Today's Sunrise

 

 

These Are The Animals That Greeted Us This Morning

 





On Day 7 Stevie and I headed in to Portmagee to get on a boat with Joe Roddy and head over to the island of Skellig Michael. This is one of my 1000 places to see and also one of Ireland's UNESCO Heritage Sites. Skellig Michael is a large rock island. In the 6th century monks from a local church built 680 steps and a top those a monastery.

Portmagee





 

 

 

Yes that is right in order to get to the top I had to climb 680 steps. There were a few times I thought I  was not going to make it. I was sad and then God sent me Edwin who showed up at just the right moment and encouraged me to keep going as I only had 12 more steps. He told me he is an archeologist there and that the climb never gets any easier. He was like an angel! If he had not shown up I would not have continued and would have been so close. God was also with us as there was no rain, no fog, and the sea was calm for the first time all week. Amazing how that happens.

 

 

This is me and Edwin

 

 

The Steps...

 

 

And More Steps...

 

 

And More Steps....







The monastery sits atop the 680 steps and is thus 600 Ft above sea level. It had a garden, 6 beehive huts, a medieval church and a water drainage system.

 

The Monastery

 

 

Their Living Quarters (Beehive Huts)

 

More Beehive Huts

Notice We Are Smiling?

 



And Here Too?

 





 

And Even Here? It's  because We Made It To The Top!

 



Today the island is a nesting place for Puffins and we were there during the nesting season so they were all over.



After our visit to Skellig Michael,we visited Little Skellig which is a bird sanctuary for 60,000 birds before they migrate for Argentina or Africa.



The boys were again unsuccessful with fishing, but had fun.

We ended the day having fresh seafood in the sunroom while watching these guys!

And I thought maybe you would like to see our beautiful home!

 





Tomorrow we are all off to tour the Dingle Peninsula. Should be interesting!

We started out Day 6 with this beautiful rainbow out our kitchen window. It was really just over our house and the Dingle Bay and it stayed there for over an hour. I would like to think it was my momma sharing a little bit of this beautiful vacation with us and looking down on us.

 



The boys went fishing at the local pier while Stevie and I did the Ring of Kerry. Dad is the only one who caught anything, and he said it was the equivalent of a bait fish, but I think they enjoyed talking to the local fisherman including an older gentleman who was going out with some friends on a dingy and once he got out on the water looked up at the sky and said "Praise God I'm Going Fishing." Guess we should all be so grateful to be doing things we enjoy.

Stevie and I headed out for the ring and our first stop was the Killarney lake region. Actually this may be where the boys are fishing tomorrow!



Then we headed into the cute town of Kenmare to do a little shopping and continued around the peninsula seeing the beautiful coastline, some gorgeous farms, lots of green land, a chocolate factory, and even some cows. I will say the Skellig Chocolate Factory was wonderful and had some of the best chocolate ever. We were just glad we were on our own doing the tour and not on one of the 50+ busses we passed. I just don't think it would have been much fun.

 

 

We got home to a wonderful dinner of Irish steak, Irish potatoes, and Irish beets. For dessert we had some of the chocolate from the chocolate factory. Then we watched the sunset and the sheep through the sunporch windows in our lounge chairs. LIFE IS GOOD.



Tomorrow the boys are trying lake fishing and Stevie and I are heading out early for a boat to take us to an island with ruins of a 5th century monastery. Should be a little wet due to the fact that it is to rain. But we will make it fun.