Josh–After our time in Dublin was over we headed southwest to start seeing the rest of the country and one of our first stops was a hike in Wicklow. We started at a big lake that was super reflective and we walked along it for a while before we reached the climbing part of the hike. At the base of the mountain there were some cool ruins from when the site was a lead mine that we checked out for a bit. The climb was super cool, everything was a vibrant shade of green accept the rocks and there was a ton of colorful flowers along the trail too.

Towards the top we saw a bunch deer that, like the sheep we saw at coasteering, were not very scared of humans so we could get close. We also saw some goats later along the trail that were a bit more apprehensive of us. As we started to walk along the spine of the mountain the scenery seemed to change rapidly a few times, it would go form normal mountain brush to tons and tons of flowers lining the path to shrubs and plants that almost looked like they were from a rainforest. At the end section of the loop we saw a waterfall, but the view wasn’t great because of the trees. At the bottom we got ourselves a treat at Mr. Whippy. Blake got a Slush Mountain and it became his favorite thing on the trip. He kept doing weird smiles in pictures, so mom would tell him, “Do a Mr. Whippy Smile.” Meaning he could get a slush mountain when we found them. Then he’d put on his best smile.

Tara–The kids were looking for more Castles to climb. We did our research and thought our best bet would be the Rock of Dunarmase. And we were right. It was great for climbing. It didn’t have as much to explore as Bective Abby, but the view was top notch. AND, the sun was shining! A rare treat! Rusty had a nap in the car while we explored the castle.

We were supposed to go Kayak in a bioluminescent Bay, but on our way down, they called and canceled because of wind. Stupid weather!! I was really sad. It was something I was really looking forward to.

So instead we went to the cute little town of Kildare. We had a great dinner, and probably my favorite sticky toffee pudding of the trip. Sticky toffee pudding definitely makes my top 5 dessert list. We drove a little out of our way to see this town, and I think we all agree that we wouldn’t go out of our way again. It was fun, but Instagram deceived us. It made it seem like the whole town was brightly colored, when in fact, it’s pretty much just this one little section.