We went on a tour - Giants Causeway

So starting on this trip we had this insane desire to do things all our own way and not be 'traditional' tourists. But, the Giants Causeway is way out of the way of any regular buses or major towns and we figured for 15 pounds we could afford to be traditional tourists for the day. This is the tour - 

 We started out by going to a castle, which is very old and we weren't allowed inside, but we did get kicked out of the bus to do a 'photo shoot' with the castle. I was significantly more interested in my first decent view of the open sea since arriving in Ireland, which is below.

Next we went to a remote location that has a rope bridge that use to be used by fishermen to throw their lines off of into the sea, we had quite a nice walk along the seaside to get to the bridge. 

 It was VERY windy and quite cold up there, but the sun was mainly shining, with some clouds, a perfect day really.

 This is the bridge, you can see it spans over a small section of ocean. Because of the wind, it actually sways and twists quite a bit.

 I was sitting by this Kiwi woman (New Zealander) on the bus, and I took her picture after she successfully braved her fear of heights and swaying things over large bodies of water. Perfect work Jeannie! But then of course she had to cross back over still!

 The coastline on the walk back to the bus. Serious there is something to be said negatively about being on a schedule to see beautiful things and then get back in the bus in X amount of time!

Then we drove on, had a traditional Irish lunch. The sun was still out, but it was much colder, at least I felt much colder by the time we got to the Giants Causeway. 

 We took a different turn then everyone else and ended up on a trail high above the Causeway and every one else. If you look carefully at this photo below, you can make out small black specks on the roadway that are actually people. :P

 But because we are awesome, we got to take pictures with the WHOLE Causeway, not just a section. :) We were a little proud of ourselves for still being non-traditional even though we were on a tour.

 Random coast shots, a little further down from the Causeway, we hiked up along the ridge of the cliff for quite a ways...

 It was COLD, see the ice? No joke. Then the sun disappeared and it felt even colder.

 We finally made our way down the cliff to the Causeway, it is very strange. A formation of hexagonal rocks all the way out into the ocean. They told us stories of the two giants from Ireland and Scotland who had it out about who was the biggest and through the fights the Causeway apparently got smashed up and so that is why it doesn't reach to Scotland anymore. :P

 Ruthiey walking down to see the sea.

 It was a stunning and wonderful place, and the ocean is always incredible. We sat for a while and just listened to the waves. Then, completely chilled to the bone, we headed back to Belfast in the bus. :D But it was worth it. We'd had a great day out on the coast.

Beautiful Belfast

we have been in Belfast since last Friday, this is the view outside our hostel window. still raining and very misty when we first arrived and Saturday too was rainy. 

 We went walking to Queens University... and the Botanical Gardens nearby. But I got very cold and wet and it was rather miserable. I never thought I would be sick of rain, but I am very sick of rain and cold wind and mist. 

 Amazingly, on Sunday morning when we got up, the sun was shining and the sky was blue! We got so excited to see the sun for the first time since arriving in Ireland!

 We visited a little church that often has American tourists and they were very welcoming and apologized for all the rain. :P

 We went walking to the docks and the quays.

 The other side of the bridge, you can see all the crazy blue skies. I have never missed blue skies except for here. :P I think I was being affected by seasonal affective disorder. SAD. :D

 We went walking to East Belfast, there were lots of murals talking about the conflicts between Britain and Ireland

 St Patricks Church. I think that name is being reused. :P seems like a lot of churches called St Patrick

 This statue in East Belfast outside the Holyarches Library is called The Searcher and it is of Digory Kirk from CS Lewis' Narnia books. He is opening a wardrobe into other worlds. :)

 The shipyards nearby where the Titanic was built.

 Us. :)

 Believe me, we didn't play ANY games. :P

Dublin City Explorations

Our first dreary morning in Dublin. We walked along the river towards the sea.

 The view from across the Liffy River.

 The Photographer taking Photos. :) We kept suppressing squeals of excitement because we are in FREAKING Ireland. :D It is still surreal.

 They had funky little bridges crossing over the Liffy River. When I first smelled the sea I was so excited!

 More randomness from along the quays.

 Me by the Liffy. Trying to fit in with the Dubliners. :) It may not have been working.

 Our epic view from our hostel window, which we left open cuz the vents weren't working in our hostel room and it got all humid and nasty in there if we didn't. The sound of the rain on the roof mixed with the traffic noises below.

 Still from our window, down the quay.

 Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. We went to our first Evensong yesterday night. It was really awesome. I wouldn't have thought the plain reading and singing of Scriptures could be so epic and moving.

Anyways, since it is Friday evening, all the hostels in the area just doubled in price. We didn't plan that so well, and we hadn't booked anything past last night, so this morning, we got kicked out of the hostel. We decided it was cheaper and more fun to just head off to Belfast by train, so that's what we did in the early afternoon.  Belfast is the birth place of C.S. Lewis for those of you who didn't know. :)

Getting there - Dublin

Going away - this is my pack and this is my going away face. Jak off on an adventure with Tony Roo to Ireland. 

Joe drove me to the airport. He is awesome. 

MSP airport - terminal 1 

The clearing of the snow. I was delayed a few hours because of this and so even though my connecting flight in OHare was changed but flight out of OHare was not delayed and me and two couples (one old couple going to visit their daughter and 3 grandchildren in London and another couple doing one last trip before they have kids) had to run for the departing terminal in OHare. We just made it! Awesome!

 Finally in the bus terminal outside of London Heathrow Airport. Thankfully even though I was late for my National Express bus ticket (it was originally for 10:10 am) to Gatwick Airport they honored the ticket and changed it to the new time of 12:50 pm. I had a 30 minute wait, so I repacked and threw away trash and ate the rest of the dinner that my Mother packed for me yesterday for lunch. It was very yummy. Even though it was technically breakfast for me on home time.

Then I rode the bus to Gatwick airport and my flight didn't leave till almost 7pm so I had some hang out time.
This picture below is the bus ride through London countryside.

 Below, me eating dinner (lunch back home) of Grapenuts and milk from McDonalds at the Gatwick Airport.  I took a 2 hour nap, changed money into euros and wandered around until it was time for my flight to leave.

 My Aer Lingus flight at 6:50 last night. A 1 hour trip and I was in Dublin.

 It was raining of course and I went to several bus stations near the Dublin Airport until I found the 747 line into the city.

The view from my hostel room last night.

When I got in at 9 something I immediately saw Tony Roo sitting in the hostel dining room reading her Kindle and we got caught up on each other's trips. Then she told me our little niece had been born while we traveled! I was kinda mad that it had happened as we left, but God is in control of those situations. :) I'm thankful that the little one is healthy and well. Because we were in the dining room a group of 6 French men heard that we are aunties and they started cheering in French and kissing us and clapping and congratulating us.
It kinda put the whole stress of travel and arriving at a lower level. My brother and sister-in-law are going through way more crazy and life-changing things than I am!

Mississippi River Canoeing, Part 3: River Boys.

At the end of week two we meet a district manager for a chain of pawn shops.  After he had a few beers he decided to come talk to us about our trip. We chatted with him and Stephen played him some tunes on the banjolele. He decided that we were "River Boys," which he yelled loudly to us in the middle of the night. It was an interesting title but it might have been a good fit. I'll try give you some idea of what our life was like when we were not paddling.

Cooling off on a hot day.

When the day got hot we liked to spend our time in the river. We would float down river with the current,  swim back to the beach, run back to camp and start all over again.

Morning paddling

Going to bed to this every night was amazing.

Almost every day was different depending on where we camped, the weather we faced, and how many miles we did, but if there was an average day this would be it:

4:00 am: Wake up, make breakfast, take down tents, pack the canoe.
5:00 am: Paddle.
9:00 am: Second breakfast, then paddle. (Just a snack and a 20 min. break.)
12:00 am: Lunch, nap. 
1:30 pm: Paddle.
4:30 pm: Snack break, then paddle. (Just a snack and a 20 min. break.)
5:00-8:30 pm: Find and set up camp, make supper, repair things.
10:00 pm: Try to be in bed.

We ate five times a day to get enough calories and keep up our energy. Regardless, by the end of the trip all our clothes got very saggy and loose.

Tasty mix of rehydrated vegetables, summer sausage, milk power, and a bit of salt and pepper to trick us into thinking there was no sand in our food. 

Some tasty mulberries which grew in great abundance along the river.   Andrew ate maybe 5 gallons of these on the trip. 

Tasty mac+cheese with milk power to make it creamy.

Fighting extra strong winds and crazy waves for the first half of the week had left us at the verge of exhaustion when we met a fisherman by the name of Jacob. We had a lovely chat with him.  He told us that he had not dared to take out his 24 ft. motor boat with a 75HP engine because of the waves that he had just seen us fighting in our canoe. After a bit more chatting he told us where to find a good beach, and offered to give us a 3 ft. flat-head. Which was very generous even though we had no proper tools to clean it. Nor had either of us done it before. But we had agreed never to say no to anyone who wanted to help us so we ended up with a huge fish. After eating the same food over and over again it was great to get other food.

Our Flat-head supper.

 We ate it for lunch and supper!

Andrew watching the fish fillets roasting over a bed of coals.

The tiniest island we every slept on. I'm standing right near the one end. 

On the sinking sand island we started joking about how sand was everywhere, and we decided that it was best described by the five stages of sand thanks to the Kübler-Ross model.


The five stages of sand:

Denial – "Sand is not a problem." or "I like sand."
Anger – "I hate sand in my food" and "Why so much sand in my tent"
Bargaining - "Fine. I have sand on my feet and hands, but it's not in my cup or in my sleeping bag"
Depression - "There is sand in all my food, clothes, gear, and all over me."
Acceptance – "No big deal, I haven't showered this month either"

It might be hard to understand why a little sand can be so irritating but think that our tents were our homes for the month, our sleeping bags our beds, and, well, food is food.

Andrew setting up the stove.

The fish that jumped into our boat. Andrew is trying to flip it out with his paddle but we had to grab it and chuck it out.

It the space of a few days we had quite the adventures with jumping fish. One maybe 3ft-long fish jumped over the front of the boat just missing Andrew.  Just 20 minutes later a huge fish jumped in front of me, right over the canoe soaking me and leaving a fishy smell for hours.

The Arch after 642 river miles and 25 days 

Of all the names we where called, and there were many (including angels by a baptist pastor who asked us to give a good report to his dad when we got back up there), I think the name I would be most proud of would be brother. During all the challenges we faced it was great to having a brother facing them along side of you. Beaches would have seemed more lonely and the sun sets less vivid, without having someone to share them with. Andrew said it best after coming back from a float while I was busy reading. "Floats just aren't as fun when you're alone." I would not have wanted to do this adventure with anyone else.  

 It was great to see so many amazing things and face so many challenges together especially as we could do it as brothers.