The Weekend Warrior Returns!

Cheers, all! I've just gotten back from my weekend in Galway, which was packed with loads of fun and excitement. Details to follow.

Taylor, Casey, and Steph left early on Friday, so they got in before I did. Jess, Erin, Katie, and I stayed behind to do the scavenger hunt (pics of that when I get them from Jess/Erin), so we left on a later bus and got into Galway around 11.30 or so. To The Claddaugh. Which is a hostel in Galway and was...an experience to say the least. There were 10 bunked beds in a room about the size of my bedroom in Bloomington, maybe a little bit smaller. And the pillows were plastic. But the first night it was just us, and this older American women and her daughter. So the next morning we were up bright and early and went out on a bus tour of Galway with the craziest bus driver EVER. Sadly, I can't get my picture of him to load, but as soon as I get it, it'll be up. I'll just have a random picture post at some point, I guess. So we left Galway at 10 or so in the morning and this was our first stop.


This is just looking out over Galway. Like...that's the countryside. And I'm on the otherside of the camera. This is more what I pictured Ireland looking like, just little cottages nestled in green. Look how green. And how far you can see. It's amazing.

This is a picture of the Burren (say it Burn) region. The Gaelic word for it is, I think, Al Burren, which means the rocky country. And, as you can tell, it is. The Burren was formed 800...million...years ago, 800...million years (that's what Desmond said, a lot of times. Pretty funny). It's all limestone, so it gets pretty hot up there in the summer, and there are flowers that just grow there, nowhere else in Ireland or the world. But it was just rocks while we were there.

Another random scenery picture. You'll see a lot of these, so sorry if they kind of look the same. It's a lot prettier in person.

This is a standing stone structure in the Burren region, and it's supposedly a burial structure erected by the ancient people who inhabited Ireland thousands of years ago. Awesome, eh? A cool kind of Stonehenge-y kind of thing. Yes. And we played mountain goats jumping around on the rocks. Not those big rocks, but the little ones in the ground.

Here's a castle. On the side of the road. I know you're jealous.

This a view of the lookout tower at the Cliffs of Moher. We didn't go up it, because it cost an extra 2 Euro, and frankly, we were high enough to have a damn good view already, in case you can't tell.

Don't I look like a postcard??? But yeah, those are the Cliffs of Moher behind me. And I suggest anyone who wants to visit the Cliffs gets there quickly. You can't tell in any of my pictures, but there's a lot of construction going on, on a new vistior's/viewing centre, but it just won't be the same, I think.

This is a straight down view from where I was standing on the cliffs. There are no fences, no rails, not even a warning sign. If you wanted to jump off, you could. And that's fantastic, because you can get so much closer, and really appreciate it a lot more, I think.

Here's Erin, Jess, and Steph looking thoughtful on the Cliffs.

Me, Taylor, and Casey doing the same. We're so cute.

Here's me looking cute (and a little pudgy) by the lookout tower. We tried to take pictures of each other, so we could send them home and show people we were really here.

Here's my feet (on the right, with the cool shoelaces) and Taylor's feet, on the edge of the world. At least, it kind of felt that way. Pretty awesome.

This is me, hanging out in a sloping meadow thing on the edge of the Cliffs. We had to hop a barbed wire fence to get to this place, and walk down a really narrow, steep footpath to get here, but it was totally worth it.

My gal pals wandering down a mountain in the Burren. Aren't they cute?

This is...I think, O'Brien castle, owned by the decendents of Brian Boru. Look him up yourself, he's a really cool High King of Ireland. The clan O'Ceallaigh (that's the Gaelic spelling of Kelly/Kelley) fought alongside him in his fight to keep the throne. He's a good guy and we like him. At low tide, it's not surrounded by water, so we stopped on our way back into Galway to take a cool water picture with the castle.

After we got done with our bus tour of the countryside, we went back to the hostel to find Brunhilda moved in to our room. She was a...ahem...rather large girl of German decent. Casey tried to make friends with her. Here's how the conversation went: Casey: So, I'm Casey. Brunhilda: My name is Katherine. Casey: Where in Germany are you from? Brunhilda: I'm from the West. Casey: Oh, I've heard of that. After that, she didn't talk anymore, just sat in the corner and stared at us. Guess who had to sleep in the bed nearest to hers? Yeah, that was me. We went out and had some really fantastic Italian food that night, and hung out and listened to live music for a while, met up with Howie, Ryan, and Dan, and also Steph's friend Jane, and some of Jane's friends. Everyone was feeling a little homesick, though, it seemed, so it was kind of a low-key night. For most of us, anyhow. Up bright and early the next day. We took a bus to a dock, and then ferried on over to the Aran Islands, where we rented bikes and rode around on Inishmor, which is the biggest of the three islands. We managed to all get over without getting seasick and here's what we saw!Rambly Irish island countryside. How amazing.

Little guy's not too happy, since Jess and I spooked Momma away. He was having lunch.

Jess, in the ocean. With a coat on. Crazy girl.

This is my favorite picture from the day. I jumped up into a cemetery and snapped this one. It's just fantastic.

This is the cool little cafe place where we stopped at for lunch. I had homemade veggie soup and brown bread that was absolutely divine. Very warm and filling for 3 euro. On we bike!

Picture of the girls from behind. I was the slow poke all day, mostly because this is where I wanted to be, behind and a little alone, exploring the countryside at my own pace :). That's just how I am. But we came to this fort called Dun Aonghasa (Fort Angus in English). We paid a euro each to walk up here, and you'll see why in a minute.

Here's us gazing over the edge, contemplating life, the universe, and everything.

This is me by the edge of the wall that's there. There's nothing on the other side of that. Nothing but ocean, baby.

Here's a good view of what it looked like from where I was standing in the last picture.

A pithy little sign posted just before we got up to the fort.

This is a fantastic sign on the dock. Pretty self-explanatory.

As much as I've tried, I can't fully explain what this weekend was to you. You can see the pictures, but you can't taste the blackberries we picked off the side of the road, you can't feel the cow's fur, or hear the ocean wind rushing up over the cliffs. That's why I write poetry.

But it's late...and I need supper and bedtime and talking to the fam. Love you all! Oh, and I did turn on word verification, so make sure you test that out.