takingtime

We spent two days on the Beara Pennisula. It rained a lot. However, we did have a couple of wonderful hikes where the sun would break through and everything would sparkle. In search of standing rocks/stone circles we went on a couple of walks, one that included three stone circles and a wonderful view of the ocean past the last circle and a great mossy forest at the beginning of the trail. On the second day, we finally gave up and hiked up the side of a mountain along the coastal road. The way down included slipping and landed on a bed of thrones, almost being stuck on a ledge and lots of sliding in the mud. After exploring ways of drying out in the car including our packed lunch, we were able to drive the ... read more

Our trip to Ireland was timed for a wedding to two friends of Fran's, however two days before the wedding date it was canceled. We took the non-bride to her home on Achill Island and took a day to explore this beautiful place. It rained the whole way there, however we had good conversation as we made our way up the coast. Even though Fran's friend was devastated, she was still wonderful to get to know and learn about all of her great community activism. We stayed with her at her parents home for the night and went hiking at Achill Head the following morning. This was when I hit my limit of rain and mud. The hike was twice as long due to the road being closed for flooding and when we got to the ... read more

Galway ended up being our home base for our time in Ireland. The original plan was to spend most of the first five days in Galway and then have a little more than a week to travel. However the cancellation of the wedding (the reason for the timing of the trip) caused us to re-arrange the trip to be able to be around and fit Fran's friends' schedules which had just had a life altering event. This included two day trips to Connemara for hiking. One was a typical combination of rain, mist and a little sun and the second was a constant down pour and a poorly marked trail. The second turned into a lunch and tea (or anything hot) at the only local pub around. They didn't mind that we tried to dry out ... read more

I had about a week in Utah to visit a friend in Salt Lake City and to visit the some of the National and State Parks. Once again my decisions of where to go were some what based on having dogs, what the temperature would be and if dogs were allowed on trails. I started with Bryce Canyon, which had a high in the low 60s, which made it possible for the dogs to hang out in the car, in the shade while I went on some wonderful hikes. It was my first nights camping by myself and it was wonderful weather, although my camp stove broke. On my way back to Salt Lake City to stay with a friend, I decided to go through Zion National Park and go on their one hike that allows ... read more

My road trip started with a lots of driving with 30 hours to Phoenix in two days. The reasoning was that I had two friends who flew to Phoenix to meet me for five days of camping and hiking in the Sedona area. These friends Betty and Michelle were wonderful travel partners and very tolerate of somebody traveling with two dogs.. We hiked each day for 2-4 hours, enjoyed our camp site by the river, they tolerated my premade frozen food, which was then thawed by my camp stove and sleeping in a tent with two dogs. We finished the trip with a night in Flagstaff , good Mexican food and then the interesting drive from Flagstaff to Phoenix where you start with snow on the ground and end with saguaro cacti. This was the beginning ... read more