Overnight plane and Day One in Dublin -- 7/27/17

Our flight from JFK to Dublin left around 10:00 PM, and we arrived in Dublin around 9:30 AM local time.  Fortunately, most of our family members were able to get at least 3 hours of sleep on the plane.  ( I was the not so fortunate one that kept looking around every few minutes to make sure everyone else was asleep.) Upon landing in Dublin, we took a bus from the airport to our hotel, the Dublin Westin.  With it being so early, our rooms weren't ready, so we stowed our bags and hit the town.  (You will notice that we are wearing the same clothes as yesterday in all of our pics.)  We are wearing coats in pictures, as it was quite chilly outside.  None of our crowd was complaining, though, after suffering through a 105 degree swim meet at home last weekend!  Our hotel was right around the corner from Trinity College, which is the oldest college in Ireland, founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I.  As soon as we passed through the gates, we encountered lots of signage advertising activities that the students can join.  Of course, rowing is one of the options, so we made Sidney pose for a picture with the sign.

The main quad of the campus is beautiful, with a large campanile (bell tower) marking the site of the former occupant of the location, a monastery.

We knew that we wanted to visit the Old Library and the Book of Kells exhibit, but discovered upon our arrival that the ticket line was very long.  (Not Crown Jewels long -- see a previous London post -- but too long for us.)  Amazingly, there was no one in the Online Tickets queue, so we quickly purchased online tickets for the following day and bid Trinity College adieu.  

At this point, we were all starving, so we wandered around town for a bit to find a good lunch place. In our wandering, we found what has to be the best name for a jewelry store ever, Gollum's Precious!  Sidney read The Hobbit this summer for a school summer reading assignment, and Dan and I are big JRR Tolkien fans, so we got a kick out of this. 

 We decided on The Oak for lunch, which is in the Temple Bar area.

The food was delicious, and we all were fading fast, so we fortunately received a call that our rooms were ready.  We made our way back to the hotel with a few pics of the area.  Here is a pic of the Temple Bar district.

We also discovered a local funeral home, so we had to take a picture of it.  As you can see, it is quite different from ours at home.

Here is a picture by the Liffey River, which separates Dublin in half.  All of our wanderings were South of the Liffey.  

After some downtime in the hotel (and a nap for Dan and me), we decided that gelato would be a great idea.

Then, we headed to St. Patrick's Cathedral, for a choral Evensong service.  It was beautiful!  The entire service was sung a capella.  The choir had such pure voices and beautiful harmonies.  After the service, we were able to take a picture in front of the choir loft.  

In case you were wondering, yes, the cathedral is named after that St. Patrick, the guy celebrated on March 17th each year.  The church stands on the site where St. Patrick reportedly baptized Christian converts in a well in 450 AD.  It is also the site of the graves of Jonathan Swift and his wife, Stella.  I knew him from reading Gulliver's Travels, but I didn't realize he was the dean of St. Patrick's.  

(My computer is only allowing me to add this picture sideways.  Maybe I can fix it later.  My apologies!)

After a delicious dinner at a restaurant near St. Stephen's Green, we walked back up one of the main shopping streets, Grafton Street, to our hotel.  We came across a Disney Store, and we let Jack look around, since we didn't let him go to the one in Times Square in NYC yesterday.  He wanted to take some superhero pictures.  Is there any franchise that Disney doesn't own, now?

Last, but not least, we had the most interesting find of the night.  Lyndon's middle name is Dan's mother's maiden name, Carroll.   It is Irish, as her ancestors immigrated from Ireland to America around 1750.  We hoped we would at least see something with  the name Carroll on it.  Little did we know that the major souvenir chain in Dublin is called Carrolls.  Imagine a Wings or Eagles at the beach, if you frequent beaches in the Southern region of the US.  Of course, we had to take a picture with Lyndon.  

It was a full day, but we were all ready for bed to get our bodies on local time.  Tomorrow -- Dublin Day 2.  

Taking a bite out of the Big Apple in 24 Hours (7/25 to 7/26/17)

We had a 24-hour layover in New York City on our way to Dublin, which isn't much time to see the city, so we opted to eat our way through NYC in 24 hours (with a lot of  walking around between our eating breaks).  We flew into Newark and took a car into the city, which offered us great views of the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building (check both of those off of the list!).  After checking into our hotel in Manhattan, we took the subway out to Brooklyn to see Dan's sister Jodie.  We made it to her apartment before the sun set, so we were able to enjoy the great views from her balcony.  

She made us a reservation at a French and Mexican fusion restaurant in Brooklyn for dinner.  It was tres delicioso!  (Do you see what I did there?  French-Mexican fusion!?!)

After a nice visit, we rode the subway back into Manhattan and turned in for the night.  

The next morning, Jodie rode into Manhattan to meet us and we developed a plan for the day, which required a bit of necessary shopping.  A little explanation needed -- We decided to greatly pare back on our packing this trip so that we all would only bring a rolling carry-on sized suitcase and a personal bag (backpack, messenger bag, etc.).  We only had three bags at home that met the carry-on requirements, so some generous friends loaned us three from their recent trip to Europe.  I used the oldest of our bags (~15 years old), and it almost bit the dust by the time we got to our hotel in NYC.  Jodie suggested a TJ Maxx near the hotel for replacement luggage, so we knew our day's itinerary included that stop.  Also, Dan and I discovered on the plane to Newark that we both left our headphone connectors for our cell phones at home.  Without them, Jack, Dan and I wouldn't be able to listen to music or podcasts on our entire trip, so a trip to the Apple Store was also added to the list. We began with an early lunch at one of our favorite Manhattan restaurants, La Bonne Soupe.  Our friends, the Timberlakes, introduced us to this restaurant years ago.  Dan and I eat there every time we visit NYC, but we have never taken Jodie or the kids there.  

Let the shopping commence!  We headed over to 5th Avenue to the Apple Store, the American Girl Store for Hadley and the Lego Store in Rockefeller Center for Jack.  At this point, we needed an afternoon snack, and we knew we needed to make it across to 8th Avenue for TJ Maxx and a Broadway store for Lyndon (across very LONG city blocks), so I suggested Schmackary's.  It is an amazing cookie shop that is frequented by Broadway actors/actresses at 45th and 9th Ave, so we hiked to it through the theatre distict. We were able to see the outside of lots of shows' theatres, such as Dear Evan Hansen, The Great Comet and Come From Away, which made the kids very happy.  Schmackary's did not disappoint, though we didn't see any Broadway stars. It was packed the entire time we were there.

We headed up 9th Ave to TJ Maxx, procured a new suitcase, and headed back to the hotel to get ready for our departure to Europe.  We were flying out of JFK, so we decided to take the subway to Queens to catch the Air Train to the airport.  At this point it was subway rush hour, so it was a bit of a challenge to get 6 people and all of our luggage on the subway.  We had to let a few trains pass us by because they were too crowded, but we (well, most of us) enjoyed the adventure.  I didn't take a pic on the crowded subway train because we were all too busy making sure we didn't lose any luggage in the crowd.  We had several hours at the airport after we got through security, and it was a beautiful, unseasonably cool summer day, so we spent the entire time on the open-air Delta Sky Deck, watching the planes take off and land. Jack thought this was the best thing ever!  

After an overnight plane, next stop is Dublin!

Wow, Kids! Look At That! (Day 6 -- July 31, 2016)

The day began with breakfast on the terrace at our hotel, the St. Regis in Aspen.  We took full advantage of being in beautiful weather with zero humidity.


After breakfast, Jack and Hadley made friends with some of the local wildlife...the hotel statuary.

Then, we walked around downtown Aspen in the daylight.  It really is a beautiful place!


This picture has some of the ski slopes in the background.  Having never snow skied before, I can't imagine careening down those at full speed.  I would like to give it a try, though.  We would really like to return to Aspen some day.  Less than 24 hours is not long enough to experience this lovely town.
  

Before we packed back up in the car for the drive to Denver, we did find a playground in downtown Aspen to let the younger two run off some energy.



There were two different routes to get from Aspen to Denver -- one was primarily interstate driving, and the other was the Independence Pass, which is only open in the summer months due to the high altitudes and curvy roads.  We chose the second option, as it looked like it crossed over the Continental Divide.  We had no idea how incredible this drive would be, which led to the title of this post. Around every turn we would yell, "Wow, kids!  Look at that!"  I attempted to take pictures from the car window as we continued to climb up and up.

                  

We finally made it above the tree line to the Continental Divide at an elevation of 12,095 feet.  There were patches of snow on the ground in some places.  Once again, jackets would have come in handy, but we managed without them.


We walked down a trail to get a better view of the surrounding Rocky Mountains.
                     




We spent a few minutes just looking at the view and trying to take it all in before we headed back to the car.  The air was definitely thin up there.  It was strange how the altitude affected us in different ways and at different places.  I was the first one to feel the effects of the altitude on this trip at Mesa Verde.  I experienced headaches and slight shortness of breath at the Far View Lodge.  The altitude affected Sidney the most in Aspen.  Dan felt the effects the most at Independence Pass, and it hit Lyndon in Denver.  The younger two never really seemed to be affected.  Dan and I had always heard about sports teams not playing as well in high altitudes when they are used to being closer to sea level.  I never really put much stock in it before, but now I do!  I see why Olympic athletes spend time training in Colorado.  If you are in your peak shape here, you can dominate anywhere!

The rest of the drive to Denver was...something.  We drove through the interesting town of Leadville, CO. It is the highest incorporated city in the US at 10,152 feet.  It has quite a colorful history, which is worth googling, including being the home of the "Unsinkable Molly Brown".  They have burro races the first weekend in August each year.  We spent a few minutes trying to locate t-shirts with the slogan "Get your Ass over the Pass" to no avail.  Apparently, they only sell them the day of the race.  They are missing out on a golden opportunity to capitalize on that race all year long.

The remainder of the drive to Denver was not quite as fun.  We soon made it back to the Interstate only to sit in traffic for several hours.  A drive that should have taken just over an hour took about 2.5 hours.  Apparently, the two lanes of the Interstate (and the mile long tunnel through the mountains) just doesn't have the capacity to handle the high volume of traffic heading back into Denver on Sunday afternoons in the Summer.  I read that this was typical traffic multiple places AFTER we were already sitting in traffic.  Oh, well.  Now we know. Once we arrived in Denver, Dan dropped us at the hotel, and he and Lyndon returned the trusty rental car to the Airport.  We will be hoofing it around Denver for the next several days.

On the Lookout for Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (Day 5 -- July 30, 2016)

We started the day earlier than usual, because Dan and I had both read that you should begin a visit to Arches National Park in the Summer months by 8 AM.  Otherwise, you ran the risk of huge lines to enter the park.  We actually met our goal and were in the park by 8:00.  It was such a surreal experience.  As you drove over the top of the mountains shielding the park from view, we felt like we had been dropped onto the planet Mars...or in a Road Runner cartoon.  Look out for anvils or packages from the Acme company!  Our first stop was Balanced Rock.


We took the short hike to the base of the formation.


Then, we drove to the Windows Section of the park.  There were half-mile hikes to see several "windows".  Here is North Window.


And...South Window


This one is called the Turret Arch.


We were able to find someone to take a family pic at one of the Windows.


The views were phenomenal as you climbed inside the opening of each arch.




We were really lucky with the cloud cover this morning.  The temperatures stayed in the mid-to-high 80s while we hiked around.  It would have been miserable in the 103 degree temperatures that Moab had been experiencing.

We capped off our visit to Arches National Park with a hike to see Delicate Arch.  This is the most famous of their arches and is the arch featured on the Utah license plate.  We had two options in order to see the arch.  We could hike 1/2 mile uphill to an overlook point, or we could take a 3-mile, very strenuous hike that was mainly uphill over slick rock and not recommended for young children.  Since we didn't bring hiking boots and wanted to get to Aspen before midnight, we decided on the first option.  As we hiked, Jack was on the lookout for wildlife with his new binoculars.
                                           

The hike was beautiful, and we were rewarded with a great view when we reached the top.

Delicate Arch is on the top right of the picture.  The tiny dots around and under it are people who opted for the long hike to the base.  I was glad we didn't attempt that one after I saw that the arch is precariously perched on the edge of a sheer cliff wall.  That would have made me very nervous with the kids.  Someone offered to take a family picture.  Delicate Arch is on top of Dan's head in the picture.


We loaded back up in the car to head to Aspen.  Dan was really excited to see this speed limit sign!


On the drive to Aspen, we passed through Fruita, Colorado, which was the home to Mike the Headless Chicken.  He was a chicken who managed to live 18 months after attempting to be decapitated for dinner one night because the farmer accidentally left the brain stem intact.  It is a fascinating story that is worth googling.  We had a bit of a lunch debacle in Grand Junction due to poor planning on my part, but we persevered with a snack lunch and made it to Aspen.  The kids took a much needed respite from the car with a swim in the St. Regis pool.



We ate dinner at Ajax Tavern, which overlooks the gondola up to the ski slopes.  It was a bit chilly on the patio of the restaurant.  Once again, I earned my mother-of-the-year status by leaving everyone's jackets in Lexington.  I meant for us to grab them on the way out of the door, but I forgot amidst the packing chaos.  I remembered them when we were halfway to the Charlotte airport.  In all fairness, this was the only time we have needed them on the trip.

The gondola was closed to the public for a private event, but the gondola operator let us have a "pony ride" for free around the loading and unloading zone at the bottom of the hill, because she was impressed that the kids brought books to read at dinner.  I think she also wanted to give us incentive to come back the next day for a $9 per person ride up the mountain.  She clearly didn't know us very well.
                                          

After dinner, we walked around Aspen a bit.  It is a very lovely town.

Tomorrow, we enjoy the morning in Aspen and take the mountainous drive to Denver.