We woke up to another lovely Irish breakfast made by the O’Sullivan’s (at this point, I think we were all exhausted by the Irish breakfasts). After a quick tour of their greenhouse we all got into the cars and headed for the Ring of Kerry. We had to separate into two different cars so Amy and I went with John, and Marguerite and Mom went with Kate. We stopped lots of times to take pictures (I probably took about 500 pictures this day). The roads were crazy narrow and what I would consider a one-way road was used for two cars (granted, sometimes we had to drive off the side of the road to get past someone). It was absolutely beautiful though. We got to see the coast and the “mountains” and it was such a lovely day as well. We stopped at a nice restaurant for a Bailey’s coffee and we saw a group of sheep being herded down a small road. We kept driving and stopping, driving and stopping, until John got us kind of lost. We managed to find our way onto some crazy back roads that I am pretty sure were meant for cattle but saw some pretty sights in the meantime. We stopped at a little hiker’s lodge on the side of the road for a quick bite and talked to some drunk hikers (and by we talked, I mean that mom talked). After some sandwiches and soup, we kept driving and saw lots of sheep. At one point we met a car coming the other way and since the road was too narrow and there were rocky cliffs on either side the car had to back up so much to let us through. Finally we made it back to the O’Sullivan’s house (it took 9 hours for the whole Ring of Kerry) and had a very quick dinner before suiting up for night kayaking.
I rode with Kate and Mom on the way to Lough Hyne (a marine lake which is incredibly biodiverse and has many people studying it). John lead the way and got us a bit lost again, but he found it eventually. We got to Lough Hyne just in time to go on the tour. We geared up our waterproof jackets and pants. While we were waiting to start kayaking tons of little gnats (called midgets by the O’Sullivans) kept flying in our faces so we were all running around like crazy trying to avoid them. When everyone was suited up the guide gave us a little lesson on proper kayaking techniques before we hit the water. Mom and I shared a kayak, Amy and Marguerite were in another, and Kate and John shared one as well. It was a really fun night. The tour guide told us old stories and jokes which was great. There was a full moon which made kayaking easier, but it also made seeing the bioluminescence a bit harder. We dipped our hands it the water and shook around trying to see them, but I only saw a few. We finally finished the tour at midnight and got into the cars. When we got back, Marguerite and I went straight to bed while Amy, Mom, Kate, and John stayed up talking until the late night hours.
CHASING BIG DREAMS 