A Horse for Christmas...

8/10/11, Antrim Coast

At Giant's Causeway... hanging on for dear life!

We woke up this morning and went down for a lovely breakfast at our B&B, Ardenlee B&B (thanks, Rick). Kat and I left for the Antrim Coast and arrived at the Giant's Causeway around about 10 minutes after we left Portrush (was only 7 km from our B&B). We walked 1-1.5 km from the parking lot to the actual rock formations along a really cool shoreline path. On the way, we had to stop for the staff to clear off debris from a rockslide that had happened the night before. Those Irishmen know how to handle a tractor:) Since we were walking along the base of some sheer cliffs, the very real threat of rockslides made us a little nervous as we continued on to the main event... The weather was overcast but with a little blue sky, and the wind was blowing crazy hard. Giant's Causeway... so bizarre.

The area was a lot smaller than I thought it would be - the entire area of the rock formations was probably the size of half a football field. I found it very strange that out of the entire world, this tiny area was home to such a phenomenon... Scientists hypothesize that the columns are hardened volcanic rock, and some property of the lava caused it to solidify into hexagonal columns. It was so strange. It reminded me of honeycombs... perfect hexagons of stone fitted perfectly together. Why this one spot in the world? We wondered and wandered and took pics for about 2 hours, then we headed up the road about 4-5 km to Carrick-a-Rede, the rope bridge.

Self-timer shots with the Giant's Boot! Kat cheated death to get these shots.

"I'm not looking down!"

The bridge has been hung each April-September since the mid-late 1800s to help salmon fishermen catch fish. It was just what we were hoping... the bridge was narrow, high, and rickety:) A lot of folks were a bit skittish when crossing, but I had my video camera out, and Kat was yelling and taking pictures the whole time... she fit right in with the tour bus of Asian tourists that were crossing with us. We took a bit of time to explore the tiny island after crossing the bridge and saw some amazing scenery. The island was about the size of my parents' front yard. We were tripping over other tourists, and Kathryn kept telling me to stay away from the edge... she was starting to sound like my mama:) The water was the same blue as the Caribbean - but you usually don't deal with 40mph wind gusts in the Caribbean! Right at the time we were at the bridge, we had the only bright sunshine of the day. The entire place was indescribably beautiful...

You would not believe how narrow those stairs were!

We went to a little picnic spot that Rick had mentioned for a snack of Nutella and biscuits. It was so windy my water bottle (which was full) kept blowing away... no lie. So we stayed there about 3 minutes and decided to eat our snack in Rooster while driving to the Bushmills whiskey distillery. Once we were there, we bought tickets for a tour which was really enlightening... Our guide walked us through the distillery and explained how Irish whiskey is made. They had just started up production after a 5 week break in the summer for maintenance, cleaning, etc... so we got to see the place at full steam. Apparently whiskey-making is quite the art. One cool fact - they use only seasoned oak casks for the maturation of Bushmills whiskey, and they have 4 suppliers - some type of Spanish sherry, some kind of Portuguese port, a wine I can't remember, and Kentucky bourbon (Wild Turkey and Jim Beam)! So here we are, ambling through the distillery with our group of 10 or so folks from all over the world. I'm straining to hear what our guide was saying (I have trouble with the accents, have I mentioned that?), and suddenly I hear her mention "Jim Beam." Then a ear-splitting "Ow-OUW!" comes from the back of the group... I turn to see - who else? - Kathryn fist-pumping and grinning from ear to ear. Then, to make matters worse, she yells, "Jim! That's my man!" Heavens. You can't take that girl anywhere... Thankfully, the whiskey barrel station was near the end of the tour. Once it finished, we were given free drink vouchers to taste some Bushmills whiskey. Problem? I hate whiskey. So I ordered a hot toddy and pretended to enjoy it so Kathryn wouldn't think I was a sissy.