The second day of our tour, we walked across the street and took a tour of the Skibbereen Heritage Centre.  They have a wonderful exhibit on The Great Famine — it is known as The Great Hunger in Ireland.  There are a lot of misconceptions about this era in Irish history.  Perhaps the biggest was the fact that there was lots of food available but the powers that be were shipping it over to England.  Something about not wanting to drop the prices of certain crops — sound familiar?  Also, pre-Famine, the population was around 8 million people.  Today it is only 4 million.  1 million died, 1 million emigrated and 2 million are unaccounted for.  It really did a damage on the Irish psyche.  Some historians compare it to the Holocaust.  As we traveled further north, there were still reminders of the period — “famine walls.”  The Victorian thought-process was you couldn’t get a handout without doing work.  Officials demanded that people build walls in order to get food (sorta hard to do manual labor when you’re starving to death, I digress).  Once up in the Burren, we could see rock walls leading to no where — very sad. Another interesting tidbit I learned was that the Choctaw Indians donated money to Ireland during this time in order to help the people. Today, Ireland is a big contributor to African relief efforts — think Bono.

I can’t remember the curator’s name, but she was one sharp woman.

Mom hanging out with some of the members of our tour.

The river ran right next to the Heritage Centre and I spotted some swans.  Swans were actually everywhere in Ireland.  I knew better than to get close, however, they are pissy birds!

Mom on the streets of Skibbereen.

After visiting the Heritage Centre, we headed up to the Drombeg Stone Circle.  This was amazing!

There was a short path down to the stones, and gorgeous fuschia was all around.  We can’t grow fuschia very well in the states because it is too darn hot.  Apparently it is native to Portugal and they were brought over quite a while ago.

The circle was incredible.  I had never seen anything like it.  According to Wikipedia, “The stone circle consists of seventeen closely spaced stones spanning 9m (29ft) in diameter, of which 13 survive. The most westerly stone (1.9m high) is the long recumbent and has two egg shaped cup-marks, one with a ring around it. A “Cork-Kerry type” stone circle, it is flanked by a pair of 1.8m high axial portal stones, which provide a south-west axis, and orientate the monument in the direction of the setting sun during the midwinter solstice. The stones in the circle have been shaped to slope upwards to the recumbent stone, the midpoint of which was set in line with the winter solstice sunset viewed in a conspicuous notch in the distant hills. While the alignment is good, it is not precise.

The ruins of two round stone walled conjoined prehistoric huts and a fulacht fiadh lie just 40m west of the monument. Evidence suggests the fulacht fiadh was in use up until the 5th century AD. The larger of the huts had a timber roof supported by a timber post. The smaller hut had a cooking oven on its east side. A causeway leads from the huts to the cooking place (fulacht fiadh) featuring a hearth, well and trough in which water was boiled by adding hot stones.

The site was excavated and restored in 1958. During this process a pot was found in the centre of the circle, containing the cremated remains of a young adolescent wrapped with thick cloth. Carbon dating of samples taken from the site suggest that it was active c. 945 – 830 BC. The pot was buried near the centre of the circle along with 80 other smashed sherds, four bits of shale and a collection of sweepings from a pyre.”  Talk about ancient!

I love Mom standing in the center.  Check out that background!  The scenery was gorgeous.

Me in my Magnolia Pearl duds.  Tom (the tour guide) loved the outfit and thought I looked like I was in my Victorian pajamas.  Tee hee!  In the background, you can see the ocean.  Breathtaking!

Further up the hill was the remnants of 2000+ year old cooking hut.  Too cool!

These water flowers are growing in what used to be one of the cooking pits.  It’s fascinating to think about who used them all those many years ago.  Once we were there for a while, Tom gathered us around and sang the most beautiful song acapella.  It is my new favorite!

He didn’t pretend to know what it means, but he felt it was a spiritual song and appropriate for the place.  It’s one of those moments I’ll always remember.

On our way back home, we stopped off at the adorable village of Glandore — the name reminds me of something from Tolkien.

Tom and Mom eating lunch together.

A view of the harbor.

I walked down to the water,  and there were gorgeous hydrangeas blooming.  They are my favorite flower!

Check out those colors!  The yellow flowers in the bottom left are St. John’s Wort.  Need a pick-me-up? 

Once back at the hotel, we had a nap and then headed out to dinner and the pub Mickey Finn’s in Clonakilty.  It was awesome!  We had a great time and Kate even sang a few of her most popular songs.  Too cool!

After having read my last blog post, Chucklebutt was quick to point out that I didn’t properly explain what I was doing in Ireland — and without him no less.  My sweet momma and I are huge fans of this amazing woman.

For those of you who don’t know who that is — she is only the best singer/songwriter in America today — it’s Kate Campbell.  She is a mix of folk, blues, gospel and country and I love all her music.  Back in October, Mom discovered that she was hosting a trip to Ireland.  Being the generous woman that my mamasita is, she paid for us both to go on the trip.  Chuck has a huge motorcycle trip coming up in August and couldn’t afford to take the time off. It was a small group (only 19 of us including Kate) and it was primarily a music/cultural tour.  We would do touristy things during the day and listen to some of the best musicians in all of Ireland at night.  Most nights we wouldn’t get in before 12:30am but luckily our tour guide (Tom Pigott) made sure that our days didn’t start until 10am.

Anywhoo, on Tuesday, our tour bus picked us up and we headed to the little town of Adare for a meet and greet.

We didn’t get to spend a lot of time in this quaint town — complete with thatched houses — but we did hang out in a park for a little bit and introduce ourselves to each other.  I love that Ireland has a Tidy Towns Competition.  Every time I look at this picture I can’t help but giggle.  I think it might have something to do with the fact that nothing in my life is tidy. 

During the short time I spent in Ireland, I learned quite a few important things.  A. English is the Language of the Oppressor and B. The Irish discovered everything including America (look up St. Brendan), bagpipes and triple distilled whiskey making it the smoothest in the world.

Crazy Kate loves Middleton Whiskey (the super high dollar stuff produced by Jameson’s.)  Our second stop that day was the Old Jameson Distillery.  It was definitely a tourist stop — lots of Germans and French — but the food was delicious and the whiskey was pretty darn good.  The Irish drink their whiskey straight up — no ice, no nothing.  I had some ginger ale added to my sample and it was superb.  I have a whole new appreciation for the commercials back in the states — you know, the ones that say, “everyone was in attendance (to the funeral) including John Jameson.”  Tee hee.

Oh yeah, and did you know that Henry Ford was born in Ireland?  Hence the silver Model T.  Kate ran out of the bus and we all snapped a shot of her.

For the next three evenings, we were hunkering down in the lovely town of Skibbereen (located in County Cork) and staying at the very nice West Cork Hotel.  The hotel was perfect except that the room was warm when we first checked in.  Silly us called down to the front desk to see where the air conditioning was.  FYI: There is no ac in Ireland.  Once the front desk gal showed us how to open the windows, the temp was perfect.  Our room overlooked the river and the beds were really comfortable.  I definitely want to go back and bring Chucklebutt.

This is a bridge over the river connecting the hotel to –

– the residence of the man who used to own the hotel.   He built it many years ago, and while he is now retired, he still comes over every morning and every evening to “check on things.”

That first night in Skibbereen, we all ate at the hotel courtesy of Enchanted Way (Tom’s touring company.)  After dinner we were treated to a private concert by Don Stiffe.  He too is an incredible singer/songwriter.  It was amazing how intimate the concert was.  I don’t think I have ever been to a smaller concert.  It was a real treat.  If I had Chucklebutt with me (Mr. Concert Photographer) my pics would have been better in such low lighting.  As is, I feel I got a pretty descent shot.

I bought his CD and one of his songs really resonated with me — The Returning.  Check it out.

Okay, so I’ve actually been back a little over a week, but this Arizona heat is kicking my ass!  I went from beautiful, mild 70 degree weather to temps that are over 115!  As I was swimming with my residents this past week, two of them said they have never experienced sweating while in a swimming pool.  Mind you, the water temp was 98 — no lie — 98!!  So yeah, my brain is a little fried and it seems like Ireland was a lifetime ago.  What an incredible trip!  Please bear with me as I stumble along and try to recount this incredible trip.

I left on Saturday, June 26th and my flight was supposed to leave at 11 in the morning.  Once there, I learned that my flight was delayed two hours.  The agents weren’t sure I would make my connecting flight.  Yipe!  I was really worried about Mom having to fly to Ireland all by herself. Not a way I wanted to start our vacation.  Never fear — I made it with lots of time to spare.  I flew Continental and I love them.  They always feed you and give you great entertainment.  Check out that turkey dog!

Interestingly enough, I flew the exact same plane the whole way.  Once I landed in Newark, I called Mom and asked her which gate we were supposed to be flying out of.  Originally it was C 90.  My plane was flying into gate 94.  All of a sudden she said, “Oh wait!  They’re moving us to gate 94.”  So, I had absolutely nothing to worry about. It was great seeing Mom waiting for me when I got off the plane.   While waiting in the airport, Mom met a really nice gal named Roberta.  She was going on a similar tour and we were actually going to meet up with her group a couple times on the trip. We had to take the obligatory pre-adventure shot.

I was bit apprehensive about taking the same plane to Ireland that I had just flown from Arizona.  I thought maybe the plane might need a rest.  She really wasn’t that big either.  Only two rows with three seats in each row.

Talk about great luck — Mom was on the aisle, I was on the window and we had no one in the center seat.  Once the flight attendants closed the doors, Mom and I did a little high five and started spreading out.  We were super happy!    See the little screen on the back of the seat?  Each of us had our own little TV with super cool movies.  I watched “The Crazies.”  If you haven’t seen it and you like end-of-the-world-outbreak kind of movies — you should see it.  They kept us well fed and we landed at Shannon Airport around 7am on Sunday.

Most folks fly into Dublin and don’t know about Shannon.  It’s the difference between Atlanta’s airport and Asheville’s.  Shannon is super small and easy.

I called our B&B and they gave us the name and number of a great cabbie — Andy.  We arrived at the Ashgrove House around 9am just in time for delicious Irish coffees.  That sure put me in the mood to sleep.

Isn’t it adorable?  Sheila and Frank are the proprietors and their hospitality cannot be beat!

This was our room for the next two days.  Being the awesome daughter that I am, I let Mom sleep in the big bed.  I was just happy to have some place to get horizontal.

I loved the applique on the duvets.

We had our own back entrance which was really nice.

This is what was in the back of the house.  I love the laundry flapping in the wind.  FYI: Our weather was gorgeous!  We only had two days of rain the entire trip.

Each night we slept with our windows open.  We could hear the cattle lowing — it’s just not for Christmas carols.    Anyway, I took a pretty long nap and then Shelia gave Mom and I a ride down to the town center.

We ate at Durty Nelly’s which had pretty good food.

After dinner, we walked back to the B&B.

The pub sits in the shadows of Bunratty Castle.  It was built sometime in the 15th Century and is older than our country.

Mom walking back to the Ashgrove House.

In front of our drive-way.

Once we made it back, we relaxed in the backyard.  At 10:30 at night, it was still broad daylight — Weird!  It took some getting used to.

The following day, we ate a traditional Irish Breakfast.  BTW — I felt like I was eating every 30 minutes on this trip.  The food was delicious and I think I gained 10 lbs on the trip.

I swiped the above picture off the internet, but it looks exactly what we ate the second morning.  The little black looking biscuit is blood pudding.  It really was quite good, but once I knew exactly what it was made of I had a psychological block and couldn’t eat it any more.  I can now empathize with all those picky eaters.    Shelia’s scones were scrumptious and the tea was the best I’ve ever had in my life.  Barry’s.  Mom bought some at a local market to bring back to the states.

The second day was spent lounging in our rooms.  Reading, napping, resting up for the tour.  That night, we met up with everyone on the tour and ate at Gallagher’s.  Such good food!

Okay, now bear with me as I show some of Shelia’s gorgeous flowers.

And finally, meet my favorite character living at the Ashgrove House.

Sydney!  He was new to the family (they only had him for two weeks).

He wouldn’t cooperate for a proper close up.  Such a cutie!

*Be sure to follow Mom’s blog at www.gibbysgirl.com/mamapuff/ Just click on her link right under Chuck’s photography link.*

Yes I realize that I have not been a very good blogger.  Between the hot weather, crazy work and getting ready for vacation, there has just been no time.  I’ll be back in two weeks and will tell everyone all about it.  In the meantime — can you guess where I’m going?  Here’s a hint!

When last we left our daring duo, they had narrowly escaped from the family from The Hills Have Eyes.  Okay, that might have been a bit of an exaggeration.  But I swear I heard “Dueling Bangos” off in the distance.

The next day we were so whupped from the night before, that we slept in super late.  Once we woke up, we headed to one of our favorite eating establishments — Fargo’s.

While I normally love their food, I think I might have gotten a bad burger.  I didn’t feel so hot after our late lunch.  Poo! 

Chuck mugging for the camera.  This is the front of the restaurant and clearly Chucklebutt’s meal had no effect whatsoever on him.  We were going to do some more geocaching, but between an upset tummy and miscommunication, we started fussing and cussing and headed back to the hotel.  I can’t remember really what I was so irritated about, but I was HOT!   Momma would say (and Daddy too) that I had “a case of the ass.”  Anywho, I took a nap and was much better when I woke up.  It’s amazing how naps work like that.

The final day, we headed up to the West Clear Creek Wilderness.  For all you Arizonans, this is a gorgeous area and I recommend it to anyone who can hike down into a canyon.  Again, we had to do the dirt road thing and actually cross a few fences.

Breakin’ the Law!  Breakin’ the Law!

There were a few other cars in the parking area and some folks getting ready to go down the canyon.  An older gentleman who was just coming up from below, told me that it was an incredible sight.  I have been wanting to do this hike for the past three years.  Finally we were here!

The following pictures will not do the area any justice, but it was seriously steep!

Pretty blooms.  Nice shots Chuck!

Just through those trees is gorgeous West Clear Creek.

Check out that view!

Words cannot describe how awesome the canyon was.

Chuck is too cute swimming.

The water was sooo cold, but we finally got used to it and found some really deep pockets to swim in.  We swam for quite a long time and eventually our whole bodies became numb.  I really didn’t want to leave.  We’ve promised each other to take a weekend in July and head back up so we can camp.  There were great spots along the sand bars to pitch a tent.  We’re also bringing our fishing poles next time. 

Climbing back up the canyon was a bitch!  Boy are we out of shape.  Some young whipper snappers came running by and we choked on their dust.  We had to take it slow so as not to have a coronary.

Jiggle Puff taking a breather.  Does my butt look big? 

We used muscles that I didn’t even know I had.  We were both walking like little old people for the next two days.  Ouch!

This was an awesome adventure and I can’t wait to go back.  Thanks Baby for a great time.