The Irish Taruns: A giant, a panda and a cliff

Monday, July 12, 2010

A giant, a panda and a cliff

We in Irish Tarun land were lucky enough to have some friends from Austin visit us sort of last minute in early June. They had originally planned a big trip to Bangkok & other destinations nearby, but with the massive unrest including the loss of control of the airport, they altered their vacation plans. This of course gave us an opportunity to for more travel and an excuse to get out and enjoy Dublin more. We really lucked out with some nice weather. And I got really lucky as they were zoo people. So I got to again see the very nice Dublin Zoo. And spoiler alert!: we saw the red panda this time! What an amazingly cute creature. Pictures below.

Since Richard had a bank holiday the first Monday in June, we got to do a bit of travel with a nice long weekend. Richard had his first trip to Northern Ireland where we drove the beautiful Antrim Coast and saw Giants Causeway. Do you know the story of Giants Causeway? Legend has it that famed Irish warrior giant, Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn McCool), built the Causeway as a bridge to Scotland where a rival giant lived and had issued a challenge. He arrived in Scotland only to see the Scottish giant was much larger than he and he fled back home. Finn told his wife what had happened and she decided to dress him like a baby and told him to pretend to be asleep. The Scottish giant chased him back to Ireland and arrived at his home demanding to see Finn. His wife told him Finn wasn't home, that it was just her and the baby. Well, the Scottish giant took one look at the giant sleeping baby and decided that if that was the baby he didn't want to fight the father. He ran all the way back to Scotland tearing up the bridge as he went. The only part left of the bridge is what's now known as Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland and a small part on an island in Scotland.

Bog Jumping in County Donegal

After the Causeway, we drove to County Donegal. We stayed the night in Markree Castle, which was a big hit with the Griffiths and Richard got to stay at a castle finally. TJ & Mackenzie traveled with us and it was TJ's favorite part of the trip. I think he misses being king of the castle at home in Austin.

On the last day of our mini-holiday we went to Slieve League to see what I think are Ireland's most stunning cliffs. And you are able to hike all around them. TJ & Mackenzie loved climbing the cliffside and Mackenzie especially loved chasing the sheep away.