Northern Northern Ireland

I am sad to announce that this is our last post from Aunt Eileen and Uncle Trevor's house. Aunt Eileen was nice enough to drive us all over the northern coast today. We saw places we meant to see and a few that we didn't, all which were equally as interesting. I don't think that I have ever travelled so well! With who else, and where else for that matter, would you get hot tea, hours after leaving the house, from a thermos, sitting on the side of a road somewhere between Belfast and Ballymoney? Only with Aunt Eileen in Northern Ireland, and it was wonderful!

Some of the highlights of today are shown in the pictures. We visited Northern Ireland's most touristed site, The Giant's Causeway. Geologists tell the fable that this peculiar rock formation formed by volcanic eruptions and the cooling lava. In actual fact, its origins can be traced back to the handy work of the 52 ft giant, Finn McCool. Just a few miles down the road, we also stopped to brave the 65 ft long-100 ft high Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge. The scenery didn't let us down. Waves crashed against the cliffs below. The hills sparkled with 40 shades of green and the sea was crystal-clear. Also, despite a possible fear of heights, I have down-graded the fear factor of walking across a rope bridge high in the air from 'extreme' to 'less-extreme'; it has been bumped by 'walking across a rope bride high in the air during high winds.' We survived, though, and enjoyed every minute of our last day in Northern Ireland. I must also mention that, with Pappy and David, we visited Nanny in the hospital. Day by day, Nanny is progressing. Please keep her in your prayers.

It is almost midnight here in Belfast and we are catching the 8am train in the morning to Galway (it's unfortunately a little more involved than it sounds). So, I am just going to post some pictures and hit the hay, or "boogie the chiwawa" as Jon's grandparents used to say when they were missionaries in Nigeria years back. (Or so I learned last night) Northern Ireland has been great to us, even though we were rained on quite a bit today. In Ireland though, the rain seems to compliment the scenery, as opposed to distract from it. ps. Thanks for all the comments! We love reading them!