Ireland

Cork. With Jess & Paula.

Jess and I in the Blarney Castle staircase.

Pretty self-explanatory. With Jess, from South Africa, and Tori, from Australia.

Paula (South Africa) and I at Blarney Castle.

Cork. With Jess, Paula, and Donne.

In front of a waterfall of Guinness.

The whole gang at the Guinness factory on the last day of our Paddywagon tour :'(

Joe: Ok, yous get off the bus and I'll pick you up down the road. Go on, get off.

Blarney Castle.

Bonnie and I doing it up Titanic style in Ireland.

Ireland: pictures from Bonnie's camera, pt.2

King Puck, a goat.

At Lady's View, so named because Queen Victoria and her ladies-in-waiting visited here.

Loves my Boo Bear.

Outside St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. Had to get one with this dogwood for Mom.

Ireland: pictures from Bonnie's camera

Me at the Cliffs of Moher. It was honestly like being in a high-intensity wind tunnel. Could barely stand up.

At the pub we ate in before the Cliffs of Moher. At a pour your own pint table.

At a wishing well on the side of the road.

Paddywagon Tour, pt. 2

stone structures. no one knows anything definitive about them.

One of our many Joe photo stops. Thanks, Joe!

The only thing that kept me from turning into an icicle at the Randy Leprechaun in Annascaul. What a hostel, what a hostel. No heat turned on in the building. Oh, and it was hailing outside. And the manager decided to go to the movies in a town 20 minutes away and left us in charge. She gave us the fire alarm code in case we set it off again. Their oven was very smoky. The town maybe had 10 houses and one grocery store. But.....best shower of the tour. Oh, and there was a pub attached to the hostel....but it wasn't open because not enough people were staying there that night.

The best thing about Annascaul.

Paddywagon Tour

Inch Beach. We luckily got to come here twice.

In Killarney National Park. This particular place reminded me of Smokey Mountain National Park. No? Well, I think so.

Yes, indeedy folks. Ireland has snowy mountains.

Hallooooooooo! How ya doin' there, sailor?

No one got off the bus here because the wind was rocking the vehicle. Cliffs of Moher part 2? No thank you.

Cool monument

Sooooooo sorry I haven't posted in so long, but I recently finished a 3 week long Easter holiday backpacking across Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland (with a short venture into England). I highly recommend American universities adopt this length of spring break. I spent the first week or so with Bonnie, busing to Holyhead, ferrying to Dublin, and taking a bus tour around southern Ireland for the first week and a half. Ireland was great. I was sick and the weather wasn't ideal, but hey, it's Ireland. We had the most amazing two bus drivers: Seany & Joe (Paddywagon Tours), who were both equally crazy in their own respective ways. I am sure I will be referencing them often in upcoming posts. Bonnie and I also had fun with our Australian gap years and South African friends. Itinerary for Ireland (as far as I can remember): Galway, Cliffs of Moher, Killarney, Limerick, Ring of Kerry (Hey Joe, what's the Ring of Kerry?), Killarney National Park, Dingle, Annascaul, Blarney Castle, Cork, Kilkenny, and the Guinness factory. And that was just in 6 days. Pretty amazing. P.S. I will not be posting all of my photos on this blog, because that would just be ridiculous.