Christmas Eve with sand between our toes. . .

So today is Christmas Eve, and we started with a pretty overcast day. Actually, all day was overcast, but that is beside the point. . while I was wasting time on the Internet, John packed a picnic lunch and then rushed me upstairs to get dressed do we could go on an adventure. He had a destination in mind, and I didn't ask, but after a few minutes in the car, it was apparent that we were going toward Kinsale, a very popular coastal town known for its restaurants. (Since we had lunch, I figured we would sample the cuisine at another time)
We arrived at the town through many skinny, windy roads without incident. The troublesome time was that the SuperValu grocery store is right at the entrance to the town, and if you went anywhere near a grocery store today you know the insanity that was raging around that place. . .We drove around the town along the harbour to see all of the ships--the tide was WAY out so you have to sort of use your imagination. We made it through Kinsale in about 5 minutes because we didn't really want to get out to shop or anything--most everything is closed today--so we crossed over a little bridge and took the first sign to a "scenic area" that we saw.
We ended up at the Lusitania memorial at the Old Head of Kinsale, right where the Lusitania was sunk.
John had hoped that we would be able to drive through the Old Head Golf Club to get to the point. Old Head is a peninsula that extends into the Atlantic Ocean, I guess. (It's probably some bay, but I couldn't find the name easily on our map from today, so you geography-philes can figure it out on your own!) We walked a short trail down to, well, we didn't know what it led to, but it turned out to be a sheer cliff!!
First picture is of John being contemplative on the cliff. It was a great setting to go and just listen and think. Of course, we were joined by lots of noisy Eastern European tourists, so we didn't take too long here to ponder the mysteries of the universe. And it was really cold and windy on this side!!!
Second picture is looking down the cliff. John was amazed that I got anywhere near the edge of the cliff. I just didn't realize how close I was until I saw the pictures!!!

Across the road was the other side of the peninsula, looking along the western coast of Ireland. You might not be able to see it too well in this picture, but the grass is so tall and windblown, that it looks like it has a hairdo! The views from this side are stunning, but you'll have to visit my dotphoto.com account listed to the side to see those. And I'm having trouble uploading today (probably because it's Christmas Eve and everyone is taking and uploading pictures!!!) so I'll try a little later--they'll be there soon enough!!!

Pretty soon we were overrun with tourists, so we drove down a crazy country road and ended up at a beach. It was weird stamping around in the sand on such a winter day!! But it was pretty popular with the locals. We stumbled upon a group of lads playing football (soccer). After their game was over, one fellow waded into the water in just his shorts waist deep! We couldn't believe it!!!

The beach was really neat, and there was a ton of kelp washed up on the shore. Very different from the sea weed we are used to in Galveston!

We walked along the beach for a while and then started our drive home. Along the way, we stopped to watch some brave surfers in the cold, cold water!!! Cold!!!!! The waves were so-so and difficult to catch, but it was just neat to see the 20 or so people out there! Again, I'll have all of the photos up at dotphot.com ASAP!

We are really looking forward to Christmas, and we hope you all are, too!!!

I've already made my new favorite holiday snack--deviled eggs--and they turned out just fine with the free-range eggs here. We're planning to do a lot of cooking and eating tomorrow. More details to come!!! Merry Christmas!!!