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Forgot to include a photo of me going off the diet to have a Guinness. But we are in Ireland and it is traditional. I have been enjoying the Irish Cider here so I really have not missed beer.

Started our day today at Torc Falls. The best view was from the bottom of the falls. Took the hike up the falls to see the top, but the view from the bottom was better. The highlight of the climb was the view of Killarney Lakes.

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Our guide, Robert drove us around the Ring of Kerry. The road is great and I could have driven this but with a driver, I got to see a lot more of the scenery. Had great view of The Skelligs and had lunch is a cute small coast town of Portmagee. Portmagee is near Valencia island where the Transatlantic cable made landfall in Europe. Before we went back to our hotel, we stopped at the Gap of Dunloe, where got up close and personal with two horses.

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Ended the day with a little dinner in Killarney and a little shopping, mostly looking, before adjourning to Murphy’s Pub for some music. Bill played for about 2 hours and got to sing 2 songs. Had a great time. At least one of the other musicians had been to Milwaukee’s Irish Fest.

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Tomorrow we will do a little more touring near Killarney before heading back to Ennis. We will see a few sights along the way.

We had a great nights sleep and then started the day with breakfast and walked across the street to the cathedral. After mass we again met with Robert who drove us to Glengarriff. The drive was thru some beautiful country in the rain.

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We had a quick bit to eat and then took a boat to Garinish Island. We also met the other family on the tour Greg, Pat and their son Brandon. It was rainy but the garden was beautiful.

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We then went to Kenmare and had some time to look at some of the shops before we had dinner and listened to a singer who sang many of the tunes we perform. Got to our hotel late. Tomorrow is the Ring of Kerry.

After a shaky start with a late bus to O’Hare, we got thru TSA and were able to relax in the Lounge before our flight to Dublin. Our Flight was perfect and we both got some sleep.

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Once we got thru Passport Control and Customs, we took a taxi to the Dublin Train Station. The train left on time but we were delayed because of track work. We finally got to Limerick and were met by Robert from Wild Atlantic Music Tours. He drove us to Ennis and we checked in to our hotel. Did a quick tidy up and went to Considines Pub for a portion of the session with Blackie O’Connell. I had a great time even though I was tired from traveling. Nothing like a few traditional tunes to perk you up. Ennis is a wonderful town and everything we expected and more.

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Had dinner at the pub in the hotel and tried to stay up as long as we could.

We are heading to Kerry tomorrow. More then.

Changed the header picture to a photo from our trip to Cornwall and Scotland in 2014. This was taken at Eilean Donan Castle near the Isle of Skye on a relatively rare sunny day. Wisconsin’s recent “gloomy” weather has prepared us well for typical Irish weather. The next post will be from Ennis, Ireland.

We have been planning a trip to Ireland for the past few months. The first portion of the trip is a music tour. This will give us the opportunity to hear and play along with traditional Irish musicians. The bulk of the tour will be based in Ennis, County Claire and will will spend two nights in Killarney, County Kerry. We will also visit a number of scenic and interesting locations in Claire, Kerry and Galway City. After the tour we will strike out on our own along the Wild Atlantic Way northwards, stopping in Westport, Sligo, Burtonport and Belfast, before ending at a hotel at Dublin’s airport.

As before, we will post a few pictures on Facebook along with a link to this blog, but there will be more pictures posted here along with some comments. The attached map gives you an idea of where we will be in general.

From Cedaredge, we drove over the Grand mesa and got back on I-70 to Denver. Except for a 30+ minute delay in Glenwood Canyon for construction, the drive went smoothly. It was wonderful to see the mountains around Vail as we drove over Vail Pass.

Colorado River in Glenwood Canyon while stopped for construction

Rocky Mountains from Vail Pass

Had two great days with Linda’s brother and sister-in-law, John and Missy and got to see some friends as well.

On Wednesday, we headed to Denver International Airport to catch the Bus with wings (Southwest) home.  The trip home went smoothly, but we were happy and tired from all the travels and glad to be home in Wisconsin.

Started the day by visiting Capitol Reef NP. More stunning scenery, plus a little history.  The first stop was Twin Rocks, followed by Chimney Rock.

We then drove to Panorama point, saw the Castle and took a portion of the Scenic Drive.

We then headed east and saw the petroglyphs and Capitol Dome.

We took one last drive near the park on Notom road and saw our last of the Utah rock formations.

After leaving the part we headed east on Utah 24 to I-70 and Colorado. We had two wonderful days visiting our friends in Cedaredge, CO, including visits to a winery and cidery (what a surprise). Both the wine and the cider were very good.

 

 

 

 

From Bryce Canyon we took Utah 12, a scenic byway, to Torrey, UT our next stop. They have tee shirts that state “I survived Highway 12” but the road is very good, although a little twisty in sections. There are visitor centers at Red Canyon, Cannonville (for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument), Escalante, and Torrey. Make sure to stop at some of them, especially if you are planning on taking any back road side trips to get the current road conditions. Even if you stay on 12 the vistas are amazing and the scenery changes as you go from south to north.

Our first stop after a wonderful breakfast at Rustler’s Restaurant in Tropic was Kodachrome Basin State Park. The feature in this park are sandstone chimneys. These are very unusual and highly concentrated in the park. To get to some of the chimneys you need to go in unpaved roads, which are pretty good. They will take you into open range so watch out for cattle.

There are a number of overlooks on Utah 12 and the views are great. From some the view is difficult to capture with a camera, but we did take some pictures at Powell Point and Boynton overlooks. Also some of the overlooks do have restroom facilities (clean but primitive).

Powell Point

View from Boynton Overlook

We also stopped at Escalante Petrified Forrest State Park.  Didn’t have time to hike any of the trails, but there were some interesting samples of petrified wood including parts of a very large tree. Worth a stop.

View in Petrified Forest Park

petrified wood

part of large petrified tree

We are looking forward to seeing Capitol Dome National Park tomorrow and driving to Colorado to see our friends.

 

 

We started the day by driving to the south end of Bryce Canyon to Rainbow Point and Yovimpa Point. The views were great and a real warm up for the rest of the day.

Bill at Yovimpa Point

Linda at Yovimpa Point

View from Rainbow Point

View from Rainbow Point

View from Rainbow Point

We then drove to the Ponderosa Point, and the Agua Canyon overlooks. More beautiful views.

View from Ponderosa Canyon Overlook

View from Ponderosa Canyon Overlook

Us at Agua Canyon Overlook

View from Agua Canyon Overlook

We then went to the Natural Bridge Overlook to see the famous Natural Bridge.

Hoodoo at Natural Bridge Overlook

Natural Bridge

Next overlook was Fairview Point. Had the first view of lots of Hoodoos.

Hoodoos at Fairview Overlook

At the Swamp Canyon Overlook, we decided to hike a little way down the Swamp Canyon Connecting Trail. The views were well worth the effort and the trail also went thru a pine forest that was quiet and beautiful.

View from the trail

Linda on the trail

Woods on the trail plus a hoodoo

View from the trail

We then drove to the Mossy Cave Trailhead on Utah 12 and took the short but steep Mossy Cave trail. While on the trail we saw the Water Canyon waterfall and the fast running stream. The Mossy Cave is not really a cave but a seep where the water comes thru the rock.

Waterfall on the water canyon

Linda at Mossy Cave

Linda on the trail

View from the trail

We then took a lunch break in the small town of Tropic. After lunch, we returned to the hotel and boarded the Bryce Canyon Shuttle bus. We decided to take the shuttle to the more popular overlooks because of lack of parking and we had decided we wanted to hike a portion of the Rim Trail. We ended up hiking the Rim Trail from Inspiration point to The Bryce Canyon Lodge near Sunset Point. It was mostly down hill and gave us spectacular views of Bryce. We started at Bryce Point which gives wonderful views. We also kike a short way down the Peekaboo Trail.

 

View from Bryce Point

View from the Peekaboo Trail

View from the Peekaboo Trail

Next up was Inspiration Point. More wonderful views.

View from Inspiration Point

View from the Rim Trail

Linda on the Rim Trail

View from Sunset Point

If you get a chance to visit Bryce Canyon, take time to hike on a trail. You will be rewarded with brilliant views that people who stick to the overlooks will never see.

Tomorrow we are off to Grand Staircase – Escalante National Monument and driving to just outside  Capitol Reef National Park.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We said good-bye to Zion with a drive back thru the east side of Zion. If you come to Zion, don’t miss the east side.  We did have to wait about 15 minutes to get back into the park from Springdale.

We then drove thru the beautiful Utah countryside to Cedar Breaks National Monument.  This is about 75 minutes west of Bryce Canyon and the road thru the park is closed for the winter. We were please the learn on Tuesday that the road was open but the park itself won’t open until May 25th. We literally broke the ice off of the park (at 10,350 ft it is much higher than even Bryce Canyon).  The views were definitely worth the side trip.

After we checked in to the hotel at Bryce, we decided to take it east as the elevation is about 7000 ft. We went to see the Ebenezer’s Barn and Grill show. It was well done and the country music was very good.

After the show, we decided to drive to Bryce Point to see the stars. The view of the night sky was amazing. So many more stars than we can normally see. We will be going into the park tomorrow and will be back then,