July 07 adventures

The usual pic: Ballybunion, Virgin Rock

John and Lorraine spent 2 weeks in Ireland - most with us, the last 2 days in the Dublin area. I (MFE) had this time off, so was able to go along for all of the fun until we put them on the train to Dublin! We showed them all our usual tour stops and also had some new adventures.

Lorraine came 1 day before John, so we met her at Shannon then took a walking tour of Ennis - including a visit to a Snug (the part of the pub where women used to go if they were brave enough and where negotiations and deals were made). We had a great dinner in Newmarket-on-Fergus, then spent the night in a B&B and picked John up on Sunday. On the way to Kerry we stopped at the Flying Boat Museum. As you know, I had toured it previously; this day we didn't take the official tour, but enjoyed Irish Coffee - in the place it was invented!



Other highlights: Sheep being herded down the main road of the Slea Head Drive - by their shepherd and their dog. The shepherd was very nice - told us this would be our best picture of the whole trip, and he wasn't far off!
Tea on the street in Kenmore (we had already eaten Dana's great scones). Round Fort, Torq Falls (our first visit), trad music at Tanker's in Listowel, and MFE and Dana on a rainy day in the rose garden in Tralee. Sheep, music, and rose garden - J&L were photographers.

July 07 adventures Fishing

Monday, July 16 we were fortunate enough to again go out fishing with Paul Pierse and his cousins Neville and Simon. We pulled up lobster pots and caught mackerel and pollack. The sightseeing was awesome - as it was last year, but this time Lorraine had a camera! What a great adventure!









We had a feast that evening of lobster, crab, mackerel, and pollack from our own endeavors (well, sort of!).

July 07 adventures Blaskets

Tuesday, July 17 - with John and Lorraine, we went on the boat trip to the Blasket Islands. We had a long boat tour with a guide who is the only person who still lives on the Blaskets (she is there March to October only). We saw the 9 islands (including Cathedral Island and Charlie Haughey's personal island!), seals, and puffins (seen if you look closely at the picture that looks like all water). This was one of the last days to see puffins before they fly out to the Atlantic, so we felt fortunate.



We had a very nice day - only a tiny bit of rain. We go off on Blasket Mor (the Great Blasket) and at our picnic lunch and walked around - it is mostly ruined houses, with a few habitable ones; sheep, rabbits and a donkey (note the picture of the sheep and rabbit eyeing one another!; and a beautiful beach.

July 07 adventures Waterford

Wednesday, July 18 we drove with John and Lorraine to Waterford. We toured the crystal factory





(after all, why does one go to Waterford!) and the protestant church. There wasn't time for much else, as we put them on a train to Dublin to finish their trip to Ireland.



These pictures are of the process - very amazing and interesting.
You will note especially the one of MFE holding a €30,000 vase - which was not dropped!













Also here - a view of the church and a view of the Waterford riverfront.

And a few more

I promise this will be it for several weeks:

The Tankard - had a great lunch in this pub with Mary and Ed (photo by Mary) and a great dinner in the dining room with Carolyn. It is in Fenit and has a great view. Mary is posing on the deck overlooking Tralee Bay (photo by MFE).

As usual, things are in backwards order, but hope you enjoy all of this anyway. Ireland is grand - just ask any of these folks. Even the last group (Mary, etc) had a good time, even though they had more wet days than even we have come to expect!

Miscellaneous shots from tours with guests

We had several guests in May and June. Some of the tours are reported in the recent blog postings, but here are a few miscellaneous things we'd like you to see.


Bill and Sharon - left at Virgin Rock, Ballybunion, right at waterfall on Conor Pass

And, Carolyn and MFE, also at Virgin Rock,







Carolyn and I found a great coffee shop and book store on Valentia - it has become a regular "tour" stop - and it has lots of used
(cheap) mysteries, a real find for me!! We also took a great boat ride on Dingle Bay and had several sightings of Fungi, the dolphin who is amazingly always available for tourists - the boat pilots really know how to get him to play. Dana got several good shots including this one. From the boat, we spotted a nice, secluded beach and were able to find it and have a picnic (this pic by Carolyn)


There was 1 night of overlap of guests, which was fun - we hope more of you may do this - there's lots of room. We had a great fresh salmon dinner. Photo including Dana, by Carolyn. MFE, Mary, Grant, Ed, Sally. In other picture, Carolyn in pink.










Some highlights of Mary, Ed, Sally, Grant trip which were not included elsewhere:
Grant "admiring" Dana pointing to the rock he had previously placed on the pile the signifying that he went to the top of Conor Pass (photo by Sally). Cahergall Stone Fort (the round fort, 2 views) in Cahersiveen. Dana, Grant and Sally outside Ross Castle (photo by Mary). Mary at Lady's View on Ring of Kerry. Ed, Mary and MFE at St. Brendan statue in Fenit. The Ratoo Round Tower in Ballyduff.