Day Three: The Long Road to Carlow

Day three was the longest ride of the whole trip--60 miles from Annamoe to Carlow. The original plan was to go only 40 miles, but to do so by climbing over high point of the Wicklow mountains, a pass tough enough to have been included as part of the Tour de France in 1998. Instead, and upon the advice of a local, we went around the high point, but took on some more miles by doing so. We started the day off by riding from Annamoe into Glendalough to see the ruins of a monastery founded in the 6th by St. Kevin.
After our time at Glendalough, we got back onto the bikes and hit the road south to Rathdrum and then towards the west and Aughrim, where we stopped for lunch and Hamilton actually had a chance to play for awhile (the restaurant had a play section).
We headed further west on to Tinahely.

And then on to Clonmore, where we came across this ruined 12th century castle.
With the shadows around us getting longer and longer, we picked up the pace and finally got into Carlow just after 6:00.

The ride was a long one, but the weather was fantastic and the scenery was amazing. We ended up having Indian food for dinner that night and then off to bed.

Day Two: The High Road to Annamoe

May 11 saw us heading south out of Dublin into County Wicklow to the town of Annamoe, a ride of 25-30 miles.
We knew before we started the day that it would involve a lot of uphill climbing as we were headed into the Wicklow Mountains, but this view from the south end of Dublin helped us get a better understanding of what was in store.
Despite the long climb ahead, Hamilton and Freeman were resolved to look cool and in control.

We got to the town of Enniskerry in time for lunch.The area was really pretty.And steep enough to make us walk the bikes up some of the hills--whew!We were glad to get the views from being up above the valley . . .

but could have done without an old-timer standing by the road pointing out the road down below us that we could have taken instead.

Eventually, we arrived at the town of Roundwood to be greeted by this sign:
Yep, we had climbed a lot!!! We stopped in Roundwood for a snack . . .
Before descending towards a river and Annamoe.


A long day of riding for sure, but a very good day!

Welcome to Ireland

Since we couldn't share our recent trip to Ireland and England on the blog as it happened, we'll do the next best thing and post some after the fact highlights.

We flew from Chicago to Dublin on May 9, arriving in Ireland on the morning of May 10.

Although the airport in Dublin is only a few miles outside of the city, we could see sheep (of which we would eventually see many during the course of the trip) from the plane as we taxied to the terminal. After we passed through customs and immigration, we loaded up the bikes and headed the 8 miles or so into town.After grabbing some lunch and a nap at our hotel, we headed off into Dublin to see the sights.

We came across an open courtyard at Trinity College, and spent some time there resting our feet and checking out the old buildings.
Of course, Hamilton took it upon himself to see what would be needed to disassemble the gate to one of the buildings.


Jenny took the opportunity to continue her work with Hamilton on not being freaked out by grass.
At least two of us remained awake to eat dinner at Wagamama (thanks to my coworker Kristin for the tip) that evening.


We then headed back to the hotel to head to bed for the night and get ready for our first real ride of the trip.

Photo Shoot, Museums, and Airplanes....Oh My!

Sharif got a cool new camera and has been testing out all of the features on our little dude (who has never been camera shy--and especially likes that Sharif will let him touch the camera). Here are a couple of my favorites.

Contemplating the yumminess of grilled cheese.


Looks so innocent...little did we know he was planning his attack on the camera.

It's Cubs Season--which means lots of visits from Granddad and Grammy! We hung out at a couple of museums on a rainy Saturday.

Planning his escape route.


Gone fishing.

And finally...we're going on vacation! We leave tomorrow for a 15 day trip. We are so excited to be seeing some dear old friends in England (and especially to see Veronica as she completes her journey in becoming a nun). While we're in Europe, though, we thought...why not bike across Ireland (that's just how Team Whitney is). So, yes, it's true. Here is our approximate route.


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You may ask yourself, "What about Hamilton?"

See you in a couple of weeks!

Let's Go!

Hamilton is beginning to mimic what's said. It's still only intelligible to his momma, apparently...but we have fun playing "repeat after me." Here he is saying "Let's Go!" as we head off to the park.

City Boy

Those who have seen Hamilton in action can attest that he is pretty fearless. He'll climb on top of, into, or under pretty much anything without a second thought. There is one thing, however, that gives him the heebie-jeebies.

Hopefully our tour of Ireland will help him become more comfortable with things of nature!