20 January 2014

Lahinch, Ireland

About time I got back to our Ireland trip, huh?!  You can see my previous posts here and here.
Sea foam in Lahinch!

It was so foamy and windy that it would blow up into town.  We all had patches of foam all over our coats.

Craziness!




LOVE!


On a calmer day.



We absolutely fell in love with Lahinch when Jerry and I came in 2005.  It's small and quaint, but packed with several restaurants and shops.  It is home to the Lahinch Golf Club, rated one of the top links golf courses in the world, and is a popular location for surfing.

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We didn't have Starbucks or other chain restaurants, but we weren't hurting for good food!


Irish Stew.....


.....and Seafood Chowder were consumed just about on a daily basis.  Yum!


 Bringing the cows in.  We did our best to keep our car out of the way.  I love this about Ireland!


 One evening in town we had a rare treat to see this beautiful sunset.


I'll be sharing one more post on our Ireland trip, so stay tuned!

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14 January 2014

Exploring on My Doorstep

This upcoming year doesn't show much hope for travel for our family.  I've been a bit sad about that.  I'm hopeful for one big trip this year for our 20th wedding anniversary this summer. The possibilities are endless, which is exciting. We'll see!

Seriously though, what do I have to complain about?!  I am within a few hours drive from places like Canterbury, Dover, Oxford, numerous castles, ruins, gorgeous churches, 

Converted Church in Surrey

quaint fishing villages, not to mention one of THE most popular cities in the world with endless things to see and do! 

London's Westminster Abbey

Some of my fellow travel blogger buddies have inspired me to make these day trips a reality this year!

Elena had me swooning over her photos of Windsor Palace from her trip in early Fall. It's a one hour drive from me!
Gina's beautiful photos of Stonehenge have me wanting to drive west!!  Two hours from my doorstep! 
Bonnie's every day life in Bath, England and just being able to pop into The Roman Bath's on any given day!  Or Sarah's trip to this same beautiful city, taking in the sites on an historical walking tour.  I absolutely loved her photos of Bath's Royal Crescent.  Bath, a 2.5 hour drive from my town!

Visiting all these places will keep us busy in 2014! That said, I also wanted to find things in my immediate area that I could easily do on my own while the kids are in school. I decided to search pinterest.  I'd previously used it before to find exotic places I've dreamed of traveling to, why I had never thought to do a local area search before now is beyond me.  I found so much out there. Beautiful sites practically on my doorstep, in my back yard!!  

My goal.....to get out and explore the immediate area around me once every week or two!  And Alison's Walk With Me challenge goes along nicely with my goal and gives me some incentive!

I might not be able to travel further across Europe or beyond right now, but I'll do my best to be content to do plenty of local exploring, camera in hand!

A Compass Rose
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13 January 2014

Christmas Break at a Glance

It seems almost a crime to be posting about Christmas in mid-January, right?  Well, bear with me.  I've gotten quite backlogged and haven't even finished blogging about our trip to Ireland.........in October!!

Minced pies from my neighbor.  Very cute, but sorry my English friends.  I am not a fan.


Our tradition of giving the kids pjs on Christmas eve.  Onesies for everyone!


The kids made us homemade gifts for Christmas.  I thought this Christmas tag from Reegan was so cute!


We had a white Christmas in the form of hail!


We spent the morning doing our family thing, then headed over to some colleague's home for a Christmas dinner of Italian food.  It was yummy!  Oh, and played some Chicken Foot!


We introduced our kids to a game of White Elephant!


Then we headed to our house for dessert.  Jerry had been working on a Christmas puzzle, so Robert and Elaine helped us finish it up.


We took a country walk to a local windmill during our break.




I just love finding red phone booths in the country.


Never complete without seeing sheep!


We can't resist the sea, even if it's only a short visit......twice!



Sunset at about 4 o'clock!


Our new year's celebration was not one to go down in history as a great one.  Jerry had a stomach bug.  We all rang in the new year by going to bed before midnight!  We lead such exciting lives, wouldn't you say?! 

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07 January 2014

Gibraltar

I took a little blogging hiatus while my kids were on Christmas break.  It's time to get back in the routine of things!

I'm joining up again for Travel Tuesday with Bonnie.

In 2010 while living in Madrid, we took a trip to southern Spain and spent a day in Gibraltar.  I fell in love with this place!  

"The Rock" coming into view!

Gibraltar, expat, travel

In preparation for coming, we'd read that it was best to park in La Linea de la Concepcion, Spain and walk into Gibraltar.  I am so glad we did as the lines to drive in and out of Gibraltar were horrendous!

There aren't many places where the road goes through the airport runway.  

Gibraltar Runway

 Gibraltar played a significant part in World War I & II.  A runway was build during WWII and is maintained today with just a handful of flights coming and going each day.  I've recently read that air travel to Gibraltar is increasing and they are working on alternative routes and parking.

When we arrived the streets were packed.  We later learned that a cruise ship had docked.

Gibraltar Street

Gibraltar

By late afternoon the streets were almost bare.

Gibraltar Street

 You can't come to Gibraltar without going to the top of the rock.

Gibraltar Cable Car

Some very annoying tour guides stand outside the cable cars trying to get you to take their van tour, that takes you up the rock but does not take you to the top of the rock.  They actually mock the people in line and it does nothing to sway people to take their tours.  I don't see how they think this is effective!!  Luckily, we were warned about their antics, so I'll give you the same such warning.

Such breath-taking views!!!  It was gorgeous!!

View of Gibraltar

Gibraltar


Gibraltar

Gibraltar


It didn't take long for us to spot a Barbary monkey.  As soon as we got off the cable car a monkey came up over a railing and started rummaging through the bottom of a stroller, found a package of cookies and helped himself to the whole pack.

There are many warnings to not bring food with you, but this is what happens when people don't heed warning.  Just covering it up does nothing and thinking that it is out of site and tucked away in a backpack does not work. These monkeys must have incredible senses to know when food is nearby!  They will even snatch bags away from people!

Gibraltar Monkey

 We took in the view and within a few minutes the monkey went back for more in the same stroller!  This time it found 2 apples!  What a stinker!

Gibraltar Monkey

There is a cafe/shop where you can get drinks and light snacks and the monkeys do seem to stay away from this area.  Or so they did while we were there.

 Monkey family that gave us a bit of a scare while we were admiring the baby and mama came running.  All was ok in the end!

Gibraltar Monkeys




Gibraltar Monkey

My Gibraltar Monkeys

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The line of cars to cross back in to Spain.

Gibraltar Rock

I'd love to get back one day and spend more time taking in this very unique culture tucked away in southern Spain.

Hope you enjoyed this little tour!  Have you been to Gibraltar or ever thought of going?



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Posted by at January 07, 2014 No comments:
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Deeper

  Deeper - adj. 1. extending or situated relatively far down from a surface: a deep pool. It's been a long time since I've ...