Happy St. Patrick's Day! Irish Rover's Part 3: Carrick-a-Rede

Top o' the morning to ye all!  And yes it's St. Patrick's Day, huzzah!  It is raining like crazy in Los Angeles this morning so I feel like we could imagine we're back in Ireland!  But in honor of the day I thought I'd share with you some more photos from our Irish Roadtrip!  

Here's a look at the beautiful Irish coast line as we went on a little hike to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge.  We weren't able to cross the bridge as it was too windy, but just roaming the cliffs around it was exciting enough.  I felt like it was one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen.  

Those last two photos were actually taken the day after as we were leaving the coast.  The Sea was angry that day my friends!  And it was so cold and windy.  I just love how disgruntled we all look!

And finally, here is a little joke my brother-in-law sent me this morning.  It makes him proud to be Irish and I am awfully proud to be Irish too!  (Well, partially and then by marriage...It totally still counts!  And besides, I am way more Irish than most of the people who will be sporting a "kiss me I'm Irish" button today!) 

Sláinte!

The Irish Rovers #2 - Giant's Causeway

Welcome to March my lovelies!  Here's a bit more from my trip to Ireland earlier this year.

After Belfast, the boy's family and I drove up to the northern coast of Ireland to spend a night in the seaside town of Port Rush.  Along the way we made a few choice tourism stops, among them, the Giants Causeway.  This section of coastline is made up of thousands of interlocking basalt columns that formed due to an ancient volcanic eruption.  The result is both beautiful and somewhat bizarre, as the perfect hexagonal stones just seem utterly unreal when you see them in person.  

Sis in Law Katie and Me before walking down to the Causeway

siblings in law Anna and Neil...He got stuck in that crevice...

the sea

the boy

my Mum-in Law and Me

We all had a lot of fun roaming around the rocks, despite the fact that they were very slippery and it was really cold!  It really was a beautiful place full of wonder. 

Time to Say Goodbye...

I've been sharing all my roadtrip pictures with y'all for weeks now and I think that as a closing to the trip I want to share this image....

This is me watching the Bellagio Water Show in Las Vegas.  Something about it just makes me happy.  We used to play the music at camp when I was a counselor and the boys would spit water as if they were the Bellagio Fountain.  Ah, we were young and silly!

I loved going on this roadtrip with my boy.  We had such a good time and I will cherish the memories forever.

Road Trippin'

This past October, the boy took me on a five day road trip to Vegas, Flagstaff, The Grand Canyon and Monument Valley.  It was an amazing, whirlwind of a trip and just what I wanted.  You see, the boy promised me a roadtrip as my last birthday present and it was definitely all I hoped for and more.  

I love being on the road, seeing the landscape, listening to tunes that will always remind me of that trip and just getting away with the boy.  But I especially love all the little details and things you couldn't ever plan or expect that you see when you're out on the open road.  Here are some of my favorite roadie moments! 

Where to next?  Guess you'll have to wait and see!

Chapel of the Holy Dove

Another side of the road find during our roadtrip, I give you the Chapel of the Holy Dove in Arizona!  We saw this strange looking building on our way to the Grand Canyon and we just had to stop and take a gander.  It was really strange, but lovely just the same.  I can see a lot of cute little weddings taking place here!  

Playing at Pueblos

As we drove to Monument Valley back in October, we made a few roadside stops, one being the Wupatki Pueblo in Arizona.  It was amazing to see these ruins way out in the middle of no where and just imagine what life must have been like for the inhabitants.  

Clearly you can see that life must have been so different, but when you look closer you can see that there were so many things that were actually the same.  For instance, they had an arena for playing sports after a long days work.   They called it the Blowhole Ballcourt.  

Also it was so serene and silent out there, it was a bit eerie.  For a moment it almost felt like time had stopped as we walked around the Pueblo.  It was really something special to see and I know my grandparents would have been very proud of us for checking it out. 

Hoover Dam

On the way back home from Flagstaff Arizona, the boy and I decided to play our luck one more time and stop in Vegas again.  This time that included visiting the Hoover Dam.  I had never seen it before, except in movies of course, but I was surprised at just how huge it really is and how deep it goes.  

I also liked the whole, being in two places at once by standing on the AZ and NV state line in the middle of the Dam.  Yeah, I'm a nerd. 

It's an interesting place though. In a weird way it was very artistic and beautiful, while being so industrial.  Quite the site to see! 

This family was posing below the sign for so long, I had no choice but to include them in my pic

this sign is in honor of all the people who died while building the dam and we just thought it was a bit strange that essentially the guy in the plaque is sort of shrugging...We're horrible, I know.

First Trip to Monument Valley

The third stop on our anniversary road trip was the Majestic Monument Valley.  We didn't have a lot of time, as we had to drive all the way from Flagstaff and back before sundown.  But we saw some beautiful countryside on the way and the sight of those incredible rock formations was definitely worth the trip.

I think the most amazing thing about Monument Valley was how silent it was, and how bright the color of the red dirt looks, and how the monuments appeared so perfectly crafted, like they had been sculpted by a brilliant artist.  It was an incredible sight to see.

Of course we did almost destroy our rental car while trying to drive the dirt road around the monuments...Not the best place to drive a mustang convertible!  However we did get stopped by some French tourists wanting to take a picture of our car in front of the monuments - Classic America!  I kinda wish I could get a copy.