home

after 6 planes, 11 trains (not including all of the trips on the under/overground trains in london), 6 buses, 2 ferries, 1 rental car, over 3,000 miles on Charlie (my car), 7 hostels, 1 bed & breakfast, the hospitality of dear friends in their homes both on this side of the big pond and the other side, 5 countries, 10 states...

i am home.

i hit the colorado border yesterday and i don't think i have stopped smiling since. it has been an incredible journey and i still have much to process from the past few months. but i am so glad to be home.

i don't know if I will process much or anything else on this blog. but it has been really fun to share it with you while i was on the adventure. thanks for coming along with me. :)

i do think that i am going to continue to blog just about life in general - but will do that on my other blog: the 90% below.  i love to write - so why not! :)

thanks again for all of your encouragement and prayers as i adventured. it was a great one!

finding nemo

found him! :)

kuddos Jesus - the coast of ireland

yesterday hayley and i drove a section of the coast of ireland. its called the ring of kerry. i think kerry is the county. wow. i spent most of the day in awe. and smiling. my jaw hurts a bit from smiling so much. it was perfect weather - we got both showers and sunshine. we drove the scenic route - so through little villages on very narrow and winding roads. words just can't describe what we saw - so i will post pics. enjoy.

winding and narrow roads - this sign was everywhere :)

we happened upon torc waterfall - this was the path up to it

everything was so green! color heaven.

torc waterfall

the steps - lots of people hiking - its part of killarney national park

selfie on the coast of ireland 

selfie #2 on the coast with some amazing green irish hills added in

me trying to channel my inner photographer (nichole & chris) :)

shadow selfie as we waited for the ferry

yep - just drove squirt right onto the ferry - in ireland :)

we saw lots of legit irish rainbows - do you think there is a pot of gold at the end?

the cliffs of moher

got a panorama of the cliffs on my phone - we made it just in time for sunset

hayley and me at the cliffs of moher

i drove like a boss to get to the cliffs before sundown - we made it! it was incredible! well worth the push to get there. we still had about a hour and a half drive to galway. ireland is beautiful in the dark too! :) we got to see the moon rise as we drove - it was brilliant!

it was a day that had Jesus written all over it! every part of it was a gift. happening upon the waterfall. all the sheep and cows on the green hills. the coastal villages with their colorful buildings. the amazing weather. our safety on the roads. the beauty of all the creation we saw. the cliffs at sunset. seeing the moon rising. and to top off the day we got to our hostel in galway - snoozles! we were booked into a 10 person room. when we walked in it was a small room with what seemed like teenagers just hanging out. no offense to teenagers - you know i love you. :)  but we were both exhausted and walking into the room felt like a slap in the face and a little soul sucking. we went to dinner and decided it was worth asking if we could move rooms. we did and the ANGEL at the front desk upgraded us to a four person all female room for FREE. AND the room just happened to not have anyone else in it for the night. we were floored. most people would think that is just luck. i absolutely believe that Jesus knows us so well that He did that. and hayley pointed out how awesome it is that God is so jealous for us that He would give us this room in order that we could keep our focus on Him and all that we experienced of Him during the day. He knows that we are both so easily distracted and would have let being in that other room ruin our day. i am so grateful!

so it was a day full of "kuddos Jesus!" one of my favorite days of my whole trip. just so grateful!

dublin to cork

this is squirt! :) he is our cute little companion on our road trip through ireland. just in case you forgot - squirt is driven on the other side of the car on the other side of the road. so far we haven't hit anyone. just a few curbs and a shrub. my depth perception for the left side of the car seems to need a little adjusting. :)

we left dublin this morning and headed out into the countryside. it was an amazing drive - ireland is beautiful! it is so green! so green. green is my favorite color - so as hayley put it earlier today i am in color heaven. truth. we stopped at the rock of cashel on our way. which is a castle not a rock. then made our way to cork. after a little bit of being lost we found our hostel then headed to the blarney castle. hayley kissed the blarney stone and we wandered the amazing grounds and gardens. i will just post pictures to speak for themselves. a lot of my fav pics from today are rocks and green stuff - so sorry i'm not sorry!

the rock of cashel

view from the cemetery at the rock of cashel

another view from the rock - remember the whole its green thing. amazing!

an irish lane we took a stroll down

my new best friend that we met in a little village off the highway

blarney castle

looking through the stone in the castle

another one :)

rocks and green stuff :)

petrified wood - it was sitting on the stone and looked like stone. i like it. 

spiky flower thing

this was growing on the side of the septic house. :)

for my co friends- this was in the poison garden.

and i forgot - i went to the old jameson whiskey distillery yesterday - it was great. I am a big whiskey fan now. at least in ginger ale with a lime! :)

it was a great day. I am thankful to be out of the city. cork is a city but doesn't feel as claustrophobic. tomorrow we are going to take the scenic route to galway - super excited!!!!!

rain, church, guinness & starbucks

looking out over dublin toward the wicklow "mountains" (insert a slight chuckle from colorado people)

dublin, ireland. as i said in my last post - i wasn't all that excited to be here. i think there are a few things that factor into that...

• i am grieving leaving my friends in england - i wish all the people i love could be in one place
• i've been traveling for a long time and am tired
• i haven't had a lot of time to get alone, hang out with Jesus, reflect, pray, read, etc. 
• the busyness and crowdedness of another city with a lot of tourists is a bit overwhelming
• there is so much rain!!

things are better now that I am a bit acclimated to dublin. just a rocky start.

wednesday was a rough day. it started out raining. not just raining - POURING! we went out to find st. patrick's cathedral. we found it. the cathedrals here have made both hayley and me sad. as i was sitting in st. patrick's with the souvenir shop behind me and the cross at the front locked behind a gate so no one could get to it - i thought about Jesus knocking over the tables in the temple courts and how sad this would all make Him. does make Him. i wonder if anyone meets the Lord in these beautiful cathedrals?

our day ended well. it finally stopped raining. yay! we went out for dinner at a pub with live irish music. the guy sang "you are my sunshine" and everyone started singing! :)

the hostel - hilarious! we were supposed to be in an all female room. ha! there were 7 guys in our room the first night. i know that is normal in the hostel/college world. but it is not normal in my 38 yr old world! it doesn't feel unsafe or anything - just really strange. so what do i do to make myself feel normal? i make myself the room mom. every new person that comes in - i tell them where everything is and how it all works. i'm so predictable, aren't i?! :) it is really cool b/c the people are from everywhere. we've had people in our room from poland, brazil, australia, ireland, scotland, minnesota :), etc. the guy who sleeps above me - he looks like a norse god. he hasn't said two words to me - so i figure that gives me license to make up his life story about being thor. :)

okay sorry - rambling! yesterday was a new day. the sun came out! sunshine changes everything in my world. i spent about 4 hours at starbucks in the morning reading and journaling. pumpkin spice lattes are good for my soul. i walked around a bit in the afternoon - saw Christ's church cathedral. another beautiful building that made me sad. while i was there the organist started to practice. it was so beautiful. the acoustics where amazing!

Christ's church cathedral

beautiful stained glass inside

then i met hayley at the guinness storehouse! whoot!!

it was actually a really cool tour. i learned a lot about beer and how it is made. the atrium of the storehouse is in the shape of a giant pint glass. it would hold 14.3 million pints of guinness! :) i learned how to pour it - there are two parts to pouring it. poured my own pint - got a certificate saying i crafted the "perfect pint". so not only am i an honorary proper british person, i am also a proper guinness pourer. life just keeps getting better! oh - and 42 degrees is the perfect temperature to drink guinness at. it tastes different otherwise. who knew!

these are glasses settling before the 2nd phase of pouring

the final product - poured this myself!

and i drank the whole thing! 

hayley and i at the famous gravity bar on the 7th floor of the guinness storehouse with a 360 degree view over dublin - beautiful!

and to top off the experience we went to dinner at another pub and i had the slow cooked in guinness beef stew! they are all about their stews here in ireland!

yum!!!

today (friday) it is raining again. but that is okay. spent another morning at starbucks. i know that may sound ridiculous since i am in dublin, ireland. why would anyone waste their time at a starbucks! i actually journaled about that yesterday. i don't go there for the coffee, although the pumpkin spice latte, as stated above, is good for my soul. starbucks, ridiculous or not, is a huge part of my life and my story. it is where i connect with people and with God a lot of the time. it has been a place of healing, of hard conversation, tears, laughter, truth being spoken, growth, relationship, connection, etc. so when i am in a place where i feel uncomfortable, lost and need to connect with God for a new perspective - i go to starbucks. it is my third place.

don't you just feel better looking at it? :)

today we are going to the jameson whiskey distillery. yesterday i learned that the irish word for whiskey means "water of life". so apparently i will be alive after drinking it today. great news!

sherlock

yesterday was sherlock day! now if you know me, i have a little obsession with the new bbc sherlock. is it b/c its sherlock holmes? no. its b/c i love benedict cumberbatch as sherlock. but nonetheless - we had to go to baker st!

it was pretty cool. and to finish off our day, we watched an episode of sherlock with trevor and clare! i took a pic of benedict on the tv screen but i forgot my cord to download it off my phone. so you will have to do without for now. bummer for you! :)

we traveled all day today by train and ferry. made it to ireland. we are staying in dublin for a few nights. so far its been a bit of a culture shock. we went from staying with the amazing trevor and clare, where we came home every day to a nice flat where we felt at home. now we are in a loud, crowded hostel full of mostly college kids from around the world. hayley is probably doing better with it than i am. my introvert is screaming right now - so is my 38 yr old self. i am not in college. that feels so very evident right now. but tomorrow is a new day! excited to see things in the light of day!

a proper weekend

hayley and i had a proper weekend. as i mentioned in my last post, it started out on friday night with proper beer and proper football. i am happy to report that england won the match against montenegro 4-1. God save the queen! side note: the american song "my country tis of thee" is to the same tune as "God save the queen" so we didn't get rid of everything british apparently. and what the heck does my country tis of thee mean anyway?

proper beer - i only tasted them. i don't like beer. 

on saturday we had a proper jaunt to london with our proper londoner friends, trevor and clare. hayley and i went into town early to see a few more things and they met us later. we walked the london bridge, saw shakespeare's globe theater and the tate modern art gallery. when we met up with t & c we walked along the south bank of the thames river. they also took us to covent garden - such a fun area of london!!! and we went for proper burgers at byron's hamburgers. the waiter told me "well done!" when i said something with a british accent. i'm just going to receive that as a gift! :)

proper london bridge

proper london skyline

proper london skyline at night

proper british wedding!!! we came around a corner and there they were! check out the hats! :)

proper burgers! instead of fries we got "skin on chips" so much cooler!

on sunday we went to church with t & c. they go to church at a church of england church - so proper church! :) it was a wonderful service - talked about psalm 42 and what do we do with the longings of our hearts. after they took us on a drive out to the countryside. so beautiful. we stopped at a proper pub and had a sunday afternoon pub lunch. roasted meat, potatoes, carrots, cabbage, yorkshire puddings. yum!!! there were even sheep in the field across the street! :)

proper pub entrance - notice the sheep on the hill in the background

trevor, clare and i infront of our proper pub

clare made hayley and i honorary proper british people on sunday. basically my life is complete now.