The Irish Adventure Continues (Green and Photo Heavy)

Well friends, I know really you just want to see photos of Ireland, but bear with me for a bit while I tell you what our last few days have been filled with.  If you'd like to, you're welcome to skip past the wall of text and just admire the green insanity that is the land of Eire.  I promise I won't judge you or write blog posts about how sad I feel.

On Sunday morning we ate breakfast and drove to Southern Ireland.  The drive was lovely, albeit a bit foggy which I guess is sort of par for the course here.  We arrived in the town we're staying in for the next week and knew already that our trip was only going to get better; the town has a small population of 1700 (much more our scene, as previously indicated) and a lovely downtown that is reminiscent of New England in all the best ways (or I guess New England is reminiscent of Ireland, really, since it was first).

We checked into our B&B, which is run by a really sweet couple and an adorable little beastie named Kim.  We really love it and they've been so incredibly helpful already. After relaxing for a bit, we headed downtown to grab some dinner.  Rob really tapped into his Irish roots and ordered a Guinness (duh) and shepard's pie, while I had a screwdriver with some traditional Irish lamb stew.

As an aside, I'm pretty sure that my ancestors were rolling in their graves because of the screwdriver I drank, but in my defense it's the celiac disease that they passed on to me that prohibits me from drinking more Irishy drinks like whiskey or beer.

The next day we had breakfast at the B&B which I guess makes sense. The caretaker made Rob a traditional Irish breakfast (eggs, sausage, bacon, black and white puddings, and tomato) and made me a mini version of that thing because I guess the puddings contain along with dried blood cereal or some other gluten product.  It was amazing, truly, but intensely filling and we were feeling it all goddamn day.  We spent all day walking around town, taking photos and of course lots of naps, and watching Netflix because we are on vacation and lounging around is awesome. We also had blue skies and sun that day which apparently makes us very lucky indeed.

We also saw an old abandoned abbey and cemetery near our B&B, and if you know me at all you know I love morbid shit like that so of course we had to stop for photos. Erin, my dear, this particular spot reminded me of you and your abandoned house explorations.

That night we ate more yummy food and had some drinks while listening to some Irish traditional music. And taking goofy photos.

Also on Tuesday we saw "the Druid's Circle," which is a 3000-year-old rock circle presumably created by the Druids or some other collection of pagans.  The signage wasn't completely clear on why the pagans moved these rocks from like, 50 miles away to set them in a circle, but most of it seems to point it being a place to keep track of time/seasons by the sun and moon, or maybe a ceremonial site. Essentially it's just a circle of heavy rocks with a bigger, flatter rock in the middle, but it was still a pretty spiritual site when you think about how those rocks got there and the potential purposes they held (Rob's educated guess was sacrifice).  In the US we don't have much that is 3000 years old and still standing, at least to my knowledge, so this was a pretty cool sight for us. Also, SO MUCH GREEN.

Oh god, guys, I really didn't mean for this post to be this long. I seriously culled them down to just the basics for this post--I have approximately 8000 other pictures of the same shit. If you're thinking "Jesus, Caitlin, split it into a few posts next time," then you have something in common with the voice in my head and maybe I'll listen better for the next post.

Anyway I hope you are enjoying the green hallucination that is Ireland through my eyes.  We're having so much more fun here than we had in Dublin--with every trip we take we become more and more convinced that city living (or apparently even city visiting) just isn't for us.  Give us small-town living any day of the week.

I commented back to all of you I think, but I just wanted to thank you for the sweet words on my last post. I love having friends that live in the computer.

Back to Our Roots

Rob and I are originally from a tiny, rural region in Maine that no one's ever heard of and for which you have to provide multiple reference points when answering the question, "so where in Maine are you from?"

It's a 4-hour drive from where we currently live, and since this weekend is Father's Day (both of our fathers live down here) and since I booked a family shoot for Sunday, we made the soul-sucking trek down the highway and finally into the deepest reaches of nowhere earlier this afternoon.

First we drove to my grandparents' house to help my dad with a few projects. Then we met up with Lindy to photograph some of her wares for her Etsy shop and prepare for a (shh!) giveaway...coming soon :)

So after all of those adventures we're finally back to my childhood home, which is tucked at the end of a 4-mile dirt road on the shores of a beautiful, clean lake.  I love how quiet it is here, minus, of course, the occasional loon or more frequent mosquito.  It's like a whole other world down here.  Seriously, take a look at this location:

Beautiful, no? I feel very privileged to have grown up around so much green and natural awesomeness.

You think I'd be well-versed in the temperature difference between our current home (in the west, by the mountains) and our hometowns (by the coast), but I still managed to plan poorly.  When we left home it was 65 degrees, perfect sandal and dress weather.  When we arrived, it was 56 and cloudy.

Idiot.

Now I'm wearing jeans under my dress and a sweater.  Yay summer!

What did you do today?

P.S. I saw the first iteration of my matryoshka tattoo, you guys, and holee. crap. It's amazing.  Ten times more amazing than I ever imagined.  Think gypsy skull, lace, and Cyrillic.  When the design is finished I'll post a picture and try not to have your mind blown. LEMON OUT.