you cheated and just scrolled down until you got to the pretty pictures).

 Window at Boyle Abbey

 Firing wall that the Prison guards at the jail executed prisoners at.

Tomb

 Parke's Castle

Robby imitating the face behind her.

Me imitating the face behind me.

Neolithic tomb.

More pictures

Since I'm very tired and lazy right now, I'm gonna just post pictures. But that is all you really want to see anyhow, isn't it?

Glasgow Castle

 

The Whiskey's that I tried in Loch Ness. I really like the one on the right (the darker one)

The Hill House, designed by William Mackintosh in 1902

 An example of Mackintosh's amazing wall designs and furniture. He was definitely ahead of his time.

 Doctor Who now serves Ice Cream

 Not sure where I took this, but pretty

Reminds me of my latest show, "Joe Rogan Questions Everything". This photo is for my crew!

 Museum on how the people lived in the 1700's. This exhibit had sound effects, hilarious.

 Robby put Mustashio and I in the stocks.

 Creepy jail corridor.

 18th century jail

 Creative photo of street art with a train running past.

 The Spire in Dublin

 Neolithic tombs from 5000 years ago.

Trim Castle

 Lake next to Parkes Castle

 Robby taking a picture of Megolethic Passage Tombs from 7000 years ago

 View from above of Trim Castle

 I finally got to see my livestock in the middle of the road.

Boyle Abbey

Goodbye Scotland

Our last day in Skye and we were sad because this was the best place we'd been, the most beautiful, and the friendliest. For anyone who travels, you will always end up with a favorite place that you don't want to leave. For me, this was the Isle of Skye. But with all good road trips, they must continue on and since I didn't feel like doing anything the easy way, Robby and I headed back to the mainland via a ferry. 

I wanted to feel the wind in my hair and sail the seven seas... But all I got was a 30 minute, overly crowded, ferry ride. Oh well, it was entertaining non-the-less and the ocean breeze was a blessed welcome to the humid weather that Scotland seems to be inflicted with. I didn't pack any shorts because to me, 60 degrees is cold. Apparently Scotland didn't get the memo and decided to give its pale residents and visitors sunburns. 

The ferry dropped us in Mallaig, the end of the road for the train line that was built in the 1800's so that the government could get to the outskirt towns that were constantly fighting. It was also built to help bring in the food that the ocean front towns grew and caught. We stopped at a lovely little train cafe, operating out of an original train from the early 1900's and had a lovely toastie and soup. Toasties seem to be the food of choice for Scotland. It's basically a sandwich, minus lettuce or tomato, toasted, grilled, or on normal bread. They are everywhere, as well as homemade soups made of strange pairings such as parsley and carrot or fig and turnip. 

Down the road from the train cafe was the Glenfinnan Monument, built in honor of Bonnie Prince Charles (Prince Charles Edward Stuart), a Jacobite (person who fought to have Scotland seperated from England and to be its own country) who brought a bunch of high-powered families together to fight for Scottish independence, thus starting a short lived, 8 month, war that ended with Bonnie running away due to treason. But he did inspire the Scotish people, who erected the monument after the Jacobite cause no longer mattered. 

We climbed to the top of the pillared monument, crawling out of a 1"x1" hole, to get a fantastic view of the bay and of the railroad tracks that lead to Hogwarts. Robby and I were even lucky enough to see a train cross the bridge, but no Harry Potter. Maybe next time. 

Onwards, we drove to Fort William, thinking this is where we were going to be staying for the evening, but quickly realizing that we'd booked a b&b 56 miles away. We wanted to see Loch Ness, possibly even find Nessie, and for some reason we had thought that Fort William was near Loch Ness. Oh well. We had just enough time to explore Europe's mountain gear/camping sale capital before we went broke and all the shops closed. It is kind of an outdoor adventurist's dream city -tons of high quality, reasonably priced outdoor gear next to the highest mountain peak in Scotland, Glen Nesbit, and a 60 mile stretch of beautiful hiking and camping sites.  

We spent the night next to the northern tip of Loch Ness, enjoying an amazing dinner of fresh salmon accompanied by surprise whiskey tasting. There we over 200 whiskey's in the bar, so we just asked to be surprised on what we sampled. Of the three we tried, one tasted like ethanol, one slightly sweet with hints of sherry, and the last one, amazing sherry undertones with a smooth finish. I kept the glass to sniff during desert. Yummy, but probably an expensive bottle, so my alcohol tastes still remain high class. If I become an alcoholic I'm gonna have to make a lot of money to keep my taste buds happy.

The following day I go my true boat ride. I know it is a pathetic waste of money, but whenever will I be in Scotland again, so I dragged Robby on a Loch Ness Nessie tour. It was just the two of us and our tour guide, Dick, who was awesome. He originally came to Loch Ness to help researchers find Nessie. He even filmed one of the evidentiary shots of "something large and fast" swimming through the water. He's been looking for Nessie for over 40 years, but he's convinced that she doesn't exist and has tried to disprove other people's findings with scientific opinion for te last 15 or so years. Interesting because he really does want to prove that Nessie is real, but if no one has any type of proof (a live creature or bones of a dead one) in over 60 years and the lake isn't all that big, then is there really a sea monster hiding in it's depths?

After spotting Nessie rearing her head in the form of a duck 400 meters away, we headed down the country to Glaslow via Glen Coe, the 60 miles of hiking trails and amazing wilderness. We stopped for a little bit at a waterfall on the side of the road, but continued on to make it to our next couchsurfer's house before late evening.  On the way though, we made a slight detour to visit "Hill House", a turn of the 20th century home build by William Rennie Mackintosh for Charles Blackie, a famous children's author of the time. 

Mackintosh was a brilliant, young architect that was either able to see the future or anticipate what the future would look like because the house that he built for the Blackie family in 1902 is reminiscent of a 1960's art deco house; rose motifs elegantly placed throughout the rooms, color coded doors -pink glass squares for women and purple for men, utilization of the light-east wing for the children, west wing for the parents as well as grand manipulation of how light can filter into a room and illuminate a space, plus he added special play nooks for the children and reading nooks for the adults. Most of the furniture in the house was designed by his wife, Margaret, and himself; high back chairs with intricate drawings etched in the seat backs or practical chairs taught to teach the children to sit up straight by ensuring if they slouched, they'd slip off the chair. Rather ingenious. They wouldn't let us take pictures inside the house, but I encourage anyone with an interest in art deco, architecture, or design to google Mackintosh, you won't be disappointed. 

Ok, I'm sure some of you are wondering where the pictures are and falling asleep reading my babbles, so I will try and sum up Glasgow. Bert, our amazing couchsurfing host, took us to a bunch of cool pubs and shared his knowledge of Scotland -we'd finally found a Scottish person to stay with in Scotland. We spent day one of two wandering around, stopping at the Glasgow Art College, designed by Mackintosh. Mackintosh went to Glasgow to learn art and ended up taking architecture night classes at the school for ten years. In 1894 the school held a competition to design the new school, because they were getting an influx of students and needed more space, so Mackintosh submitted his design and won at 28-years-old. 

The school is even more magnificent than Hill House. I've never had a favorite architect before, but I'm pretty sure it is Mackintosh now. He went on to design 40 tea houses around Glasgow and a bunch of houses, but ended up dying of mouth cancer in the 1930's, poor and unappreciated. I'm starting to think all brilliant people live sordid lives and are only truly appreciated after they are gone.

We visited The Lighthouse, another Mackintosh building that used to house the city newspaper in the teens and twenties but has since been converted into a museum with a history of Glasgow exhibit on the bottom floor, a history of Mackintosh exhibit on the middle floor, a tea shop, and a very tall spiral tower that we climbed to view the city from 360 degrees. 

We spent our last day in Scotland wandering through the Kelvingrove Art Museum and Kelvingrove Park. Both lovely and good for killing time and enjoying a little bit of Scotland for free. 

So that is all of Scotland, our whole time in the kelt wearing, whiskey drinking, non dreary country. It was an amazing two weeks and hopefully Ireland will inspire and dazzle me as Scotland has.

Hitchhikers and One Lane Roads

 

Robby being a dork at Strome Castle

 

 

Elian Donan Castle - made famous by "Highlander, the movie"

 

We picked up hitchhikers and it was awesome. Now, I know that in America it is a bad thing to pick up the creepy, smelly guy sticking his thumb out, but in Europe, it's relatively a safe and sane thing to do. Plus, Robby and I were a little bored and we felt that we would be doing a Mithaz by helping the strained couple that we saw on the side of the road. I think it does help that a girl was in the hitchhiking party as she looked more friendly and safe than if there was a random guy on the side of the road. Anyhow, we ended up with Roger and Debbie for the whole day.

Let me backtrack a second, Robby and I had arrive on the Isle of Skye the previous evening and went out drinking with a couple of the hostel employees and about 14 people from a 28-person tour group. It was a little like being back in College as the average age of the kids was 23, plus we played "King's Cup" and some other "get-you-drunk-fast" card game. Good thing the local pub had cheap beer on tap. Overall it was an enjoyable evening considering that we've been old hags lately and not experienced any type of nightlife at all. Partly due to us having to be at our couchsurfing people's houses at a certain time or being boring ass "old people" 50 years too soon. Anyhow, we closed the bar down and then went to sleep in our "Yellow Welly Caravan", quite literally a Winnebago/Connex container with 5 bunk beds squished in it and parked in the garden behind the hostel. The bathroom being outside, in a shack, or inside the actually hostel. What can I say, we like to travel cheap. Best part, the beds were super comfy; worst part, every time someone walked in the trailer, it shook everything, including our bunk - not cool.

Ok, back to the hitchhikers. Robby and I decided that we were going to have a "relaxing" day; we weren't going to make any plans, just go with the flow. We started with a lovely drive to Dunvegan Castle, on the far side of the island. Along the hour journey to the castle, we acquired Roger and Debbie, two backpackers from Switzerland. They were headed roughly the direction we were going and we offered to give them a lift to the town of Dunvegan, but told them we were going to the castle. They decided to come to the castle with us. Now, this was about Robby and my 8th or 9th castle, but their first. They looked a little worst for wear on the money front and we didn't really want to pressure them into coming into the castle with us, but they decided to follow us around and so I at least hoped that this castle was not a let down like some of the previous castles.

  

Entrance to Dunvegan Castle

 

We need-ant have worried as Dunvegan is an extremely large castle that sits on a loch (lake) and has about 15 rooms you can wandering in with placards describing everything in detail. A mini museum on the history of a very unfortunate family that owned the castle and kept dying or losing it to other armies. There was also spectacular gardens surrounding the castle with a walled garden, a rose garden, a mini forest garden, and a few other gardens. For about $15 dollars more you could have taken a mini boat ride on the loch to see the castle from the water and the local population of seals. Robby and I decided that since we know what seals look like - they are all over San Francisco and a nuisance, they weren't worth the extra fee to see them in Scotland.

Dunvegan from the Loch

Next stop, Neist Point, a small lighthouse at the Edge of the World - so said our hostel employee/new friend/drinking buddy in the morning. Roger and Debbie still accompanying us as we left Dunvegan. Apparently they didn't have any plans for the day and had also heard of the lighthouse, so why would they/should they give up a free car ride out to the cliffs and the lighthouse? Driving there, we realized that without a car, there is no way to see this attraction. It's at the tip of the Isle, along a small, curvy, one car-length wide road with two way traffic and "oh look, the road vanished" hills. A bit nerve wracking getting there, but after almost hitting one car and making another drive backwards down a cliff face, we arrived at a brilliant blue sea with jutting cliffs and an abandoned lighthouse.

 

Baby sheep on the drive out to the lighthouse.

 

We stomped down an impressive number of steps and proceeded to walk to the edge of the cliffs to get a better view of the lighthouse from the side. In every country, but America, your safety is your concern. The countries figure if they put up a "Warning Sign" telling you that you are entering a dangerous area, that is efficient enough. If you happen to walk to the edge of a 200-foot drop cliff to take a picture and you slip and fall to your death, well that's your fault now isn't it? The country isn't going to honor any family member's sue claim. You're an adult, take responsibility for your actions. So that is what we did, walked out to the edge of a cliff and peered over. I even tripped on a rock, nearly sending me to a watery grave - nightly news update, "Idiot America, trips. Darwin wins again!"

 

Picture I almost died for to take

 

Luckily I saved myself, not my pride, and was able to snap my photo and proceed down more steps to the lighthouse. I'm not sure when the lighthouse last worked, but at some point it was turned into a hostel (also closed now). I would certainly stay there for an evening - just listening to the waves crashing on the rocks below, watching the sheep grazing in the grassy field surrounding the cliffs and just relaxing, maybe even seeing a ghost of some lost soul trapped there because they decided to throw themselves off the cliffs in a fit of jealous rage or love - who knows, it's possible (hey, I come from Hollywood, everything has a story, whether it's true or not).

 

The Edge of the World

We all wandered around the abandoned and ":private property" lighthouse, taking various pictures and trying to imagine what it looked liked when it was still operational. At first Robby was freaking out because I went through the hole in the fence to see the buildings that were "off limits", but I figured, who is really going to chastise me in the middle of nowhere, and if someone was actually still living there (highly doubtful), I'd just apologize and walk away. It's not like I would ever get a chance to come back and I wanted to make the most of my journey. Apparently I started a coup and a bunch of the other people wandering around decided to follow my lead into trespassing. Opps.

As much as we were enjoying the peaceful calm of the cliffs, we still wanted to see the Fairy Pools. We weren't sure what they were, we just knew they were swimming capable pools of water and suppose to be beautiful. Since we weren't near any kind of town and Roger and Debbie still didn't have any plans, they stuck with us. It was getting on to about 6pm, but thankfully sunset in Scotland is around 11pm. Another hour later, and having circled the same area twice, a friendly cop told us the correct directions to the Fairy Pools. They turned out to be various waterfalls continuously pouring into one another and all flowing from a mountain range in the distance. We walked about two miles along the ridge of the falls, wanting to jump in, but chickening out because it was kind of chilly out and we didn't really feel like skinny dipping. Debbie really wanted to find the main pool that the water all flowed from, but it was getting late, 9pm now, and we didn't want to be driving on the one lane roads in the dark. It's hard enough to see the oncoming cars during the day, so why risk death at night. Sure, the tourist drive like cautious old ladies, but the locals are speed demons. I really think that a lot of get-a-way drivers come from Scotland - they can turn on a dime and speed through tiny crevices, plus they know how to back up in a straight line, no matter the angle of the road.

  

Little road and an oncoming car.

Fairy Pools

While walking next to the Fairy Pools, Debbie and Roger were curious what we did on a "non-relaxed" day. Apparently we do a bunch of stuff in a day and they think that relaxed mean - sit at a beach and do nothing or take a small hike and chill. We think it means to not have any plans and just go with the flow. The previous days we've been getting up early to rush to castles during the 10am-4pm opening hours. We haven't really gotten to truly appreciate what we're running through because we're constantly thinking about making the next castle tour before it closes for the day. It's kind of sad and depressing and we really should just take our time, we'd appreciate things better.

 

More Fairy Pools

So, twilight descended and we headed back to our awesome trailer for the evening. Along the way we acquired another hitchhiker, a College age Brit who came from a solo, 5 day backpacking camping trip in the mountains. We had originally drove past him because, why would we pick up another hitchhiker, but then he had looked so sad and pitiful that we turned around and stuffed him in the car. Apparently he was headed to the same town as Roger and Debbie and he had been standing on the side of the road for an hour. Debbie was joking that there were more hitchhikers in the car than "owners". It was also awesome because we were still driving the BMW, which Roger found amusing.

I think Roger and Debbie had originally thought Robby and I had a lot of money because of the car that we were driving, but then the realized that we were just working our way through the country as backpackers, just with a car. The people at the hostel also found the BMW awesome and all came out to admire it. There's no way not to stand out at hostels and poorer establishments driving a shiny car.Oh well, it gets us to all the far off places that no bus can manage and we get to meet interesting people like Roger and Debbie.

 Pretty scenery on the way to the Fairy Pools