The Cliffs... of Insanity!!!!

Cliffs of Moher

We, the Karnes family plus Mom and Grandma Betty, went to view the Cliffs of Moher and lived to tell the tale.  I was a little nervous about the official barrier we were told that would keep children from flying off the side of the cliff.  I needn't have feared since it consisted of a 4 foot high flat rock fence extending both directions for several hundred feet.  Of course some people refuse to be Suzy Safety and went around the barrier to get the full (or fool) experience.  The only frustrating part was trying to get to the cliffs around the bicycle race detours we encountered.  The GPS was not very happy with us and the feeling was mutual.

Loop Head, no barrier!

Not windy at all.

The Grandmas were really in Ireland.

Cold water in Kilkee

Crazy guy going into the cold water at Lehinch.

We went to the West for Davis to play in a baseball blitz put on by the Kilrush Dolphins.  The Gruffaloes traveled the greatest distance and walked away with 2 big wins.  We also visited Lehinch.  Apparently this is the best place in Europe to surf.  Brr, no thanks!  We were blown away (pun not intended) by the beautiful vistas off of Loop Head, the most western point of Ireland.  One of the local pubs claimed it was the last pub before you get to New York City.  Grandma Betty got to see the rock walls she wanted to see and we all had a good time together.

A Little Q and A

Question:  What do you get when you cross 4 women, a temperamental GPS, a very narrow country road, a guy on a horse, a wide tractor, a semi truck and trailer, a horse trailer, some guys on bikes, one lane bridges, left side of the road driving and no shoulder on the road? 

Answer:  A nervous breakdown, that's what.  I might take up smoking and/or drinking after today's adventure.

Grandma Betty, Mom, Bailey and I dropped Scott off at the baseball field in Greystones this morning and headed off to Glendalough.  After much biting of fingernails and lighting of church candles (not really) we made it in one piece and so did the car.  The weather was gorgeous and the view was spectacular.  To give you some background, Glendalough is the site of an ancient monastery founded by St. Kevin (Google him) in the 600's.  Yeah, 6 zero zero. Although we did not make the hike around the lakes in the mountains as Davis did with Jo and Fintan earlier this year, we had a great time being together.  We got back to the baseball games in time to see the Spartans win their second game of the day.  My driving baptism with fire is over for now.

The Cone of Shame

Tiger Lily post surgery

Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny from castle grounds

 

 

Early Tuesday morning Strider and Tiger Lily took a fateful ride to the vet office for 'the surgery which shall not be named.'  Strider was less traumatized than Tiger Lily due in part to the fact that he did not have to wear the cone of shame.  We are supposed to keep the cone on her for 2 weeks.  Not going to happen.

Yesterday we took the Grandmas to Kilkenny, Ireland to look at our second castle of the week.  The first was Malahide which is about 5 minutes from our house.  Kilkenny is about 1 1/2 hours south/southwest of Dublin.  The drive was beautiful and so was the town. 

Today I drove the Grandmas to Tesco.  Before we left Davis wanted to know what he would inherit in case we didn't make it back.  He's grounded.  No one was injured in the process and we got back alive.