From Dingle to Killarney

It was a little more difficult to leave the Forde's house yesterday than we had anticipated, because Eoghan gets really upset any time "all of his friends" leave. Around noon, we finally got away and made our way towards Dingle. We convinced Eoghan that we were following him to his cousins house in our own car...Gillian said he was "baffled" that we somehow had gotten lost along the way.

We eventually made it to Dingle and drove along Slea Head Drive to the westernmost point in Ireland. Getting there involved tons of scenic photo stops.


Bethany, Courtney, Page, and Taylor jumping off the wall on the westernmost part of Ireland.

The view from Slea Head Drive. Its amazing how close the mountains are to the ocean here.

After a bit of sightseeing, we had dinner at a local pub and then went to find our hostel. The hostel was called "Paddy's Palace" and David kept calling it "Paddy's Paradise." We were afraid to stop for directions, because in the US if we asked for directions to Paddy's Palace, people would undoubtedly assume we were looking for the local strip club. We eventually found the place and settled into our private room. David and Taylor were both a little anxious about staying overnight in a hostel. David kept talking about how "any time now, a girl covered in blood will come running down the hall," and Taylor was scared of the "bed bugs" and swore she was having an allergic reaction to the sheets.

We made it through the night without incident. The next morning, however, was a different story. It had snowed overnight and Page's car had started making a really bizarre rattling noise. We stopped at a mechanic before leaving town, but were going to have to wait an hour so we decided to just keep going.

We made it to Killarney and ate lunch at a local cafe. One of the waitresses was very interested in hearing about the US and discussing whether or not we liked Obama. We decided that letting Bethany answer those questions would create the least controversy. After shopping around Killarney for a while, we tried another mechanic on the way out of town. Again, no luck...but we made it safely back to Killavullen and Kieran thinks he should be able to fix Page's car.

Tonight Gillian made an awesome traditional Irish dinner and bacon (Canadian ham to us) and cabbage. And Dad, we all ate brussel sprouts.

-Sarah and BethanyThe girls in the town center of Killarney.