Very windy today.  After watching the sandhill cranes at dawn this morning, we drove out to the Great Sand Dunes National Park.  The second we stepped onto the sands we knew we were not going to do much.  Winds were around 50 mph and it was like standing in front of a sand blaster.  I grabbed a couple of pictures and we took off for the car really fast.  It was not fun at all.

We did get over to the Ft. Garland museum, which is quite interesting if you are into the history of the Indian wars in the mid-1800′s.  Lots of historic happenings in those times.   It is something to see how the soldiers lived back then.  Not quite sure how they put up with the winds.  It would drive me crazy.  They never seem to stop.

Sandhill Cranes, Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge
Monte Vista, Colorado

Susan and I started a four day road trip to the San Luis Valley in Southern Colorado today.  Most of the day was spent driving down from Denver, but we had time to go out to the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge.  During this time of the year, it is a resting area for Sandhill Cranes, among other migratory birds, that are heading north to Idaho and Canada.  It is towards the end of their stay here, but there are still a large number of the cranes in the refuge.

Tomorrow we are getting up before dawn and heading for the refuge to photograph the cranes at sunrise.  Hopefully, they will cooperate.

Ireland is a beautiful country and has about the friendliest people I have ever met.  Everyone is very accommodating and they all just seem to want to make you happy.  That place can really grow on you.  And they have damn good oysters.

For those of you who are photographers, you will appreciate the problem of how much gear can you carry and how the hell do you pack it all so it fits in a carry-on legal bag?  I have been using a Lowepro Vertex 300 bag, which can carry my gear (minus the tripod and tool bag) and a laptop as well.  The problem is that you have to carry it.  It doesn’t have wheels.  As I have gotten older, the weight has become an issue, not to mention the fact that I have gotten more lazy as time has gone on.

Prior to the Ireland trip, I went searching for a carry-on legal camera case that was on wheels.  Everything I found was just too small.  In a fit of panic, I ordered a Tenba backpack on wheels that looked like it was of legal size.  Unfortunately, I only checked one dimension, which, in retrospect, was not a smart thing to do.  The bag showed up two days before we left and was obviously too big.  However, the camera storage part was a padded insert.  I pulled it out and wonders of wonders, it fit in my Eagle Creek 22″ ORV trunk carry-on.  Perfection.  I put the insert in there and it became an instant carry-on camera case.  It worked like a charm.  I don’t know if you can just purchase the insert, or one from Lowepro, but if you can, and if you travel by air a lot, this is a perfect solution.  Even better, it doesn’t look like a camera case.  Less chance of theft.  And it rolled.  That, my friends, is my holy grail of camera bags.

We packed up this morning, had our last breakfast at Hillcrest House (I am truly going to miss Maureen’s soups.  They are to die for.), loaded the van and headed out for one last day of shooting before finishing in Ennis for the night.

Boats in the harbor at Kinvarra

Our first stop was the small village of Kinvarra, near the eastern shore of Galway Bay.  Kinvarra is a typical, west Irish village with a small harbor of brightly colored boats and the usual, brightly painted storefronts.  It turned out that there is a farmer’s market on Fridays, with live music and lots of the usual food stuffs.  One booth had wonderful, soft pretzels.  I bought a couple to enjoy, but Susan stole at least half.  I should have bought the whole lot.

The Burren

Leaving Kinvarra, we drove west into the Burren region.  This is a region along the southern coast of Galway Bay that is made up of flat, limestone rocks, with lots of surf and cliffs.  The Cliffs of Mohar are in this area, although we did not go that far.

Our first stop was The Monk restaurant in Ballyvaghan.  We had wonderful Galway Bay oysters, mussels and a really good fish chowder.  A great meal for our last lunch in Ireland.

After lunch, we worked our way along the coast road, photographing as we found turnoffs and surf action.  Of course, we had to deal with a few issues on the road:

An Irish Roadblock

Surf against the cliffs at Fanore

Done photographing the Burren, we turned inland and drove to Ennis.  After checking into our hotel and doing some last minute shopping, we had our final dinner with Olcan, Herb and Cathy, said our final goodbyes and now I sit here doing my last blog post from Ireland.

The trip was wonderful and I want to thank Strabo Tours for putting together a great experience.  Olcan was a fabulous tour leader, full of music, stories, culture and history, who both entertained us and got us to the best photo sites in  County Mayo.

And so, finally, an Irish farewell…

The End

After a stop in Westport to finish some shopping (have to bring home for the grandkids), we drove south to the border between County Mayo and County Galway.  Part of Connemara, we were headed for the village of Cong, home to Ashford Castle.

Ashford Castle, or part of it anyway

Ashford Castle was started in the 11th Century.  It has been a bishop’s residence, owned by the Guinness family and is now an upscale hotel for the (as Olcan calls them) Hooray Henry’s from Britain.  Situated on the shore of Lough Corrib, it offers golf, boating, falconry, etc.  Very posh posh.  The castle is so large, you really can’t get a picture of the entire thing.  Quite the building.

Typical Irish door

After visiting the castle, we drove into the village of Cong for lunch and some walking around.  It is a picturesque village, with lots of typical Irish village structures.

Irish Row Houses

Vine Covered Cottage

After lunch, we drove over to Cornamona for some landscape photography.  There is a section there with patchwork fields along the shore of Lough Corrib, divided by networks of stone walls.

Fields in Cornamona along Lough Corrib

Our final stop of the day was in Ballintober to see the Ballintober Abbey.  Those of you who follow celebrity news will know that this is the abbey that Pierce Brosnan was married in.  It is a picturesque place with a history that dates back to St. Patrick and the 400′s.  The abbey itself dates to the 1200′s.

Interior of Ballintober Abbey

Tomorrow is our last full day in Ireland.  We are packing tonight and heading south towards Ennis tomorrow and I hopefully will get one more post in tomorrow night.

Boats at Murrisk

On the way over to catch the ferry we passed through Murrisk.  As the tide was in, we stopped to photograph some boats moored near the shore.

Mooring at Clare Island

We took the Clare Island ferry, the Very Likely, across the bay, through the Atlantic swells.  The harbor at Clare Island gives a good welcome to the island with brightly colored boats moored against a backdrop of cottages on the island.

Cottage on Clare Island

We walked up to  the hotel on the island with the intention of getting some lunch before heading up to the lighthouse on the north side.  On the way to the hotel, we passed a number of typical Irish cottages, which, against a wonderful blue sky, we beautiful to look at.

Once at the hotel, the disaster of the day occurred when contrary to what we had all been told, the hotel was closed.  As it turned out, this was a very good thing.  Olcan had arranged with the woman who drove the island bus to pick us up and drive us up to the lighthouse.  Olcan owns a cottage nearby the lighthouse and we stopped at his neighbor’s house, who graciously agreed to feed all of us later, when we came down from the lighthouse.  More on that later.

Surf below the cliffs at Teach Solais Lighthouse

The Teach Solais Lighthouse is situated above steep cliffs on the north side of the island.  The cliffs are an abrupt drop off from the hills behind them, with wonderful ware action around the rocks.

Clough Patrick from Clare Island

The lighthouse, which has been decommissioned since the 1960′s, is under renovation.  Instead of going onto the grounds, we hiked up along the cliff line for great views of the bay and the mainland.  Clough Patrick was clearly visible across the bay.

Teach Solais Lighthouse

Coming back down, we have beautiful views of the lighthouse complex and the bay behind it.

From there, we walked down the road to Olcan’s neighbor.  Ciara Cullen owns a yoga retreat and practices organic farming (http://www.yogaretreats.ie).  She put on a wonderful lunch for us with various items grown in her gardens and a most wonderful apple tart for dessert.  The people in her house were welcoming and we had probably the best experience of the whole trip.

Maude Cullen, Ciara’s daughter

After lunch we walked over to Olcan’s cottage (still under construction) and then we were picked up by the bus, which still had three school students on it.  Typical Irish kids, they were talkative and polite.  And like all kids, when asked what they did at school today, the answer was, “the same old thing.”

The bus dropped us off at the harbor and we sat on the beach for an hour until time for the ferry.  While we were sitting there, a brief shower passed over and shortly after, we were looking at a beautiful rainbow over the harbor.  A great way to end the day.

Rainbow over Clare Island Harbor

Shrule Castle

On the way to Galway City, we came through the town of Shrule.  There is the ruin of an old Irish castle there.  Unlike castles one finds in some other places, these are usually fortified towers.  You find a lot of these around Ireland.

The Harbor in Galway City

Galway is the fastest growing town in Ireland.  Lot’s of technology and universities here.  The harbor is well known for its row of colored houses with boats sitting on mud during low tide.

Inner Galway City on the Walking Streets

The inner city part of Galway is interesting as lot of buildings are built on ruins of the old castles.  You can still see it in the buildings.  They have preserved a lot of the old history in the city.  Part of the old city wall still exists as well.

Street Musicians in Galway City

Galway City has a lot of music.  We even passed an opera singer on one street, complete with tuxedo and a black and white umbrella.  These two ladies were enjoying the accordian player and his friend.

Of course, as soon as we got ready to depart Galway City, the sun came out, the clouds moved on and it was a beautiful day.  After arriving back in Westport, we had a quick dinner and headed out to Rossan Rubble Point to shoot sunset.  It wasn’t a great one, but it gave me an excuse to play with the High Dynamic Range software that I have.

Rossan Rubble Point at Sunset

Kylemore Abbey

Not really and abbey, but purpose built by a rich Englishman (A hooray Henry, according to Olcan), Kylemore Abbey was a girl’s school until last year, when it was sold.  It appears to be on its way to becoming just a major tourist spot.  It is, however, a beautiful place.

I just knew it…

We stopped in Leenaun for lunch at Gaynor’s Pub.  Hillary, the gentleman who owns the pub, is a really nice guy and we enjoyed the warmth of his establishment.  Of course, the sign outside is quite correct according to every Irishman we spoke to.

A true Irish landscape

Coming up on Lake Nafooey, we came upon what has to be the quintessential western Irish landscape.  The lighting was flat, but it can’t hide the beauty of the countryside.

Marker in Children’s Cemetery

During the famine, children who died before being baptized were buried in unconsecrated ground.  Rocks were piled over the graves and they have remained that way since.  The Catholic Church has, in past years, changed their mind and the gravesites have since been consecrated.  They are usually seen as mounds in the distance.  We saw one off a side road before Lake Nafooey.  It is a disquieting sight.

Finally, I was always told that a full Irish breakfast consisted of many, not very appetizing foods, such as black sausage and pudding.  I have discovered that this is a gross slander (probably started by the French) and now have a picture to prove it…

A Full Irish Breakfast

Boats and Cypress on Doo Lough Lake

We had some sun today, so photography was more interesting.  Nothing like a little light to make things pop a bit.  Interesting plant life in Ireland.  Cypress trees, which I associate with warmer climates grow here.  There were a lot of them around Doo Lough Lake.  Also, Potentilla plants, which I have only found before in arid climates.  There are even palm trees here, which I assume are not native to the area.

Famine Rows

As I have said before, there is a lot of history in the land in Ireland.  Famine rows are everywhere around County Mayo.  This is where farmers dug potatoes during the potato famines of 1847 and 1852.  Believing that the blight was in the ground, farmers would not plant where the bad potatoes were.  What you see in the picture above are the actual rows of potato plantings from that period.  They have not been touched since then and have become grazing land.

They have faces with true character in Ireland

Abandoned barn and winding road

Abandoned stone buildings are everywhere in County Mayo.  They are wonderful to photograph and tell a story about leaving.  Many of these buildings were abandoned during the famines either through death, or emigration.

L to R: Olcan Masterson, Laoisac Niconnajhag, Connie Collen

Olcan Masterson is the guide for our jaunt around County Mayo.  A musician and photographer, he is a wonderful tour guide.  He was scheduled to play for a couple of hours at a pub, Campbell’s, in Murrisk.  Of course, we went with him and had a wonderful time.  The music was fantastic.  All three musicians were kind enough to allow me to photograph and record.  I will use the music for a soundtrack on the slide show I will do when I return from this trip.  The experience was two hours of fantastic music.

Sheep are everywhere.  It is open grazing, so the sheep wander where they will.  Many of them just wander on the road, which makes driving around there fun.

The coastline along the Atlantic Drive is spectacular.  Crashing waves, cliffs, including the second highest in Europe, sand beaches nestled in bays and, of course, sheep.

On one part of the island there is a deserted village, with the ruins of 137 stone houses.  They were abandoned during and after the potato famines in the mid-1800′s.  They are incredibly small and it is amazing to imagine people living there.

Like everywhere in Ireland, Achill Island has a ton of history.  Much of it is in the landscape, from famine rows, to famine graves, church ruins, legends around landmarks, etc.  It surrounds you and draws you in.