Rain

The rain has been ongoing since we arrived in An Daingean (pronounced "On DANG-un"). However, we did get one simply gorgeous day which we decided to make the most of and travel around the Dingle peninsula.

The views all along the drive are stunning. Mountains and ocean every way you turn. It really is amazing when you consider the amount of work people here put in to make this land usable. It's called "reclamation". They took seaweed and sand from the beach and picked out all the rocks (and made fences) just to make the land arable to grow potatoes. Without huge amounts of labor the land is worthless except for grazing.

We saw many "Beehive huts". Stone homes/churches built anywhere from 2000 BC to 1300AD. They are dry stacked, which means no mortar was used in construction but the structures are water proof to this day. Really wonderful.

Eli climbed all over a stone fort built in 500 BC and pet the donkeys on a stroll down to the fort. Afterwards we drove to a beach where several Irish families and tourists were taking a break to play in the sun and surf. Eli enjoyed climbing rocks with papa and chasing all of us with fistfuls of sand.

There's a dolphin who lives in Dingle bay and my mom decided his name was "Foken". Say that with an Irish accent. She said it several times until we explained to her that it was Fungui the dolphin, not "Foken". Hilarious!

Today since it rained we took Eli to the local Aquarium. Pretty awesome with a giant Manta ray, sharks, all kinds of Amazon fish, and salmon of all things. He seemed to enjoy it. Especially the coloring book in the cafeteria.

We took a little drive along the Connemara Pass which hardly had room for one car, let alone opposing traffic. But spectacular views once again. The sign on the way up actually said, "Turn back now!".

Eli slept excellent last night, the first time since we've been here. Thank you God! Hoping for another night of peaceful sleep before we drive to Kenmare in the morning. We may do the Ring of Kerry tomorrow if the weather is good.

I have seen many amusing signs since we've been in Ireland but have decided to use this blog to post my favorite (inside a outhouse near one of the beehive huts).