Driving

I hear that the scenery that we passed today was lovely. Here's what I saw:

These babies just moseyed on in front of us. They were in no hurry, so neither were we. 

We were sad to leave the beautiful home of our host, Cornelia O'Keeffe. Here she is, along with some photos of her B&B:

Cornelia O'Keeffe, a real make-lemonade kind of person. She's very zen and very cool. If you end up in the southwest part of Ireland, stay at the Rock Hill B&B in Schull.

Cornelia papered several bedroom doors with the spines and covers of book jackets. So cool!

This is the view from the john in our bedroom. IT'S THE VIEW FROM THE JOHN. Unbelieveable.

Dan posted photos of the old Schull church and graveyard, along with some other beautiful shots that were taken this morning. 

We traveled from Schull to Mizen Head, which was incredible. Again, look for Dan's post, which will cover the photography. However, I will share with you a photo of the steps that we took as part (part) of the journey back from the most southwest point of Ireland:

We then drove to Crookhaven for lunch and afterward tried to find our way along the coast to Three Castle Head, but without GPS, a detailed map, and/or directional signs, we were screwed. However, we did see very narrow roads, some of which had precipitous cliffs. At times, I felt like someone was going to have to pry my hands from the wheel, once we finally arrived somewhere. Here's a shot of the road from Dan's side of the car. Please note that this is a two-lane road, sometime traversed by RVs, full-sized trucks, and buses. 

We are spending two nights in Kenmare, where there is a stone circle as well as a place called Cromwell Bridge. While some people think that the bridge is named after Thomas Cromwell, who deeded this area to the town's founder, it's more likely that the name is a misunderstanding of the Celtic word for 1) mustache or 2) arch. 

The most exciting find if the day, at least for me, came in the form of an email. I've spent a little time tracing my ancestry,  and I received information today about the O'Keefes. My 2nd great grandmother was an O'Keefe, and it was her parents who emigrated to the U.S. during the potato famine of the 19th century. According to the information that I received,11 of the first 25 kings of Munster were O'Keefes. And all O'Keefes are all descended from that line. Cody and I were sure to remind Dan several times today that he was in the presence of royalty. We also kept the "O" part of O'Keefe, which meant that we "didn't take the soup" during the famine. Apparently, at that time, the English were trying to anglicize the Irish, and one way to do that (in addition to not allowing them to practice Catholicism) was to allow them to take food from the soup kitchens if, and only if, they would drop the "O" from their names. So O'Sullivans became Sullivans, O'Regans became Regans, etc. I see where the stubborn streak, so evident in my mother and my children, came from. (It skipped a generation.)