One Of My Favorite Days In Ireland-- The Gap of Dunloe!!!

Megan and I didn't go running this morning...decided to sleep in!  It was another REALLY fun day in Ireland!  We all ate a yummy breakfast and then headed to the Gap of Dunloe tour.  It was beautiful!  We got to see more of the rugged side of the country today.  First, we boarded boats docked in front of the Ross Castle (15th Century) and took a long boat ride on the lake.  It was sprinkling for a bit, but then it stopped and warmed up (still cloudy though) for the rest of the day.  Because the lake is so low, we had to get out of the boat and hike up to where it picked us up again as they pulled the boats through with ropes!!  We saw a Heron (bird), and a really colorful pheasant and LOTS of sheep today!  This countryside is so beautiful.  We stopped for lunch (soups and sandwiches) at the top before we boarded carts to head up and then down through the "gap" (or canyon) of Dunloe.  We could only ride 4 to a cart, so Bill and I took the first one with another couple from London and Wales now living in Vancouver, BC (from Edward Jones too) and the 4 girls rode down in the cart behind us! We did this through a 6 mile long stretch of beautiful territory through the Macguillycuddy Reeks (mtns.), lakes, streams and endless green dotted with tons and tons of SHEEP!  The valley is called the Black Valley (because it didn't get electricity until 1976!)  We ate lunch near Lord Brandon's cottage (built in the 1800's).  When we got to the bottom, we got Magnum bars and stopped at Kate Kearney's Cottage.  She was famous for selling illegal whiskey to the locals over 150 years ago.  (Illegal, because she was female!)  Then we caught our motor coach back to the hotel and took a nice, long nap!

This evening was our Irish Theme Evening with the Edward Jones group at Laurels Pub.  The entertainment was music and Irish dancing.  The girl that danced is an dancer in River Dance and one of the boys that danced is the World Champion for his age group in Irish dancing for 2017!  We talked with him afterward.  He's been dancing since he was 3 and he's only 18 now!  The music and dancing was SUPER fun and lively!  The musicians were really talented too.  One was a guy on the drum-- and he danced too, one guy on the guitar, a girl on the accordion and a girl that played a couple of different flutes (Irish style).  We really enjoyed it and it was a great meal too!  McKenzie wasn't feeling too great a first, but felt better after a while.  It was still light out when we walked back to our hotel.  It's light out until late here.  It was another great day!  We head to Blarney Castle and Dromoland tomorrow.  I really enjoyed it here in Killarney these last few days.  The girls LOVE it here!  (Brooke wants to move to Ireland!)