Pretty much anywhere you go in Ireland is awesome. (Sorry, but it is.) Some places just vary in the level of awesomeness. Giant’s Causeway is a destination location in Northern Ireland that is worth the visit. It has changed over the years in that there is now a gloriously large and overwhelming visitor’s center. But, I appreciate the architecture and the audio tour is provides. Along with this comes a fee to enter. (NOTE: visitors can walk directly down to the causeway from the road if they want to take a hike. And, I will warn you that it is easier going down that coming back up!)
The causeway is a geological marvel found only in a handful of places in the world. (I am lucky to live near one of them called The Devil’s Postpile near Mono Lake.) The volcanic cooling created octagonal shaped stones that provide a “causeway” from Ireland to Scotland under the sea. It is said the giant Fin McCool once created this causeway by stomping his feet. It was also the roadway that led Scotland’s giant to come knocking on Fin’s door. Luckily for the Irish Fin’s quick thinking wife dressed him up in baby clothes and put him in a baby carriage. She served tea to the Scottish giant and told him Fin’s father would be home soon. Seeing the size of the giant baby the Scottish giant fled home thinking the father must be 10 times larger!
Giant’s causeway is situated on the sea with a view of Scotland on a clear day and the Norther island peninsulas. The causeway road will also drive you along arguably some of the most painfully gorgeous scenery in the world. We were lucky to have a clear bright sunny day leaving me to think that life, in that moment, could not possibly be any better.
Spend the rest of your day visiting Bushmills, Dunluce Castle, Portrush, Carrick-a-Reed rope bridge, and maybe even Dark Hedges. My favorite thing to do though is to just meander along the Causeway highway and see where the road takes you. Because, wherever it takes you I guarantee you will enjoy it.
For more Irish shenanigans click here
For another post on Giant’s Causeway click here…
Some really good pictures. I have been there and know just how difficult it is to be original!
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Thanks! I feel the same way. It’s a beautiful place and I’ve seen lots of posts about it lately but I had to post anyway!
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Wow, what an incredible landscape!
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This destination is definitely on my list. Your photos, I agree with Andrew, are very original. They have perspectives i had not seen prior. Well done!
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Thank you so much! I tried! I end up taking hundreds of photos so I increase my odds that way! 😉
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I’ve been there!! (haha, as you know!) Love the last shot – what filter have you used? It looks like an oil painting 🙂
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That’s because it is a photograph of an oil painting in the visitors center. I made a note of that on the photo that doesn’t seem to be showing on the mobile app. Good eye!
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Oh, haha! No I didn’t see anything come up – a few of the others have captions though! The algae in the pools added a nice vibrant twist too 🙂
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Thanks. Glad you liked it. I’ll have to double check that caption. Glad you like!
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Wow when a visitor’s centre looks that nice, you know everything else will appeal to the eye as well. Very cool!
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Looks like it could be a 007 villain hideaway doesn’t it?
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Haha yes or something equally as interesting!
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Totally stunning!!
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Thank you! It’s a spectacular place.
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It sure is, as you have captured it so nicely for us!
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You have got some really cool shots!
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Thanks! Glad you like!
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Great photo gallery. Love the giant boot. 🙂
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Thanks. I thought that was pretty neat too.
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I really liked the architecture of the visitors center as well, subtle and attractive. A bit overpriced though for one room of exhibits.
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Yes. Probably. But I thought it was a world class looking building that compliments the surroundings for sure.
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Beautiful place!!
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Another fascinating “Shenanigan”. What a place. You must have experienced some eerie sensation, right? Even the weather was Irishly suggestive of trolls, giants and elves.
(Did you learn a few gaelic words?)
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Slante! =Cheers!
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Slante. Duly noted. Extremely useful. 🙂
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Very!
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Hips! Slante.
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It is easy to understand why the Irish have so many colorful stories of fairies and sprites and ancestors and so on for sure.
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Imagine walking those lands in winter. The wind howling. The graveyards with the Celtic crosses…
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Too cold for this California girl!
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I imagine. So your travels to Eire were in the summer? (How many times did you go?)
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I went in July for two weeks. Still posting about it obviously…it will have been my fourth trip. I love it there.
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Obviously you love it. never been tempted to stray a bit? England? The continent?
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Oh yes. Been there multiple times. I love France and Italy and Germany and Switzerland. I’ve been to London but need to get to the rest of the country and Wales. I do love Scotland. If you check out my categories you will see some posts from other glorious locations.
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I just did. Wow. You have so many… “categories/destinations”. 🙂 I browsed through Belize. Been there too. In Bleize and one of the cays. Would need to check which. We had a lovely time. Took my daughters snorkeling on the reef. With sand-sharks (Harmless as I’m sure you know). I see you had a good time too.
(I also tend to take a note book with me. paste cards and stuff from places).
Be good.
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Have you been to Costa Rica?
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Nope. It is on my kilometrical travel-to list. Both my daughters have been and both came back enchanted. They say it is absolutely lovely. And it is close to mexico. I imagine you have been? (Haven’t checked that on your site)
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I have and I LOVED it! Better than Belize I think.
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I’ve looked for costa-rica in your categories and only found one (nice) post about your travel journals…
?
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OH boy. Perhaps I havent written much about it. I think because most of my photos are paper! I need to scan them and do something with them and then write about it a little bit. Sorry about that. Watching the turtles lay their eggs on the pacific side was amazing. And hiking through the rain forest was also a lot of fun…oh and of course seeing sloths just hanging out on a tree like it’s no big deal.
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Don’t worry. I understand the paper/scan issue. It took me about 3 years to scan an d edit all my parents’s photo albums, starting in the 30’s in Egypt, ’49 in Pakistan all the way to the early 70’s in africa…
I had to look up sloth. Paresseux. They’re amazing. We saw one in the Amazon forest with my daughter. Took him/her about half an hour to cross a minute forest trail. 🙂
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Yah, they are great! I found a word you didn’t know?! How fun. You learned a super fun word today! I was looking through some of yoiur old photos on your blog yesterday. There are some pretty cool ones there. Did you parents take a lot of photos or did you take them all? Or is it a mixture?
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There are many words I don’t know. Remember English is not really my mother tongue. More like my father tongue. (His mother, my grandmother was english)
The old photos? I guess it depends. West Africa (the monkey incident: my parents took the picture) Maasai, a mix; Murchison falls a mix too. the square ones of the hippos: mine. Instamatic! My second camera, after a Brownie. When in Kenya i was promoted to 35mm reflex Asahi-Pentax top of the shelf technology. 🙂
(Now I just stick to my I-phone. Carry it in my back pocket, don’t have to worry about shutter speed, light etc.)
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You might enjoy this post… https://bulldogtravels.com/2015/02/12/3-2-1-shoot/
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Ah shore did.
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I did remember English isn’t your first language but you sure wouldn’t know it by your writing and your humor. I feel honored to have taught you a new word and such a fun one at that!
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can one poke someone in the ribs and say: “you are such a sloth”? Or better: “You are such a sleuth”? 😉
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Probably doesn’t work no but it would be quirky. You could say that someone is moving at a glacial or a slothlike pace.
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😉 I’ll sign off now. Thank you Jenny for this lively/lovely chat. Do too. You spend all day with computers. Grab Hubby by the arm, take the TR3 and go a get a fresh beer somewhere nice. With lights and people. Bye. B.
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Sounds great! Oh I do work at my computer all day so I can keep a sidewise eye at the old blog. About to make a nice dinner and stoke the fire. Have a good night!
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oh! A chimney! I’ve been wanting one here for years. Looks like it’s impossible. I will have to sell the house and buy/build another around a chimney.
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Sounds like a good idea to me
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Even more so that it’s been raining today. We might go house-hunting this week-end. Involves a very large rifle and loads of money. 😦
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Oh sheesh. Been there. So stressful. Good luck!
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Well house-hunting was cancelled this week-end. Spent the time talking and tracking friends and family in Paris and other parts of France. Every one’s okay. But the country is in shock. Though America’s immediate show of support was heart-warming. Thank y’all.
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Thanks. Wish we could do more than support.
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You (all) do. Funny how in the end, France (and vice-versa) can count its best friends with the fingers of one hand. The US, the UK, Germany, and many others of course, but moves in first? Always the same handful. I found it also moving to see the french colours (the same as yours really) lighting up a building in NY, and certainly many other places. So, don’t worry, we know who we can trust for support. Be good, my “niece”. 🙂
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Yes it is nice we support each other and it was nice to see the French red white and blue on buildings here. I was in Europe when 9/11 happened and witnessed similar support which was heartwarming and forever memorable to me.
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That’s right. 9/11 was a great shock for us too. Darkness has not receded has it?
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Seems like it’s worse…
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It could be. But my compatriots seem to have found the right answer: “Même pas peur”. Not even afraid. 🙂
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Amen
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Thank you Jenny. Enjoy civilization. (Which I tend to pronounce ‘…Lai-sation’)
And keep enforcing the law.
The law is the only thing that keeps us from savagery. (Thumbs up emoticon)
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I’ll do my best!
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Please do. 😉
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What city?
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Mexico city. We live in the north of the city and are thinking of moving to the south of the city. for convenience. It is a 20 million inhabitants city! 😦
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That’s a lot!
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A lot of people? Yes. Overwhelming. Too many people. Plus the infrastructure sucks: public transportation is lousy. Roads and streets are in bad (dis) repair… Driving times have tripled in 20 years? My wife is a researcher at the U. In the south of the city. I’m a consultant now. I can work anywhere. Daughter #1 is an MD and works at a hospital in the south. Makes sense to move. 🙂
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But you for sure want to stay in that location?
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Not really, but my wife works here as a researcher, so do our two daughters (your cousins), one an MD, married, the other a George Washington graduate working in an NGO. I’m a “residual” consultant. Our life is here, but I do feel like running away! 🙂
maybe split my time between France and Mexico. Right now, I’m itching to go back, even for a fortnight. I’m sure you felt the same when 9/11 caught you abroad…
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Oh. It sure did. I had to call home and make sure everyone was ok and to set my moms mind at ease. And I wanted to be home. It was quite a journey to get there… But I feel fortunate to have been somewhere else to watch the kindness of the Europeans.
I wrote about it once if you feel like reading. It’s a little long…
https://bulldogtravels.com/2015/09/10/where-were-you-on-september-11th-2001-2/
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I went back to your posts. I’d actually read it a while back. I remembered the Asian couple… And that you were in law enforcement. So if you still are and in Sacramento, you must meet Teresa Lisbon and Cho on a daily basis at the CBI right? 😉
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CBI? Do you mean FBI? I don’t recognize that name. I work in IT now so they don’t let me out much… 😉
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CBI is the California Bureau of Investigation, a – most probably – fictitious State investigative agency in Sacramento. The series is/was called the Mentalist. Main characters: Teresa Lisbon (Robin Tunney) and Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) Standard intrigues, but good actors and characters. Hence my jokes about your meeting “Teresa Lisbon”. Didn’t know you worked at the “Competition”. I understand there are some/many turf wars. Well, congrats for working for the Bureau. 😉
(I hope our chit-chats aren’t tracked right now. 🙂
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OMG. That’s so funny. No wonder I didn’t know what agency you were talking about. It is certainly when I have never heard of. And yes there are some turf wars. Not as many as there used to be in the past. But definitely some between regional agencies and between local state and federal agencies.
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It is funny. Try to catch or netflix a couple of episodes of the Mentalist. I like the characters and the actors who give them life. Show is over but it lasted 7 seasons. Not bad. 🙂
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Oh, that also means, I have a lot more to see in your blog. Bon week-end mon amie.
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Bonne weekend. Thanks the comment. Always makes me smile.
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Then I’m totally rewarded. To make someone smile is great. makes me smile back. 🙂 Have a lovely sunday. On a hiking trail, or at a BBQ on some friend’s house. Or anything nice and “sunday-ly”.
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Went to a car museum in the Bay Area today. Nice fall day.
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Just saw your post. Nice. If you like cars, you might like one my posts:
https://equinoxio21.wordpress.com/2014/11/13/did-you-say-cars/
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Super great post. Left you a few interesting comments on that thread.
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Thank you. Merci. Gracias. (Look forward to your TR3 pics.
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Makes me want to drive the TR3 somewhere now and do a post about it…
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That would be lovely. Driving recklessly to the Sacramento Capitol and getting a ticket from Teresa Lisbon.
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I love that in the Republic all street signs and place names are in English an Gaelic. It makes it easy to learn some words.
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Yep. They do in some places of Brittany too. Though I don’t think more than 20-30% of bretons speak the language.
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Whoa, you’ve got some great shots there. I’ve never been to Ireland…now it’s on my list. Are those rocks naturally shaped like that? And the wall? You have a good photographic eye!
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Most definitely they are natural. All of it. And the causeway also goes all the way to Scotland.
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