Just For Jen

So I haven't posted all summer, but stuff has definitely been happening. As Jen pointed out to me, this is unacceptable behavior. Thus, this post will hopefully be rather long, but satisfying to my past roommate and future travel companion. :)

The summer started off fairly low key. The weather was fairly bad, so we weren't doing a lot. We didn't even get the boat in the water til almost August. Still, we would spend weekends up at the lake doing puzzles and going on walks. We like to leave the dogs off-leash which the dogs love, but has led to several mishaps. The first was the burrs. Still not quite sure what type of plant it was, but it was like cheatgrass enclosed in some weird sticky mud. It plastered itself down to their skin and we could not brush it out. This is how I learned I do not have a calling as a dog groomer. Even with a professional dog razor they looked awful. The first day it was just Riley, but the next morning they both found it. John had to take them to get professionally done several days later, but at least we got the muck out of them for the time being.

Shortly after this was the Fourth of July. Since there had been so much rain and snow this spring, all the rivers in the area were really high. So John went and bought us river rafting tubes so we could go down the Priest River. When we first went to step in, it was frigid! But after the first set of rapids, it suddenly didn't seem quite so cold anymore. Still, it would continually catch me off guard when I got a face full of ice water over my head. None the less, it was a ton of fun! We only wished it had been nicer earlier in the season so we could have gone when the river was higher still. But as John put it, it probably wouldn't be fun to get in water that cold when the air was equally as cold.
The next day, Jeanne, Brandon, Hailey and Holden came up to the cabin for the day. Hailey and Holden were master butterfly catchers. I believe their grand total for the day was 19. Hailey even caught 3 in one swoop at one point. The kids splashed in the shallow water while the rest of us enjoyed the sunshine. Jeanne and Brandon introduced us to their "spicy lemonade." It was so good! It had jalapenos and basil mixed in, which made it quite possibly my new favorite lemonade. After awhile, Jeanne and I decided to be brave and just dive in off the end of the dock. Brandon was laughing at us for quite a while for all the noises we made as soon as we surfaced. Still, the experience was fun, and we all got a good laugh at the end.

The following weekend was the Portland Antique Show. Deena, my mom, and I had a space rented and set off at 4 in the morning for Portland to go buy, sell, and have a good ol' time. It really is an amazing show, and a lot of fun. Deena was pleased that she sold many of the things she has trouble selling here in Spokane, my mom got to both shop and sell, and I learned about diamonds. Deena taught me a few basics and then sent me out to scout the show to compare prices for her. I have never before liked diamonds on myself, but I found a diamond ring I would have been happy to own. Unfortunately I apparently go straight for the big boys and became attached to a several thousand dollar ring. The one nice part about it being so far out of my price range is it kills most of the attraction to it.
On Saturday, I met up with Anne Peasley and headed downtown. I had received an invitation the week earlier to show up for the filming of the Portland scene of the next "Where the Hell is Matt." If everything goes well, I could be in the 2011 video, unless the location gets cut. Fingers crossed! Not only was this experience a ton of fun, but I also got to meet Matt, who is pretty much my hero for finding a way to get paid to travel like this. The people who were there were hilarious too. We were told we could come in costume, as long as it wasn't trademarked, to identify ourselves in the video later. There was a giant head of broccoli, the SST (supershottwins) who had canisters, each with a shot of vodka, strapped all over their chests, someone with a flaming pitchfork, and several other highly amusing costumes. Everyone had a great time, doing silly dance routines. My favorite was, and a quote his dance move terms: Lasso, Lasso, Stomp the bug, Stomp the bug, Feet together, Hop, Left, Right, Laaaaaaaaaawnmower!
I bought Matt's book and the "I danced with Matt" shirt and he signed both. He also let me take a video dancing with him. It is very dorky, and makes me exceedingly happy every time I watch it. The book was a very poor choice for me though. I read about his experiences (even the bad), and all I want to do is go to these places and encounter such things. It is all so exciting! (Hey Jen, 56 weeks!)

The weekend after this (notice a trend yet?), was the release of the final Harry Potter movie. I, of course, had plans to go with several of my friends to the midnight movie. And it was so worth it. I spent the day beforehand learning how to make pumpkin juice, and getting my costume out of storage and put together. Heather, Alex, Jenn, and Jen were all there, and then Heather and I decided to go run around and take pictures with all the best costumes. We found an amazing Luna, Neville, Draco, Bellatrix, and Lord Voldemort himself. There was even a girl dressed as Harry from the cover of the first book, and it was amazing how much she looked like it. We gave her total props. At one point, a really drunk (and definitely underage) Professor Slughorn staggered his way into one of our pictures, to our amusement. Not ten minutes later he was throwing up all over himself and being led away, so drunk he didn't understand he was being kicked out, and thinking he was already watching the movie (which was an hour and a half from starting still). The movie was really good too. The best on yet. Still wasn't perfect, and I have my peeves, but overall, I was quite satisfied.
The following morning, I had to open at the bagel shop, but my mom got me off early so I could go have lunch with Heather's family, followed by watching the movie once more with them. Heather and I wore our themed T-Shirts and had a great time watching it once more. Heather even came prepared with Kleenex for me both times. She knows what a movie sap I am. Then we went to her parents condo and made Harry Potpies, Cockroach Clusters, Butterbeer, and had Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans out. It was all delicious, particularly the Potpies and Butterbeer. Ron ate most of the Cockroach Clusters, so they were definitely a hit too.

Finally the Harry Potter craze slowed down in our lives and the summer started to kick into full swing. We've been bridesmaid dress shopping like fiends all summer for Heather's wedding, only to have something foil the ones we like at the last minute and have to start at ground zero all over again. It is very frustrating. We are currently still without dresses, though Heather has found cake she likes. It was progress of some sort.

Then came the Priest Lake excursions. The whole family made it up this year, mostly overlapping, and it was incredible. I got the full week and a half off of work and spent most of that time in the boat every day. To summarize it: biking, hiking, surfing, skiing, wake boarding, climbing, wandering, remembering, tubing, snaking, roofball, swimming, diving, tanning, lazing, eating. Got it?
The first day everyone was up there was Jinnie's memorial service. Everyone spoke at the table, and some people even flew in only for the day to be there. It was very nice. Even Kashi, Brian, and Scott made it, which I think meant a lot to different people in the family. We ate some of Jinnie's signature dishes, and told and listened to our favorite stories. It was sad, but wonderful.
After that, the adventures began. David would pile us into the boat first thing in the morning to begin the water sports. We started with the usual. Everyone tubing, some skiing, me surfing. Then the sports exploded. All the kids tried and succeeded at everything. It was so much fun to watch them all find their favorite sport. Gaia was an amazing surfer, and even caught some great air wake boarding. Ainsley looks like a natural on the wake board. Liam is an awesome little skier. That got me to try wake boarding again, which I was finally fairly successful at, and all the adults tried surfing. Paula even got to the point of propelling herself! David just pulled us all day long. Except when we went to Hill's for drinks and pickle ball, or the sunken island for a mid-lake swim.
Every morning most of us went on a 6:30 bike ride, to try to see the moose. We never did on that ride, but it was always fun and beautiful at that time of day. Very peaceful. Then we let "Ranger Dave" direct us. We all ended up pushing our bikes up steep gravelly hills, hitting dead ends. Really, every one of us should know better than to follow David's directions.
And yet, the following day we did it again. We went to look for the rock slide at Lion's Head on the north side of the lake. It's a natural rock slide with water over it which forms a perfect water slide in nature. Following David's map reading skills, we ended up fording the creek as a human chain to pass bags and kids along, hiking for hours up the mountain (in bad water shoes), before turning around and going home. The hike was a lot of fun, but it would have been more so if it had been planned and we hadn't all ended up tired and with bad blisters from the shoes we wore. We did get an excellent view and found some huge huckleberries though. David wanted to go try again a couple days later, but no one was backing him on the idea. We did have fun teasing him about his ranger skills though, and comparing him to Bob Gregory, who would have never got us lost. Good thing David's a good sport about the teasing, I think some of those are going to be around for awhile.
Next, David and Meridith rented jet skis. We spent the next couple days speeding around the lake on them and having a right good time. I Photoshopped a picture to trick David into thinking he had missed seeing Ainsley ski too, which was actually successful for awhile. We also played a lot of roof ball, ping pong, hunted for snakes, went on a ton of walks, and played a lot of cards. We had several multi-player solitaire games and a couple Gin Rummy tournaments.
Partway through the week, I came back into town for the Michael Buble concert too. My mom, Courianne, Jeanne, Wendi, Becky and I all went together and had a great time. We had an amazing dinner at Clinkerdaggers, before wandering over to the arena. Becky brought us flamingo straws for our drinks, and Courianne got the amusement of seeing my mom get slightly intoxicated. Michael's opening act was a band called Naturally 7, who imitated instruments with their vocal cords. They were incredible! My favorites were the electric guitar, the bass, and the drum set. They sounded just like instruments and got really into their parts, air playing and having a great time on stage. Then following them up with Michael was the icing on the cake. He had fun sliding on his stage ramp, teasing his band, and the audience. After several hours of amazing music, we went out to where we could meet Naturally 7. I bought their CD, they signed it, posed for pictures, and got to meet all their players. It cracked me up how shy the bass player was off stage, when he was one of the more active ones down there.
The night after I got back to the lake was the big pig roast. Al had dug a hole, done months of research, and was roasting a whole pig in the ground Hawaiian style. We all helped him prep the pig, (me by recording the whole thing) which included hauling it to the hole in a wheelbarrow, seasoning it, stuffing its skin with garlic, putting an apple in its mouth, filling its chest with hot stones, wrapping it in banana leaves, foil, and wire mesh, before burying it in the ground for 24 hours. My favorite line of the night was Liam asking, "So, did you just find it dead somewhere?" We all had a good laugh at that, and John had fun daring the little girls to tough the eye and its teeth. Gaia was the only one brave enough, and not squeamish enough to do all the above. In the end it was quite delicious, though not nearly as good as John's pulled pork. They are talking about making it a yearly tradition, so who knows, we may get to do this again next year!

Eventually though, I had to come back to work. I did get to go spend a day on Schweitzer with Heather and Alex though, as they happened to be up there and call me as I got off work the evening before my day off. We played cards, drank huckleberry beer, watched the stars (trying to remember as many constellations as we could, but my astronomy class is rather quickly fading out of my brain), and went huckleberry picking. I had never been up there in the summer before, and it was a fun new way to see the mountain. The view of Pend O'Reille was beautiful, as in the winter it is usually obscured by fog and clouds. It was a fun mini trip, and I enjoyed spending the time with them. I don't get to see nearly as much of Heather as I used to, and it is always good to be able to hang out with her for awhile.

After coming home, my mom and I began painting the house. She had spent all summer trying to pick out colors, and after Judy and I finally told her to just pick one and stop getting more samples, she did. It is going to look amazing! We are doing the main part a rich grey tone, with a hint of purple to it, with cream trim to match the white bricks, and we are doing a deep red accent, including the front door being painted red. The door is what I am most excited about! The colors look amazing together though, and they really make my mom's plants pop out, especially the yellow of her black-eyed Susans. I do enjoy painting too, so its an enjoyable way for me to pay her "rent." She and John gave me permission to stay at home for awhile to save money so that I can try to afford going to Abu Dhabi this year, as well as Europe next fall. I'm sure I can make it work now, and I am really excited whenever I think about these trip potentials. I can't wait to get in touch with Kate and Steve about it, though I am waiting a bit as I know they are doing several different weekend trips to see their friends and for work. I have plenty of time, even if I am antsy to go somewhere new.

Now we are getting ready for GU to start up again at the bagel shop. All the freshman started moving in today, and we are slowing getting back to normal. We were prepping everything really well, and I was even sharpening the knives. Of course, being classic me, I sharpen all the knives with out incident and then as I finish the last one, drop it can catch it just in time to yank it across my own hand. Now I have a lovely deep gash across the side of my palm. My only consolation is that since I had just sharpened the knife, it is probably about the cleanest cut I could ask for. At least it doesn't hurt most of the time, though it is highly obnoxious when it pops open when I try to use my hand too much. I just figured my hands wanted to match with bagel shop knife battle wound scars. My best one up until now was my pinky one from trying to cut the turkey across the sinks. Poor life choice there. At least they make good stories. Now if only it would heal so I can use my hand properly again. Anyway, that about sums up my summer in hyper drive!

lots done in seven days.

What an exciting week this has been! Lots of catching up to do it would seem.
Last week was Heather's birthday, so I went down to Pullman to visit for the weekend. We had such a good time! I haven't been down to see her since last summer, so just hanging out in general was good, but then we were invited to help bottle wine at the local winery, Merry Cellars. What an experience! I set up, filled, corked, cleaned, foiled, and boxed bottles of wine. I enjoyed the corking the most, even if my arm and hand were very sore the following day. But this didn't stop me from going back again!
Since I spent most of my time on the corker, I ended up with severely purple hands, because it occurs before the bottles are wiped down. I guess they call it "getting caught purple handed" and are talking about making a T-shirt about it. My hands finally unstained the last little bit yesterday morning, just to demonstrate how purple my hands were. And for every half day shift we got to take home a bottle of wine, so I ended up with almost $70 worth of delicious wine. Plus we were allowed to sample what we were bottling. The owners puppy did a little sampling of his own when we weren't looking. Apparently he was licking wine off the floor and got himself drunk the first night that I was helping. He was obviously not feeling well the next day, and slept all morning in his crate.
On top of the amazing wine experience Heather and I got some of her wedding stuff going. We worked on her playlists (at least got a start on it), had lunch with Molly (a fellow bridesmaid I had not yet met), and talked about bridesmaid dresses. Hopefully we'll get the chance to try some on soon, so we can have an idea what the dresses we're considering will look like on us. Pictures online never quite do it justice. We also played a lot of Lego Harry Potter, like the awesomely cool kids that we are.
I've spent the rest of this last week working on my Father's Day present for John. I told him not to expect another gift after this, because there is no way I could ever top this one. A friend and customer of ours from the Bagelshop used to be a judge, and started the paperwork for me for an adult adoption. That's right, I asked John to adopt me this morning. So now papers are in-motion, and once we get the more formal forms and a court appearance, we will finalize it. Mind you, it's really just making official what already was, but it was still wonderful.

Idina Menzel!

Tonight I got to go see Idina Menzel perform with the Spokane Symphony. Wow is all I have to say. I like her even more now than I did before. She was not only an incredible performer, but also seems completely down to earth, and was quite hilarious to boot. My favorite was when she started telling us everything in her pill box to stall for time while her lozenge dissolved. Or when she tipped over her stool and just looked up and said, "I meant to do that..."
She sang part of For Good Capella too, not too mention the Finale B from Rent and Defying Gravity. And her rendition of Don't Rain on my Parade? I don't know if I preferred it or her story about Barbra Streisand that went along with it. Let's just say the story included Tequila shots and calling Beyonce a bitch and you can see my difficulty in this decision.
She also sang us some of the little songs she and her husband wrote for their son. Songs about getting in the car and changing diapers. My favorite is the full out swing song she wrote about him waking up, which besides being amazing, I can totally see her singing to him when he is 16, just to completely embarrass him.
I also liked that she seemed truly surprised that we clapped long enough for her to come back out for a third bow afterward. She was totally cool, and just a normal person, which is nice to see in a successful performer. And after her asides about Wicked, I am even more excited to see it now!
What I really can't believe is that this was my mom's first symphony. How I haven't managed to take her to one yet is beyond me. This was definitely a good first go though. Well, I'm still all giddy from this evening. So I'm going to go rip the two CD's of hers I just bought and try to call it an evening. What a lovely one it was!

Last Leg

So I have spent my last evening in Ireland in Dublin. An excellent choice (as well as convenient) I though, as I do quite love this city. Now, I love it even more. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day so I enjoyed walking through all the different areas and shopping districts. Plus I finished off my shopping that I wanted to do!..and then some...oh well. It is my last day in Europe for awhile. Unfortunately this was after I had finished my packing, so I got to do it all over again. I think I was rather effective at it though.
After I dropped my stuff off back at the hostel, I decided I needed one last good Irish meal, so I asked the desk guy at the hostel for a recommendation. Wow, was it amazing! Best meal I've eaten in Ireland, and I've really liked the food here so far! The restaurant was called Gallagher's Boxty House, and they were known for their potato dumplings. So I thought I would try them. I got the small one so that I could get dessert too. I wish I hadn't. I scraped my dish completely clean and was still craving more. So then I went for their dark chocolate cake with sauce and ice cream. Equally amazing. I was stuffed, and still wished I had more in front of me.
I also got to walk around the Temple Bar area, which I hadn't made it to yet, for unknown reasons. This is my third mini trip here in two weeks, I'm not really sure what my deal there was. Especially when it turned out to be so awesome. Live music and buskers all over the place, a drunk homeless guy dancing in the middle of the street to some of the buskers (It looked like a cross between the hokey-pokey and the chicken dance), food and the smells of all over the place. Plus tons of signs for the Leprechaun Museum, which I wish I had known about sooner. Oh well, guess I'll have to come back! Darn... :)

Cork it!

Cork was wonderful. I like the smaller cities like that. Big enough that there is stuff to do and things to see, but small enough that you can walk the whole of it. I quite enjoyed just wandering through all the different little stores and markets. I ate a lot of food, and accomplished a lot of nothing. It was wonderful.
The one thing I did do, as was my goal, was Blarney Castle. It was just as I had been told. The castle was quick, cool but nothing stupendous in relation to other castles. But the gardens. Those were amazing. I walked in them for a good couple hours.
Of course, the very first thing I did was bee line it for the top of the castle. Talk about some narrow staircases! And the stone steps were half worn away and rounded and slick from the numerous people tromping up them. I can't imagine living like that. And the kitchen was on the top floor. Talk about a hard working staff you would have in a place like that. Of course the line to the stone wrapped around the top of the castle, so I made small talk with the three Canadian guys behind me. One of them had a hard time with heights and while was braced for the upcoming lean, made an uneasy comment about falling.
This of course led into a whole line of jokes from his friends about not jumping off Blarney Castle. In the end we came to the determination that if this is on your bucket list, it should not be left for last. A person might realize they had finished all the had to live for and just flip off as they kissed the stone! Morbid yes, but we got the guy laughing and he was much more at ease by the time we got up there. He was even nice enough to take a picture for me when it was my turn.
They weren't kidding about leaning back either! I knew the concept of what you do, lean backwards/upside down over the edge of the battlements and kiss the bottom stone. What isn't said is how wide the gap is that you are leaning across. You HAVE to hold on to the bars, cause you are definitely not sitting on anything anymore to reach far enough out. It was a little disconcerting to be dangling like that and knowing that I was only on something solid from just above my knees down. The rest of me was hanging upside down three stories up with only a little hand rail to hold on to. No wonder they have a guy there to brace you! And here I thought it was just a formality to ease peoples minds. Nope, he is very necessary. Quite an experience though, and only time will tell if the eloquence will come to fore now. Should last me seven years though they say.
Now that this was accomplished, I left for the gardens. As I said, stunning. Waterfalls and trees and moss covered boulders everywhere. I found the wishing stairs, but I think I peeked a little on the way down, so I'm fairly sure I'm outta luck there. Though I did get my coin in the stream over my head, so that one is supposed to come true still. There is the Witch's Stone, the Witch's cave, the druids cave and the druid stone circle. There was also a type of passage tomb, that you are supposed to walk through, which I did, though I'm not sure quite what that one achieves. And the whole time it was sunny and gorgeous. How lucky I seem to be with all my traveling. Denmark was a little chilly/rainy, though not bad, but other than that, I have achieved almost perfect weather while traveling. This is through a European fall, winter, and fall. How can you top that!?
This morning I went for breakfast at the English Market, which they claim is one of the oldest markets that is still in it's original location in that fashion. I had a pain de chocolate, and got some pesto potatoes and a sandwich for my train ride. Then I stalled going to the train station until I was at the last train I could catch for the cheaper rate. Somehow, I think I'm not ready to go home yet, though the time seems to have come anyway. While I wasn't ready to stop traveling before, there was reason I was going home before, and that made it easier to make the transition. This time, there is nothing. Not I have to figure out what to do with myself, though I'd rather just keep traveling indefinitely. Guess it's time to start researching jobs, careers, and schools…wooo…

Northern Ireland in one quick swoop.

Well, I have explored as much of N. Ireland as I can in a day and a half, and I feel like I rather successfully hit quite a bit. and fairly effectively too! I took the train up from Dublin on Saturday morning and arrived in Belfast at around 2 in the afternoon. At first I thought rather unfortunately that my hostel was on the other side of town, but the walk turned out to be lovely. I wasn't really sure what to expect here, because I feel I have only heard of the rougher aspects of N. Ireland.
When I got to my hostel, I was a little concerned at first. It didn't seem especially clean and there didn't appear to be much in the near by area. But the workers there were especially nice and helpful, and I figured it was just a place to sleep really. One of the girls on staff recommended a couple of places to go to. Turns out this was the middle of the University district, I had just taken the wrong street in to notice this. So on the other block were tons of pubs, parks, and museums. I quickly headed out to explore.
I went to the botanic gardens first. While not the most impressive ones I have ever been to, they were an enjoyable walk. There was also a free museum in the middle of the park, which was a fun quick exploration. After this, I headed in towards the city center to see what there was. It was recommended that I do a black taxi tour, but the cost was only worth it if you did it in a group, and there was nobody around the hostel when I arrived to make a group with. Instead, I figured I'd see the safer areas of the city on foot.
There is not a lot to see in Belfast, so I was not too worried about walking a little further to see the things that were there. I saw their clock tower, the large ceramic fish on the waterway, and then headed into the Titanic Quarter. This is the city where the Titanic had been built, and it's slipway still exists on the northern end of the city. I had a fun little walk through the shipbuilding yards, before I decided to head back because the sky was looking a little iffy, and I didn't plan to get caught in a storm while a 30 min. walk away from the hostel.
The one thing I really love about Ireland, is how friendly everyone is. Talking to people on the street corners is totally normal, and everyone is willing to help a person out. Once I had crossed the waterway, I sat down on a bench and looked in my local guide trying to find somewhere good for dinner. I man stopped by me, just to make sure I wasn't lost and to see if he could help me in any manner. This just isn't something you see in other countries! You're always worried about ulterior motives and tend to be suspicious when a stranger singles you out, but here, they just honestly want to socialize. Even the guide books say to expect it and go with it! So I told the man I was just looking for good food and he waved me down the street with him and spent the next block pointing out restaurants and interesting places to eat for different types of food. It was very pleasant.
Eventually I ended up in a pub and had a rather nice meal before calling it a night. And when I got to the hostel I had an even nicer surprise. I must have turned up just in that point of cleaning where everything looks worse, because it was like a different place. Still not the nicest I've ever stayed in, but my concern was gone. I was also able to sign up for a free Causeway Tour because I had booked the hostel for two nights.
In the morning, I got ready to take my tour. The free breakfast was pretty insubstantial so I headed to Starbucks around the corner for some coffee first. When I came back I was mildly concerned at first. I met the tour guide, but overheard him saying something about overbooked and three of the freebies were going to have to get off. I was definitely a freebie, and if I didn't go on this tour, I wouldn't be able to go at all. But there was a group of three girls together, who since they were a group, were the ones not going. I was very relieved. I was hanging out with Erin, a girl from Australia and we stuck together for most of the tour.
Troy, or as he called himself Troooooooy, was our tour guide, and a fabulous one he was. He was telling stories the entire time and we were constantly amused and laughing. He quickly told his motto that what happens on tour, stays on tour. So there is no tattling on him about anything he says once you're off the bus.
Our first stop was Larrybane and Carrick-a-rede, the old rope bridge where the locals used to fish for salmon off the coast line. The bridge was a newer one, for safety reasons, but it was essentially the same concept, and we all enjoyed walking across to the island where a local explained what we were seeing and it's history. We were informed that the large island we were seeing way out in the water, was in fact Scotland. That this was the closest point between the two and it was only twelve miles away. I thought that was very cool.
Once we had boarded the bus again, we headed for Giant's Causeway, which is what I was really excited to see. I have been fascinated with it since the first time I saw "Where the Hell is Matt." It was just as good as I had hoped. The basalt columns were huge, and there was free reign to go climb all over them. Erin and I took pictures of each other, before we went to find the giant's boot, left when the Scottish giant ran away so quickly and turned to stone over the years, the organ, and then a local guide showed us the Old Lady, which really does look like an old lady climbing up the hillside. The colors were fascinating too, as parts of the soil were red from all the iron, and really showed against the green of the grass around it. It was a fascinating place, and I am so glad to have made it.
We had lunch here too. I had steak and Guinness pie, and is was delicious. We also had Irish coffee on Troy's recommendation, as apparently this hotel won an award for best Irish coffee in N. Ireland this last year. It was made with Bushmill's whiskey, which is the town the Causeway is right beside, and was delicious. Once we were all filled up, we loaded back into the bus and headed for Derry. Here we were taken on a one hour walking tour of the city. Our guide, Roy, has lived in the bogsite for almost his entire life, and was able to tell us the whole history of the battles with first hand experience. It was a fascinating, though very sombre walk. It felt strange to be walking through this city, knowing and hearing that all these tensions were simmering just below the surface still. The sidewalks and streetlights were all painted either the colors of the British or the Irish flag, depending on which political section of the city you were in at the moment, and there were Free Derry signs and IRA tags all over. Most of the tour was taken from the Derry Wall, built to subdivide the city, which is still part of the boundary of the two different segments.
Roy told us there were still political extremists and that the city was currently building the "peace" bridge to link the two parts of the city in hopes of making a statement to these people not to start anything again. The tour ended at the site of Bloody Sunday, where a memorial now stands. It was sad to see that most of the people killed were about 17 years old. There is always the issue of what to call the city as well. Depending on if your talking to a Catholic or a Protestant, you have to call it either Derry or Londonderry, and you really have no way of knowing which until it's too late.
On a less sad note though, Roy had the most interesting accent. It was unlike any other Irish accent I have heard before, with more of a roll to the r's and a bit of a trill to some of the words. When we asked about this, we learned that Irish is taught from birth in Derry. That children were expected to speak it in school and at home, and only spoke English to each other on the streets. So Roy's accent was not English Irish, it was Gaelic Irish, and it was beautiful. He read us a couple of political signs which were written entirely in Gaelic, and it was incredible to hear. Definitely a beautiful language, and it's good that it's not going to die out any time soon.
I feel as though I learned a lot in the last 24 hours, and it was a unique and fascinating experience. I have quite enjoyed Northern Ireland, and it will be interesting to see what happens to it in the years to come. There is still so much unrest there. For now though, I am heading south again. I am on the train to Cork right now, which I have heard good things about. I am excited to see Blarney castle, though sad because it is essentially my last stop for this trip. I am not ready to go home at all, though I could definitely stand to go to work and earn some money, and it will be good to see my friends again.

couple days later...

All right, so I'm apparently on a 2-3 day cycle for updating right now...I'll work on that...later. But for now, I'm actually updating. So take it at face value and be happy for a post. I have seen a lot more of Ireland since I last wrote, and I have yet to be disappointed by it.
After we woke up (yes, in the castle), Pat picked us up and took us out to the Dingle Peninsula. It was a misty kind of day, but the gray of the sky really only makes the ground look greener. We stopped in Dingle for lunch first and while the others had coffee, I decided to do a little look into the shops in the area. I found a great little music store where I got a CD of local artists as well as an awesome "something" for Heather. Heather, if you don't like it, tough luck. Cause it's completely amazing, though I know you will. How's that for a teaser?
Before we headed out of town though, Pat mentioned a jewelry store that does designs with the Ogham (pronounced o-um) alphabet which is based on lines and slashes. Very cool. Mormor and Joan both got earring which read their names. I didn't get anything, but I did have a good deal of fun looking through the store. I'm looking for something, I'm just waiting for it to catch my attention.
When we left the store, we headed out for the coast line to take our drive. I still just can't get over how amazing the cliffs on this side of Ireland are. We even got to walk down a huge paved trail to a pier. It was neat to see the cliffs from this angle as well. Helps you to appreciate just how vast they are. We could see the barest outline of Dead Man Island, which looks like a person lying on their back, but were unable to find the Skellig Islands, though Pat gave us the whole history of them. Talk about determined people! I can't even imagine living like they managed there.
We stopped a couple other time to appreciate the view, or structures built. It's much like Joan said, it's strange to think that all of this was built and constructed and ancient before our country was even created. We just don't have that kind of ancestry in the states. I enjoyed just looking out the window as we drove and seeing these beautiful fields and walls and cliffs. The whole country is really just amazing to look at. I don't think I've found an ugly area yet.
Yesterday we had debated following up Dingle with the Ring of Kerry, but it was another gray day. Instead, Pat brought us to a waterfall just out of town (we were staying in Killarney). At first, the waterfall was rather unimpressive, more a series of waterfalls, but every tree was bright green, completely encapsulated in moss. Then as we followed the path, we came around the corner and saw the REAL falls. While the Torc Falls are not particularly large still, they were very beautiful in that setting. I chose to run up a path to the top of the falls too, which turned out to be completely worth the time. On my way down I ran into Mormor, who had come part way up too. While she didn't make it to the top, she did get to the clearing that had a fabulous view of the Killarney lakes.
When we got back down again, Pat told us he was taking us to Ruckmoss House, which was set on the lakes themselves. While everyone else went to look at the gardens, I chose to take the trail down to the boathouse. This was equally amazing. I took the back way there and was climbing up and down stone steps into little garden groves the whole way, and once I got there is was so beautiful! The lake was smooth as glass and reflected everything in it perfectly; the boats, the trees, the islands. There was a boathouse nature walk loop around the point which I jogged down and loved every minute of. It was just cool enough to be perfectly comfortable out there, and was very invigorating.
We then continued to drive through part of County Cork, and went to St. Finbar's Island which is where we had lunch and enjoyed a pleasant quiet afternoon by the lake. Just as we were leaving, people started showing up, which I think proves that we have really good timing. The ruins on the island of the old chapel were very different from others we had seen, and were set up to say the rosary as you walked around the room. From here, we continued our drive inland to Kilkenny.
While this evening was fairly uneventful, we were all tired from driving, we decided to go to the local pub for dinner that night. Kyteler's Inn was based from the lady who used to live on the property in the late 1200's to early 1300's until she was declared a witch and forced to run away to England. The food was fabulous, and towards the end of the evening there was even live music. I must say though, that it was very apparent that we were all so tired. Joan tried to ask what a song was called and to help us know the song, squeaked it like a dolphin, which set me off laughing. Then Sam followed up with a completely different song and we all just went around the table having moments. We were all laughing so hard. I loved every minute of it.
Eventually we went back to the hotel though, and called it a night. We had a straight shot back to Dublin first thing this morning. Mormor, Joan, and Sam are all flying to Edinburgh today, while I am staying here in Ireland for awhile longer. Now I have to get used to hostels again, and not eating regularly. Still, I'm excited to head to northern Ireland tomorrow. And I do love wandering aimlessly through the different cities, so it's not like I wont be enjoying myself. It will just be directed a different way than it has the last week.