Horses, Deer, and Beer, Oh My!

Well, everyone,  we have reached our final morning in Dingle.  I just want you all to take a moment, take a deep breath, and prepare yourselves for what you're about to see. This was my last Dingle sunrise.  No, there is no filter.  Yes, I did sing Ed Sheeran, "I See Fire", before the sun came up.  No, Prash did not hear me. Yes, it was pure magic.

This sunrise nearly made up for the fact that I never found my Dingle Berries.  Or coffee for that matter.  Helen only makes coffee at very specific times, and this was far too early.

Finally, the Mancub woke up when the sun was fully up and we could go have breakfast with Helen.  Helen never tried to feed me black pudding, and for that, I am forever grateful.

After a full pot of delicious coffee, I thought we were on our way to Killarney (yes, I did sing Christmas in Killarney over and over), but the Mancub had other plans.  HE FOUND ME DINGLE BERRIES! I knew I picked a good one.  The blueberries were delicious, the strawberries were also mostly okay.  I can't help that I'm picky when it comes to berries.

Okay, so after the berries, we really were on our way to Killarney.  Prash was really excited for this stop because he's always wanted to drive the Ring of Kerry, and drive it, we shall!  It's a full day trip around the ring, so that's for another post on another day.

We didn't really have anything planned for our first day in Killarney.  Prash always said he never wanted to ride horses...so color me surprised when he suggested we go on some horses through Killarney National Park!  I was all for it.  I think part of him was hoping I would say no...but that part should have known better.

Look at that happy face!

You can't tell it from the picture, but he actually did have a wonderful time with very minimal pain to either him or the horse.

The ride was beautiful, through pastures and rolling hills with lots of flowers that I wanted to steal.  Off in the distance, there was a castle that I very much wanted to go to.  I think I really just love castles because we don't have them in America...which is lame.

Anyway, there were wild deer roaming through the trails and they weren't even scared, and I also wanted to sing at them like Snow White to see if they would come to me.  For the sake of the trail guide, I refrained.  But please, just look at this view!  There's just so much green I can't even handle it.  I love it.

After riding the horses, we followed some more brown signs to a scenic view.  I don't think we ever found that one either.  But what we did find were wool socks, a new sheep sweater, and a hat for Prash!  My sheep sweater is my favorite thing ever.  It's like the world's most welcoming sheep is giving me a hug.

Seriously, being hugged by a sheep.

Prash wanted to find the lakes...and I unintentionally fell asleep.  When I awoke, I was alone in the car in a gas station parking lot and honestly thought he abandoned me for being the worst road trip partner.  He came back!  He just went to Centra to get a sandwich.  Alls well.  Luckily, the shop he stopped at for a sandwich was right down the street from Killarney Brewery.  Killarney Brewery has an IPA that tastes like a straight up American IPA.  It was a nice break from Guinness.  Plus, the bar tender/tour guide, Padraig, was just great.  We hung out there for a few hours and sampled all of their beers (sometimes several times).

After the tastings, we went to our B&B for the next two days.  It was there we met Betty.  While Helen was an angel, Betty was the opposite.  She opens the door without greeting us and simply says "You follow me".  We follow her upstairs, she barks out instructions, and then just leaves.  The room was dirty and we were the only visitors staying in the whole place.  It was then I realized, I'm probably going to die there.

We went back into down for dinner/drinks.  I finally got some Shepherd's Pie and it was amazing.  I always forget how much I love that stuff.  After dinner, we went back to the B&B to prepare for our long drive the next day.  There were three spiders in the room.  Three.  and one of them was on my pillow.  MY PILLOW.  I wanted to sleep in the car.  It seemed preferable.  But I did not.  Instead I stayed awake all night waiting to become SpiderMan.  I'm still waiting.

That's all, Folks!