Our last day

We've been traveling for 37 days now, and we have had an amazing time. I've asked Dane a few times over the course of the trip, "What has been your favorite thing?" and it is so difficult to pinpoint just one part as the best.

For our last day, we are heading up to the northern coast of Ireland to visit the Giant's Causeway. It was in the Olympics opening ceremony with a children's choir standing on it. Both times have been there before it has been freezing, and I was a little nervous that this was the weather out my window.


Quite different from the view out the same window from yesterday. But we figured the weather wasn't worth missing this last opportunity to see something here. Breakfast, a "full fry" consists of an egg, bacon, sausages, potato, and fried soda bread. Extra points to you if you can tell where the potato is.


See that triangle on the left that looks like a weird pancake? That's it. It's a potato pancake. And for those of you that have never had it, soda bread tastes basically like baking soda biscuits. And it's fried, so it's awesome.

When we got in the car, the weather had changed slightly.



But as we continued north, it got drier.



By the time we made it to the causeway, the sun was breaking through the clouds. The timing was perfect. Except that I had planned for it to be a lot colder, so I was way overdressed.

The last time I was here, the visitor's center was a small gift shop, a tea shop, a ticket booth, and a "theater" that held maybe 20 people that showed an informational video. A month ago, the new visitor center opened up, and it's huge! The ticket now includes an audio guide that you take as you walk.



This isn't a great shot of it, but there is a rock that is loosely shaped like a camel just above the head of the girl in the pink sweatshirt.


This is the windy gap, and it's said to be one of the windiest places in ireland. It's got nothing on Troutdale, though.


Wait, Heather, I have to listen to my audio guide first.


These rocks are called onion rocks because they are slowly peeling away in layers because of weathering.


Here we are at the causeway. Here's the myth (and actually, there are several variations of this story): Finn McCool was a giant who lived on this north coast of Antrim and was kind of hot-headed and arrogant. He heard that there was another giant living across the Irish sea in Scotland and so he built this causeway as a path across the water to challenge him to a fight (the main variant in this story is who actually challenged the other). Much to Finn's surprise, the other giant was much bigger than himself, so he ran back to his house (losing his boot in the process; I promise that matters) and told his wife that he was in trouble. She, being the brilliant, quick-thinking resourceful type, told him to get into bed and gave his a frilly bonnet and gown to wear. He did not understand, but followed her directions. When the other giant came knocking, she explained that her husband Finn had just stepped out but that the giant was welcome to wait, and would he like to meet their baby? When the other giant saw how big the baby was, he trembled to think of how big Finn must be, so he turned tail and ran, tearing up the causeway can casting the stones into the sea so that Finn couldn't follow him back to Scotland.

The causeway is made of these columns of rock that have 5, 6, or 7 sides, and have patterned horizontal cracks that form ball and socket-like joints. They look manmade, but are believed to have been formed by volcanic activity.


You can explore them (there is a half-hearted attempt to stop people by saying that you climb at your own risk, but there are employees out n the rocks as well).



Look how blue that sky is!


When I've been here before, the water was higher and rougher, but it was quite calm out here today. Still a little gusty, though, so you had to be careful about your footing.


These pictures probably all look basically the same. I love this place, so we might have gotten carried away with pictures. :)

















This is most of the way out on the causeway looking back at the cliffs.





This area is called the giant's gate.


And here is Finn's boot!


Behind me in the cliffs, just up and slightly left of where I am, you can see the organ. It's an area of exposed columns that looks a little like a pipe organ.


And this is what it looks like up close.





Normally, we would have walked out on another trail over to a rope bridge, but it was closed because of a landslide last week. It's hard to see, but if you find the path in the center of the picture and follow it right, you will see what looks almost like a fold or super narrow ravine in the grass. The entire hillside, grass and all, just slid down onto the path, and it looks like the grass just continues on down the hill. So we didn't do that, because we didn't want to die (And they would let us).

What a lovely day for a wedding!

I wanted to add these pictures from our drive last night as we made our way to Newcastle. The sun was setting around 10 pm when we were finally up past Dublin.




Until the last 40 km or so, we were on major motorways, as they call them. But then we had to finish by going through small roads and villages. Villages with random castles.




This was the first time Dane was driving in the dark here. It was really hard to see the narrow, twisty roads. But the full moon was pretty cool.




Happily, we made it safely (though much later than we'd told our hotel we'd arrive, and I think they were a little annoyed with that). We had breakfast with a lovely view of the ocean.








And then had a couple hours to kill before getting ready for the wedding. Newcastle is apparently a very leisure-oriented town. We saw several casinos, arcades, and indoor playgrounds. The fog going up over the hills was crazy to watch; it was moving so fast.




There was a pond outside the library with giant swan boats that were a little creepy.




I am wearing a sweater and a jacket and am just comfortably warm here. It is windy down by the water. I'm hoping that the wedding site is far enough inland that it dies down.




But just in case, I picked up some insurance.




Playing with the reflective globe.




We thought about trying to walk up to the wedding site to find out where it was and get some exercise after spending most of yesterday in the car. We decided it was too far, though, so we settled on walking through this little park instead.




Dane found a fish and it made him so happy.








I walked up to the top of this hill to read that sign. It turned out to be totally blank. This hill has no significance. Just a hill.




We have a bit more time before the wedding, so we came back to relax and get ready. Here's my view from our hotel window. I'm pretty happy with it.




To try to minimize the distraction, we only used the phone to take pictures at the wedding, and my phone is refusing to email the pictures. I do have some, and I will share them when I get back. Sorry to have gotten your hopes up about wedding pics.
The wedding was in Tollymore Forest Park, and there are not clear cut directions on a map to get there. You just follow the signs from town until you reach the entrance. We have found that several places on this island are like that, so we left early just in case we got lost.
After missing only one turn, we found the park and followed the (slightly waterlogged) pinwheels to the wedding site. When we arrived, we saw a tent, a trailer with restrooms, and not very many people, but we were quite early. The original plan had been for the ceremony to be outside and the reception in the tent. Due to the rain, which had started a few hours earlier, they decided to have the ceremony inside. They moved the benches from the tables onto the dance floor for seating. It was a small wedding, with perhaps 60 guests? We learned that at Irish weddings, the guests stand for the actual wedding ceremony when the bride and groom are exchanging vows and rings. Unfortunately, I was standing behind the tallest man at the wedding, so I didn't see a bit of this. I could hear well, enough, though. There were small children everywhere, many of whom were approaching meltdown o'clock near the end of the ceremony, as we waited for dinner.
The wedding was at 3, and it is common for wedding celebrations to last well into the wee hours of the morning, but this one would have to wrap up around 12 due to noise restrictions in the park. I'd say that we did an excellent job of celebrating our hearts out before then. Dane and I sat across from the people who had introduced Katie and Johnny to each other.
Even though it hadn't gone quite as planned, it was a beautiful wedding. Katie was stunning, and you could tell that her new Irish family is so blessed to welcome her in. We were so happy to be here for this special day with them, and we count ourselves lucky that we get to celebrate with them again soon!