A new adventure

Great day! Lots of coastline and lots of mountains 💜💜💜 Started out on the ring this morning.  Followed the coastline around the peninsula and then out to a small island for the light house and a little tide pool time.  Russ enjoyed that adventure, and I found a pretty little snail shell to bring back with me.  Next was to the chocolate shop out on the point.  There was a nice beach nearby, so we stopped there for our picnic lunch. Local fresh smoked salmon, fresh bread and a local gruyere cheese. Yummy! Prettiest lunch spot ever! Then back to the mountains.  I talked Russ into driving one of the teeny little roads through a pass and a gap. Very beautiful! I enjoyed it more than him, since I wasn't driving! Lots of white knuckle moments and most of the road was one lane, making it tricky when you met a car coming from the other direction. Russ did great!  Stopped at a Whisky Bar restaurant for dinner.  Doing my best to get the ...

Great day! Visited a 3000 year old site of circle stones in the morning. Pretty landscape and we could see the ocean in two directions. Big stop of the day was the most southwesterly point of Ireland, Mizen Head.   Very cool shoreline and big crashing waves.  Spent more time there than I thought we would, so skipped the next peninsula and headed towards one of the National Parks here.  Was pleasantly surprised that there are mountains here! Will have to do a post with just pictures. Wonderful  B&B tonight, so we decided to use it as a  base for tomorrow too.  We will be driving the Kerry Ring, so lots of shoreline, castles, and ring stone are on the agenda

Stopped my some ruins today on our way to Cork.  The Rock of Dunamase was the first. Kind out out in n the middle of some pretty farmland.  Nice to get out and stretch our legs a bit.  Russ is doing awesome at driving, don't think I could have pulled it off. Our second stop with is the town of Cashel.  Nice old abandoned church grounds in top of the local big hill, so it is known as Cashel Rock.  Still had some of the oldest parts from the 1100s.  Had a bunch of additions done in the 1500s also.  You could really see the difference in the quality of the structures. Got settled in to our newest home, has a nice back patio overlooking the little river.  Relaxing listening to the birds and we are planning our day alo g the coast tomorrow. Today's excitement: we have experienced all 4 seasons of Ireland within an hour today. Sunny, rainy, snowy and more rain! The locals have been talking about snow this weekend, hoping it will not be near us! ...

Great first and second day.  Felt pretty tired adjusting to the time yesterday but doing better today. Touring around the museums and enjoying some great food and a couple of Guiness. Enjoying our time here. Got the hop on-hop off tour bus ticket, so getting to see a  nice bit of the city.

Did a quick stop out at Presedent Andrew Jacksons home.  The grounds were nice to explore and the house is in a pretty good state of preservation.  Wandered around and learned a  bunch about this former President.  Stopped by the Opery Mall for a bit of lunch and realized we were right beside the Grand Ole Opery, so stopped for a quick photo op. Our way through the airport was quick, but our flight is a little delayed getting into Dulles.  We have a tight turn around time (45 minutes!) And now that is being squeezed down to less than a half hour.  Hope me make it!

It's been a good week with Russ.  Lots of little restaurants with some pretty amazing food.  Last night we drove out by the Land Between the Lakes and had dinner at a little place called the Dinner Bell. Amazing catfish, chicken and other dishes.  Very southern style with collard greens and white beans too.  Really enjoyed the ambiance.  It was family buffet style and they set up part of the buffet on these wonderful antique stoves.  We stuffed ourselves with some good home style cooking! Looking through our tour books and getting things on our list of things to see while in Ireland and London.  Getting excited!

Made a quick stop in Hot Springs on my way to Kentucky.  Nice town, but they had several streets blocked off in preparation for St. Patrick's Day.  I got into town at 9 am, so the main worry was getting trapped by a parade.  Drove up to the top of the "mountain" and looked down on the town for a bit. Lots and lots of high rise hotels around the historic area.  Had a hard time finding the visitor center for the park, so finally stopped in at the city visitor center and asked for directions.  Got lucky since the parking was free there, and was only a 3 block walk from where I wanted to be. I knew from doing a little research that you don't  get to see the water from the springs anymore, because the water runs underground and the bath houses pull their supply from there.  Saw a cute little fountain at the end of the bath house row, and realized there was steam coming from it. YAY! At least I got to touch some of the HOT water! One of the old bath houses...