The week of Destiny and other stuff

This last week in May we traveled to Colorado to celebrate what I'm calling "The Week of Destiny". Our niece-in-law, Destiny Speltz had a lot going on this week. 

First, she was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force and had the ceremony where she was given the oath of office by her fiancé,  our nephew, James. That was so cool to watch.

Then she was pinned with her epaulets by her Nana and her step-mother, Stephanie. I'm probably saying this wrong, and if so, I apologize. But these are her 2nd Lieutenant bars. Isn't she gorgeous?

Then finally, there was her first salute, which was with her father. I was practically in tears when the ceremony was over. 

But that was just the first day! The next day was her graduation ceremony. She was graduating from the Air Force Academy. Unfortunately, we didn't get to go to that as there were limited number of tickets. 

As if that wasn't enough, there was the rehearsal dinner on Friday. This is the rental house where here family was staying. They had a lovely dinner in the back yard.

Then she and her bridesmaids as well as the groomsmen actually rehearsed their parts in the wedding. Destiny looked amazing yet again.

This was James as he watched Destiny come down the aisle. That's right. In addition to all the other stuff Destiny had going on this week, she also got married! 

Mr. and Mrs. James Windsor. They got married at the Eisenhower Golf Course on the Air Force Academy and it was beautiful! It had been raining all week but not on her big day. How she was able to do all of this and keep her sanity is beyond me, but we are so happy to have her officially part of the family!

Afterward, they threw a raucous party that was too much fun! James and Destiny with mom and John at the party.

A quick photo with the family: Michele, Emily, David, Mom, John, Courtney and me. Sharmila was taking the photo for us. We all had such a great time seeing everyone and participating in all the events. What a week!

This was a photo from the balcony of the golf club. It's enchanting just like the whole week was. Congratulations to Destiny and James. We hope they are as happy as we have been.

After that week of partying with the fam, we decided to take a little trip since we were already out there....

It was a two-ish hour drive to Cheyenne, Wyoming and we'd never been so we threw our stuff into the family truckster (aka, John's Lexus RX) and headed north!

Cheyenne is the capitol of Wyoming and this is the historic governor's mansion. I don't think he lives here anymore but, at one point he did or maybe I should say she did. That's right, Wyoming was the first state to have a woman as Governor. Nellie Tayloe Ross took office in 1925, completing the unexpired term of her husband, William B. Ross, who unexpectedly died in office.

Wyoming became the 44th state in 1890 but the capitol building was constructed between 1886 and 1890. Located in Cheyenne, it's the celebrated site of the 1889 constitutional convention of Wyoming which cemented Wyoming's status as the first state to guarantee women's suffrage. It's a cool building. And you can tour through most of it. We saw both the House and the Senate Chambers and Suffrage Hall where they discuss some of the women who made historical contributions to the state. If you're there, stop in. It's cool!

In downtown Cheyenne, they have this cool mural.

Cheyenne was also the home of the Union Pacific Railroad. This old depot is now a museum that depicts the history of the railroad. It's a cool building. For 105 years, the Union Pacific carried passengers across the U.S. That stopped in 1971 when Amtrak took over. In 1997, Amtrak made its final stop in Cheyenne. Note the street is Capitol Avenue. On this street, if you face away from the depot, you can see the Capitol.

I just thought this was a cool mural for Wyoming. We stayed a couple of days, which was long enough to get the flavor of the town. There's not much here, even if it is the capitol city. 

We hit the road and drove to Laramie by way of Curt Gowdy State Park. The views were amazing. This is just outside of Cheyenne on Happy Jack Road.

Curt Gowdy State Park was awesome. This is the view of the reservoir from the visitor center. I would imaging this place is packed with campers during the summer. The temperature was mild, the scenery was beautiful and the hiking trails were plentiful.

This was our first hike of the day. Just a small one.

But it led to this amazing view. I could have sat up here for hours and just soaked up the peaceful ambiance.

This was the crystal reservoir at the other end of the park. Everywhere you looked was just amazing scenery.

Just outside the park, we got on the Lincoln Highway which was the first transcontinental highway in the U.S. It was established in 1913 and is 400 miles across the continent. It runs along Interstate 80 but used to follow the Union Pacific Railway. This is a monument to the highway's namesake, Abraham Lincoln. It sits at a rest stop along the highway.

Laramie is a cool little college town. We liked the vibe here better than in Cheyenne. There were a lot more restaurants and museums here and that really isn't saying much.

The University of Wyoming is here. We stopped by the campus to check out their art museum and to walk around. We thought it would be deserted but there were still athletes here practicing for something.

The big thing we did here was tour the Wyoming Territorial Prison. Ever hear of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? Butch was incarcerated here at the prison for 18 months. He was sentenced here for 2 years for horse theft and was pardoned after 18 months. The prison was built in 1872 and officially opened the doors in 1873.

The museum was really cool in that they had these photos (mug shots taken when the convicts entered the prison) along with their stories. I always find that fascinating. This guy is Samuel Berry, aka convict #5. In 1891, he was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to 20 years along with another guy. His sentence was commuted to six years and he was released in 1896. 

The north cell block. They had a whole exhibit on Butch Cassidy. They in the south wing, they had exhibits on the women who were incarcerated here. All in all, it was very interesting. 

Laramie also had one of two Carnegie Libraires in the state of Wyoming. I love this. Andrew Carnegie would donate money, in this case $20K, to build a library. The town would be responsible for stocking the library with books and running it. A lot of places (like Dallas) have torn down these buildings so it makes me happy to see some that are repurposed for other uses. This one, built in 1905, now houses city offices.

From Laramie, we headed back south to Fort Collins, Colorado. On the way we saw this amazing sight. You'll not see snow capped mountains in Dallas!

Last time we stayed in Fort Collins, it was on the way home from Utah. It was an overnight thing and we'd been thinking about it ever since. So, we decided to come back and check it out. 

We stayed downtown at a hotel called the Elizabeth, which was really cool. We loved the vibe of the downtown area. This old mural makes me happy. I love a good Coca-Cola mural. We took the opportunity to just relax. 

Not far from our hotel was Fort Collins' own Carnegie Library. It was built in 1904 and was recently renovated and turned into the Center for Creativity. Once again, I love that they repurposed the building rather than tear it down.

Our last stop before we headed home was back to Colorado Springs. Every year we go up there to visit our friends and this year was no different. As Evangeline says, it's tradition!

This gorgeous girl is Remy. She's playing Mario Kart with her brother, my good friend, Gideon. We love playing with these guys. They are so smart and funny, they keep us on our toes.

After a bath, she came over to sit with me and I couldn't resist a selfie.

Our friends drove up Pike's Peak with us in tow and it was a blast. We'd been on the cog train before but we'd never driven up the mountain.

My buddy, Gideon. 

As we neared the summit, we saw the Cog Train going down.

View from the top of Pike's Peak. The elevation is over 14K feet. I have to admit, I was a little light headed but we got donuts and that really helped.

John and our friend, Ariel. He was our driver up the mountain. He did an amazing job.

What I was trying to capture here was the winding road down the mountain. You can't ride your brakes down, you have to use your gears.

When you get down to the Ranger Station, they use a thermometer on your brake pads. If the temp is too high, they ask you to pull over for a specified amount of time based on the temp. We pulled over because we wanted to check things out. Ariel is talking to the park ranger asking him about the temps. While we were there, you could smell it when people rode their brakes down the mountain.

On our way back to their house, we came across a gang of deer! Just hanging out on the side of the road probably plotting evil tricks to play on unsuspecting drivers. Or, just being adorable.

Our last night in Colorado Springs, I got a sunset photo that was amazing. What a fabulous two weeks it has been. We were happy to be included in Destiny's festivities. And we also enjoyed our week touring around Wyoming and Colorado. If you haven't done it, I highly recommend it.

A Tour of Ireland - What a country!

Ireland has been on our list of places to visit for a while but it always got pushed to the back burner and I'm not sure why, especially after visiting. We went during the "shoulder season" which is awesome because it means lines aren't very long and places aren't very crowded.

I learned some things like why the Irish are so fair-skinned. It's because the sun never shines! We were there for two weeks and it was overcast 10 days out of 14! And rain? Same! At least it wasn't a hard rain. Mostly just a drizzle, you know. Enough to mess up your hair, fog up your glasses and to be a general a PITA. But, all that rain made it so green! This was on the train ride from Dublin to Cork.

The food was good but expensive. A lot of the menus were the same: Beef and Guinness Stew, fish and chips, Bangers and mash, all of which I had. If the restaurant had other offerings, I did try them as well. Italian food was very popular there. If the restaurant wasn't a pub, then it was most likely Italian. We had pizza that was quite delicious. This was something called Dublin Coddle. It's bangers and mash with a little Irish stew. It was delicious.

Pubs were everywhere. If you want to join in but not get looped there were tons of different non-alcoholic options. Several different non-alcoholic beers (including Guinness...on draft). I saw non-alcoholic wine and prosecco. I also saw non-alcoholic gin and tonic - I'm not kidding. I wish I'd tried one.

The roads were incredibly narrow and we did not even think about renting a car. They drive on the left side of the road while sitting on the right side of the car. I think the general rule is drive in the middle of the road, at least on the country roads. Then when another car comes, scootch over to share the road. In Blarney, we were on a city bus and the road was so narrow, the car on the right side had to back up so that we could get by them otherwise neither of us could go.

We went to several different cities/towns/villages traveling by Iarnrod Eireann (Irish Rail)- when they pronounce it, it sounds like they're saying "Thank you for traveling Here Nor There". What a fabulous country to visit.

When we got to Dublin, the truckers were protesting the cost of fuel. €9.50 per gallon! That's insane! They blocked off all the streets by parking their rigs across intersections causing traffic mayhem and disrupting tour busses as well. You can see the rigs along the side of the street. This is in the city center and the Guarda are all out making sure nothing bad happens.

So, here's where we went and what we saw:

Dublin was our first stop. I think it's very underrated but then I guess it depends on what you like to see.

This is us after being up 24 hours (too hard to sleep on the plane). Our hotel was right on the River Liffey. The location was perfect for walking and despite the busses, Dublin is a very walkable city.

Temple Bar is a neighborhood but Temple Bar Pub is a fun touristy place to hang out, have a drink and sing along with the band. The whole bar was singing along to Take Me Home, Country Roads.  Someone told us that was the national song of Ireland even though it isn't Irish. We were there around 2 or 3 and the place was packed!

This is Christ Church Cathedral, part of the Church of Ireland. It's still an active church and in 2028, it will celebrate it's 1000th birthday. That's right, one THOUSAND years old. Amazing! You can take a tour up to the belfry and ring the bells if you're so inclined. 

Trinity College and the Book of Kells. This is the Trinity College library where they have shelves and shelves of old books. They were currently being aerated and digitized so many of the shelves were empty but the room was still super impressive.

The Book of Kells is a manuscript of the four gospels of the Bible written by monks in 800AD. You can't take photos of the actual book but they have this digitized version that's pretty cool. To see the book itself is amazing, especially when you think about how old it is and how it came to be in Dublin but there were so many people crammed in there that it was hard to take it all in. The campus of Trinity College was beautiful and worth a visit just for that.

Between 1845 and 1852 there was a potato famine in Ireland. You may have heard about it. It was the worst famine in history. The crops were destroyed by blight caused by water mold. Over a million people died and 2 million people emigrated. They have this cool memorial by the docks along the river.

You can't go to Dublin without doing something U2 related. We did a tour of the Irish Rock and Roll Museum, which was super cool. Their biggest rock star is...Rory Gallagher. He's the most famous rock star that you've never heard of. He was very big in the 1970s and a very influential guitarist. On the tour we visited the U2 room. The museum is still the Temple Lane recording studio and they had lots of practice rooms. This is where a very young band of Irish lads came to practice. You can sit behind the drums, pick up the instruments, etc. I wanted John to do his Bono impression but he was shy.

John caught a cold and was sick on our last day there but we could have stayed longer than the allotted 4 nights. We read that Dublin was only worth a day or two but we disagree. We barely scratched the surface.

The next stop on our journey was Cork. We stayed at the Moxy right on the river. Great location but tiny little room. But that's okay. We didn't stay in our room much.

Cork was founded in the 6th Century and is known as "The Rebel County" due to its heavy involvement of the War of Independence. Behind us is the River Lee and the Holy Trinity church is behind us. 

This is a view of the city from the top of St. Patrick's Hill. I read that it was steep and they weren't kidding! The photo doesn't do the view justice. You can see the green hills that would have been outside the city walls. Just gorgeous!

This is Nano Nagle Place. When we stopped by to check it out, I had no idea what we were looking at. Did you know in the 1700s that if you were Catholic in Ireland you couldn't go to school or get any kind of education? That might have made me happy when I was younger but not now. Nano Nagle was from a wealthy Catholic family. She left Ireland to get an education in France but came back when her dad died. She defied the penal laws that prevented Catholic children from learning and formed a religious order called the Presentation Sisters in 1775. She spent her fortune on teaching the kids and taking care of the sick and the poor. Cool story.

This was one of my favorite places in Cork, the Cork City Gaol (that's pronounced Jail). It opened in 1824 and was a prison until 1923. Then it became a radio station. It was abandoned for a while until it became a museum. It's cool because they have exhibits about people that actually spent time there, what their crimes were and what their sentences were. 

John in his own cell. Some people were in here for petty crimes like stealing cloth or items they could try and sell. People were seriously poor, especially during the famine. There was a lady imprisoned here for beating her kids while drunk. I wonder if that would have been legal if she'd been sober...

This is seriously uncomfortable on the neck. My hands I could just pull out but my head was stuck. The jail wasn't limited to just adults. They had several kids in here as well. They also listed some of the punishments like whipping or picking oakum from rope. My favorite was the treadwheel. You know the machine at the gym that is rotating stairs? That's the treadwheel but they had to do it for like ten hours! Despite the potential punishments, during the famine, people would commit crimes in hopes of getting caught so they could come here and have food to eat, even though the food was reportedly terrible.

St. Fin Barre's Church built in 1870, also Church of Ireland. You can see how green the grass is here in April even though it's still cold. It's all the rain. This day was probably the rainiest we had while we were in Cork.

On the grounds of the church, they have this statue of Jesus as a beggar. On the spot where the flower is you can see the nail marks on His hand. It's a cool statue.

Another place we visited was called Elizabeth Fort. Built in 1601 and named for Queen Elizabeth I. It was destroyed in 1603 and then rebuilt. In 1835, it was a female prison depot. Back then if you were sentenced to more than six years imprisonment, then you got "transportation" as your punishment. That meant you were put on ship and sent to Australia. When your sentence was complete, you could come back but most didn't have the money to do so. But if that was your fate, you were parked here at Elizabeth Fort until your ship departed.

This pillory looks way more uncomfortable than the one I was in at Cork City Gaol. John can't even look up. I hope he's learned his lesson. 

From Cork we took a day trip to Blarney. We could have taken an organized tour but we made our own. We figured out the bus system, hopped on the No. 215 bus to Blarney and checked things out.

You can't tell but it's raining. Blarney Castle was built in 1446 by Dermot McCarthy, King of  Munster. It's world famous for the Blarney Stone. The rumor is that if you kiss the stone you are endowed with the "gift of gab".  I read that the term "blarney" came about in the 16th century as McCarthy used extensive "flattery" to Queen Elizabeth trying to get her loyalty.  We did not kiss the stone.

This is Badgers cave. In the 1600s when Cromwell was in charge of England, he invaded Ireland. He sent his minion, Lord Broghill to get the gold from the castle. When Broghill entered the castle, the gold and the people were gone. They'd fled through this cave. The rumor is that there are three passages: One leads to the lake, one leads to Cork and the third leads all the way to Kerry. You can go into the cave but not the passages.

This is Blarney House. It's a 19th century ancestral house of the Colthurst family from Scotland. It's currently a private residence on the grounds of Blarney Castle. It's gorgeous but I don't think I'd want to live there and have tourists like me gawking at the house.

The last stop on our journey was Galway. We stayed at the House Hotel and our room was a palace, especially compared to the room in Cork! It wasn't on the river but it was a great location. Like the other cities we visited, Galway was very walkable.

Our first night there, we had dinner and drinks in a pub that my uncle told me about. It's called the King's Head. It's 800 years old. In the 1600s Oliver Cromwell came to power in England after King Charles I was beheaded. Cromwell invaded Ireland and his guy, Peter Stubbers, booted out the Mayor of Galway and became mayor himself. It is believed that this guy, Peter, is the beheader of King Charles I, hence the name of the pub. Anyway, the food was good.

It was windy in Galway. Behind me is the River Corrib. It had a swift moving current, almost like a rapids. At one point we saw some kayakers trying to paddle against the current. Crazy!

Galway Cathedral where we went to Mass. It looks deceptively old. I thought for sure it was like the pub, hundreds of years old. Nope. It was built in 1960.

This is called "The Long Walk" where all the houses are. We are across the river on Nimmos pier. The water is a little calmer here as it heads out to Galway Bay but the view is really pretty.

This is the Spanish Arch in Galway built in the 1500s. It's part of the city wall that went around the whole city. Basically, the walls were put up to defend the city against invaders. There was a curfew. The bells would sound and you would need to be inside the city gates by that time otherwise, good luck to you because the gates were locked for the evening.

These assholes are the guys who stole John's sandwich. These birds are called Kittywakes and they are aggressive. We were sitting in Eyre Square (which is a park) eating our sandwiches when I made eye contact with this bird. I knew he was eyeballing John's sandwich but I didn't know he'd be ruthless enough to steal it. He flew right at John and hit him. At the same time, he snatched the sandwich right out of John's hand. Luckily, John had eaten most of it but after that, we quickly finished what we had left. In retrospect I wish I had it on video because it was kind of funny.

We took a tour to the Cliffs of Moher and the Aran Islands. On the way we passed Dunguaire Castle. It was built in 1520 by the O'Hynes clan. It's closed to visitors for some reason but it was cool to pass by. Most of these castles are not what you'd think - fairy tale like. They are essentially fortresses to fend off the enemy. I still want to go in because I'm nosy.

There are three Aran Islands. We went to Inis Oirr (pronounced Inisheer). Only 300 people live on this island (it's the small one) but there are cars to get around. I can't imagine living in a place with so few people. There would be no privacy. On the island, we saw a pub (because every community needs one of those) and a couple of tourist shops but that was it. What do people do out here? And is there internet? To get to the mainland, they have to take the ferry to Doolin. 

Our options once we got there was a minibus tour, a horse and carriage tour, rent a bike or walk. We chose to walk. This is a shot of the ruins from the dock. There's a castle, a church and a tower. The island sits in the Atlantic Ocean. It has history going back to 1500 B.C. The island was ruled by the O'Brien Clan. The castle dates from the 14th century while the church ruins go back to the 10th century.

Another famous sight on this island is the MV Plassey shipwreck. In 1960, it hit Finnis Rock and then was thrown onto the island by a pretty severe storm. It's been sitting there ever since. Luckily there was no loss of life.

On the ferry ride back, we took a cruise around the Cliffs of Moher (aka the Cliff's of Insanity!).  What an amazing site. We didn't get too close which is a shame for me. I'd like to have looked up to get a perspective but to see them from the water was fantastic.

As if that wasn't cool enough, our next stop was to the top of the cliffs. So another view but from the top instead of from the water. Absolutely beautiful!

Our tour bus driver was very quick to point out the baby animals. I was fascinated by the sheep. This is little lambsy. He was walking away and turned back for a quick photo.

Once we got to Galway, the weather was fantastic! The day of our tour was the clearest, nicest day they' had all spring according to our tour bus driver. 

Our last day trip was to a village called Athenry (pronounced aten-Rye). It is the best preserved medieval walled town in Ireland.

And, they let you put on medieval costumes to act the fool. We took the train (only 2 stops from Galway) and spent the day at the Athenry Castle. 

Freedom!  Oh, wait. That was Scotland. Slainte! 

This castle was built in the 1200s. Originally, there was no opening at the base. Just the door about halfway up. I would imagine that there was a ladder that you could pull up to prevent any uninvited guests from coming in. The guide told us that the government actually trains people old trades for the purpose of maintaining the 113 medieval castles that are around Ireland. When you throw in churches there are probably a lot more buildings that can use those maintenance skills. 

This is an old Dominican Priory in Athenry. It was built in 1241 by the same guy who built the castle. It was destroyed when Cromwell invaded Ireland in the 17th century. Still what's interesting is that some of the headstones have dates well into the 20th century. 

This was St. Mary's Collegiate Church (part of the Church of Ireland) built in 1828 on the site of an earlier church built around the 1200s. It's now a heritage center. We were going to go in but it was weird. It looked like a place where you could get into full costume and act like you lived in the 1200s. We just wanted to see the inside of the church so we passed.

I realized too late that my grandmother's family (on my dad's side) were from Roscommon! The guide at the castle has this cool map that shows various family names and what part of Ireland they are from. I highlighted Casserly on this map, which was my grandmother's maiden name. She was from England but her dad's people were from Ireland. How cool is that? Maybe next time, I'll plan a side trip there.

We had a fabulous time in Ireland. What a beautiful country. We were there for two weeks but could have easily stayed longer. So much to see and learn. I can only hope that we'll have the opportunity to go back.