Mum Has Arrived!

My mum has finally arrived to Ireland!

After a long flight from Portland to Ireland (with many stops in between), Mom arrived in Ireland on Tuesday afternoon. We took the bus from Dublin to Galway, and then just spent the rest of Tuesday in Galway. 

On Wednesday, we went to the largest of the Aran Islands called Inishmore. We took a bus from Galway to a little town on the coast, then took a very rough ferry ride over to the island. For anyone who has ever seen that show on the Discovery channel called Deadliest Catch, that's what our ferry ride reminded me of. (I have recently discovered that show on one of our 12 channels over here, and have been learning all about the risks and triumphs of Alaskan crab fishing in my spare time here. I'm convinced that is one of the most difficult jobs ever.) Of course, I'm being a tiny bit dramatic about our particular ferry ride and obviously the water we traveled over was nothing like the Bering Sea, but it was a pretty rough ride over.

Nonetheless, we arrived on Inishmore, and hopped in a van tour with a lovely local guide named Neal. He shuttled us around the island for half the day, telling us interesting facts and quite a few jokes along the way. While on the island, we went to the Cliffs, hung off the side, and looked below. For everybody that Mom has recommended the movie Leap Year to, these cliffs are the ones in the movie! Yes, this was a full circle moment in case anyone was wondering. 

After surviving our ferry ride back to the big island, we spent Wednesday night in Galway again before heading off to Dingle. We spent the last two nights sampling the local pubs and music in Dingle, and biking the Dingle peninsula. We have had pretty bad, very wet and windy weather since she got here, but luckily for the time we were biking out around the peninsula we lucked out and it stayed dry. The wind, however, was in full force, which is why we look ridiculous in our hoods and coats in the pictures. 

That's about it for Ireland. Tomorrow we are off to Germany. Here's a few pictures from Inishmore and Dingle...

Aran Islands

Yes, we have seen cows before. But still...

Dingle - Look Dad, the self-timer works. Our hoods make us look ridiculous, but it was so windy!