All of the pages are narrated by Liz (me) and the narration will vary in size—when I have more pictures, there'll be less text (in theory). Most photos will have text if you place the cursor over the image. If you click the smaller images, a larger version will open in a new window.

This one has a lot of text. Sorry!

Aran Islands: Inishmore

What do you do near Lahinch with someone who has boat issues? Why take a ferry out over the Atlantic Ocean to the largest, and furthest, island of the Aran Islands of course! Josh and I woke up early to catch a boat out with Doolin Ferries, the company recommended by the lady of the B&B. Then we waited.

As much as I hate boats, I wanted to go. I mean, it's a ferry, they're big and the ride can't be more than 15 minutes. Right? Commence laughing now.

Our ferry, in my eyes, was small. Granted it consisted of two stories and there was a central cabin for up to 20/30 people to sit and a back, open area. But it was small. After about 15 minutes of feeling ill, I realized that we hadn't seen land yet. Thirty minutes into the ride and I had dry-heaved a few times. So, the sainted Josh took me to the open area where I discovered the secret to curing sea sickness. Song and dance numbers! That's right, I stood on the back of the boat and softly sang songs and surreptitiously danced the cha-cha, charleston, rhumba, and anything else I could come up with. Sadly it worked, though I don't recommend singing "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" on a boat.

Anyway, we made it, after an hour, to Inishmore. Our plan was to rent bikes and ride the roughly 4 miles to Dun Aonghasa. The weather was beautiful, so off we went. I highly recommend doing this if you go to Ireland. Inishmore was serene and appeared almost untouched by time. It took us over an hour with all the photo breaks.

On the way to the Dun Aonghasa, we found a cemetery. I'm a sucker for photographing cemeteries so here's a few shots.

Dun Aonghasa

Dun Aonghasa is a prehistoric fort built by the ancient Celts. Amazingly, the architects built this structure right to the edge of the cliff. That's a 300 ft drop. Now add that to that a hella-strong wind trying to knock you off your feet. The wind almost knocked me down and I'm not a featherweight.

Dun Aonghasa was as impressive as the Cliffs of Moher, but it was time to eat some lunch. I barely ate my soup since my stomach was still reeling from the boat, but what I did have was delicious. Fast forward five minutes. We leave the restaurant to a misty, constant rain with wind and we didn't dress for rain—cold yes, rain not so much. So what do we do? Yup. Bike back. And it was a blast! I don't think I've had quite so much fun before. By the time we were done our cloathing was soaked completely through in most places.

The last hour before the boat ride home was spent looking through the Aran wool sweaters for a warm alternative to the wet ware we had. But alas, we are too cheap.

Little Boat of horrors

Time to get on the boat home. If I thought the ride out was painful, the ride home was to be worse. Josh and I staked out a seat inside the boat where it was dry. But I had to be nice to the old man with the cane and give up my seat. Then I made Josh give up his seat for the old man's wife. Which put us standing within the doorway between the back open area and the inner cabin. All was not lost. The Karmic Boomerang came quickly back with a snap and rewarded our good deeds. The ride back was choppy. Not, wow-this-is-a-bumpy-ride choppy. Nay! It was banging-against-the-wall-oh-my-god-we're-going-to-die choppy. The waves went up to 6 feet and fell over the top of the boat. Now this is not my Karmic payup. That would be the little old man who looked like my late grandfather. I will call the old man grandpa, just for understandability. Grandpa was a member of the crew, in his little orange vest, and he sat where I could see him. It took him about ten minutes into the trip before he came out, but once he did, grandpa was in my line of site. He sat on a seat looking almost bored. Like this nightmare ride was normal. Occasionally, grandpa would languidly reach out an arthritic hand to steady his perch. He even pulled out a cigarrette and had a smoke. Now you must realize, people were vomitting, falling on each other, and being pummleted by the waves crashing on the deck because it was so rough. But as long as I could see grandpa's face, I knew we were fine. Because of him, I made it through that trip with a smile on my face and my teaspoon of soup in my stomach. I even wanted to go again!

The rest of the night was spent trying to stay warm. We went to another pub, of which we were beginning to get tired, and had dinner. I ordered tea and lamb stew, the best darn stew I have ever had in my life. Josh had an amazing fish and chips. It was so dry and not greasy. Then we splurged. We each ordered a slice of Bailey's cheesecake. Oh good god, it was amazing. All cheesecakes should contain Bailey's.

After dinner, it was time to go back to the B&B for sleep. It was off to Sligo in the morning!