Land of Guiness

One of the evenings, Teirnan took me to a very special pub out in the complete boonies of Dublin. No way in tarnation would I have found this place EVEN with directions: http://www.jfp.ie I was amazed - very welcomed feeling I got straight away. Warm. Smiling faces everywhere. Great pour of Guiness to boot. Wonderful time. Loads of antiques everywhere and room after room of different sized & shaped tables and various families of people. But I didn't feel crowded. Thanks for sharing that, T!

Our next adventure took place at Glendalough (Glen-da-lock): http://www.wicklow.com/glendalough/
http://www.bamjam.net/Ireland/Glenda.html
in Wicklow county. Beautiful country for sure. It still amazes me how mountains feel like mountains even if they're under 1,000 meters. One of the rivers ran so brown from the peat in the ground, it actually looked like Guiness - how special is that! We lucked out with hardly anyone in the park and the day never rained on us. Great hike up; quick hike down. Shamrocks grow everywhere. It's so green and lush and peaceful. The story of how it was settled and then, destoyed, is quite interesting - I prefer the story in the latest Lonely Planet, which I can't find online which references Saint Kevin and his solitude there with the animals.

Howth, another day, proved to be an interesting contrast to what I had seen thus far. Upscale residences on large parcels of property abound the hills just north up the coast of Dublin. Private helicopters, private land, just plain private, beautifully tended gardens and landscapes were everywhere. I'd liked to live here. We had a nice tea time and a few beach walks - amazing views and some great pictures. This was once Tiernan's bike maze/route - literally! Again, don't get lost in here. Roads everywhere are narrow, curved, blind & did I mention, narrow? We had tea again. Oh, and cake.

It was swell meeting almost all of Tiernan's family - very great kin you got there! Good luck to all of them with their upcoming travels and careers. Nice to see you again and hope we cross paths in the near future. Surfer - meet some snow - come out to the wild Colorado - I'll show you some real waves, dude!