Sorry to be away so long, but between the end of the semester and travels, I couldn't squeeze in any blog posts, although I did manage a few tweets (@kquimbyjohnson). But while I was gone, I was refueling.

And there is no better place to refuel than San Francisco.

Here's the view from where we were the first day:


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Our last stop in Ireland was Gort. Not a lovely sounding word in English, but it's Irish for "the field." It's a market town, with a square, and a fair amount of hustle and bustle, and it's on the main route from Galway to Shannon. That was convenient, because we traveled by bus this trip--and I must say we enjoyed every minute of not having to ( Read more... )

--I do like to play around with old songs.

Ballyvaughn is a mid-sized Irish town where the Burren meets the sea.


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After we were picked up from Sleepzone Connemara, it was on to Kylemore Abbey, which started life as Kylemore Castle in the 1860s.


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Sleepzone Connemara is in the middle of some great walking country, and in late May, early June, it doesn't get dark until well after 10 pm. So our first afternoon there, we took a walk headed for the Atlantic. We didn't go all the way there, because that would have been an all-day venture, but we did see some lovely, wild country.


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Sleepzone Galway was our base for the first ten days of our time Ireland. Sleepzone has three hostels in the West of Ireland, and they have an arrangement with Galway Tour Company so that you can take one of the company's tours, stop for a night (or two) at one of the other Sleepzone hostels, and then pick up the tour again. So that's what we did.

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Galway isn't an ancient city, but grew around a 12th century fort. Claddagh, however, was an Irish fishing village that was there before the fort.


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HH and I arrived in Galway on a sunny, warm summer Saturday. Mind you, it wasn't hot and humid the way it can get at home, but it was warm enough for short sleeves, which was about the last thing we expected in Ireland. As we discovered, the Galwegians didn't expect it, either, and were busy enjoying it and exclaiming over it with everyone else who ( Read more... )

There's such a difference between a regular Saturday and a vacation Saturday, even when the vacation will be spent at home. I'm starting to feel like I might actually someday be caught up at home ( Read more... )