Ireland (Kinsale)

Our adventure began leaving Kilkenny behind and driving to see the Rock of Cashel in County Tipperary. This place was amazing from a distance. If you've ever been in Rome, walking along the cobble stoned streets, and turn a corner into a piazza only to come face to face with the magnificence of the Pantheon you'll understand this feeling. You turn around a bend and from a distance, you can see the massive rock with a stone cathedral and tall round stone tower jetting in to the sky. The land surrounding was low laying plains/farmland. It's stunning. We pulled into the cute little town of Cashel and missed the exit immediately. Oops... Boo's jet lag and my rigid map directions really don't make for a great combo. Anyways, we flipped it and turn down the right street and into the pay parking lot that's about 200 yards below this massive rock. Then we start our short climb up to the entrance. Per our Rick Steve's guide book, we do the self tour and I read the history of the place as we walk around. "The large Cathedral, ancient round tower and the very early Romanesque Cormac's Chapel , perched on a dramatic outcrop of rock, were silent witnesses to many of the stirring events of Irish History; St.Patrick converted the local King Aenghus, here in the 5th century from Pagan to Catholic. St. Patrick's Celtic cross is still standing at the very spot; Brian Boru was crowned King of Ireland on this spot in the early 11th Century. According to local lore, the Rock of Cashel originated from Devils Bit, a mountain 30 km north of Cashel when St. Patrick banished Satan from a cave, resulting in the Rock's landing in Cashel." (Cashel website.)

After a 2 hour tour, and lots of photos, we head out to the town of Midleton to tour the Midleton Whiskey Distillery (the first Jameson Whiskey Distillery was built in Dublin in 1780, but moved to Midleton to expand). The rolling drive from Cashel to Midleton was actually quite nice. I got to drive for a bit before we stopped at a little picturesque bend in the road, overlooking some pretty farmland, to have a picnic. After we feasted on crackers and 5 different cheeses ( samples of Irish, French, and Danish cheeses), we pulled up to the distillery just in time to catch 2:30pm tour. There was probably 30 people in our group. "The tour the Jameson Midleton Distillery will take you back in time to the magnificent courtyard area, evoking the atmosphere of harvest time with farmers arriving with horses and carts piled high with sacks of grain ready to sell to the Distillery. You walk along the path to the Distiller’s cottage and see the giant waterwheel which at one stage powered all of the distillery machinery, and today still turns the cogs and wheels in the Mill Building. In the Brew House you will see the largest pot still in the World." (Jameson website) While in the brew house I got to touch the copper pot and boo actually got volunteered to ring the bell that workers once used to signal that they needed more coal brought up to keep the pot heated. He had the biggest grin on his face as he tugged that rope and made that bell ring. haha! The barrel room left me in awe. Just stacks and stacks of barrels as high as I could see, filled with aging whiskey, waiting to be tasted. At the end of the tour everyone was given a ticket for a free drink at the Jameson bar. Well, when our tour was complete the guide asked for 6 volunteers for a whiskey tasting session in the Bar. I don't know what it was, but my hand shot straight up to volunteer. Yeah, I know what it was..... my favorite Liquor drink ever is Bourbon and Ginger Ale. Hell yeah I wanted to taste some whiskey! Boo's hand shot up too, and low and behold, we get picked! Whoo hoo!! The whole group walks into the Jameson Bar and we, along with the other 4 volunteers, are escorted to a tasting table. (By the way, I am the only woman at the tasting session. ) In front of us are 3 types of whiskey. American whiskey (Kentucky Bourbon which WAS my favorite), Scottish Whiskey (Johnnie Walker), and of course Jameson Irish Whiskey. After an overview of where each was from, the tastings began. We picked up our first (BIG) shot of American whiskey. (ugh, I forgot I'm not much of a shot drinker.) Anyways, I sipped and let the familiar amber colored liquid burn down my throat as my eyes filled up with tears. Yep, this is what I remember straight whiskey tasting like. I had to take two more sips of my shot glass to get it all down. Everyone else just tossed it back. Boo is just laughing at my misery. I think he's having a good time with this whiskey thing. Then he confirms it when he reveals that he now starting to understand his people. I take it that he likes the whiskey more than the Guinness we've been having. At this point I noticed everyone from our tour group surrounding us and watching, with their free drinks in hand. Now, we are on to the Scotch whiskey. I lifted it up to my nose, sniffed it and immediately notice the difference. It has a strong earthy peat smell, and guess what? It has a strong earthy peat taste. Yuck, I did not enjoy this whiskey. In fact, I gave boo the rest of the my shot b/c I couldn't choke it down. Sorry Scotland. On to the Irish Whiskey. I sipped and it tasted smooth. Wow. I was surprised. I liked it. ALOT. Our tour guide comes back to take our order for our free drink. I'm thinking... wow, I just had 3 shots of whiskey and now I get a free drink too! SWEET! I don't know if it was the excitement of being in the tasting, or if the whiskey had already gotten to me, but when the guide asked for my order, I blurted, out of habit, "Bourbon and Ginger Ale please". I hear lots of "ooohhhs" and chuckles through out the table, then I realized my faux pas. "Oh! I am so sorry, I meant to say Jameson and Ginger Ale please!" My face with either flushed from the whiskey or from the embarrassment of looking like such an amateur. Oops... ahhahaa! She comes back with all Jameson whiskey neats for the other volunteers, and my mixer of Jameson and Ginger Ale. I am such a girl. :) It was soooo good though. I think I found a new fav. whiskey. Our guide comes back with certificates for the 6 volunteers. Boo and I are now "Official Whiskey Tasters", we have the paperwork to prove it!

We stumble, (kidding!) out the distillery and head out Kinsale (http://www.kinsale.ie/), where we are spending the night. It's a quick 20 minute drive, we just decided to take the scenic route and get lost for an additional 20 minutes. haha! We finally arrive in Kinsale and its a gorgeous little medieval fishing village town that is also known as the gourmet capital of Ireland. We navigate the narrow winding streets up to our bed and breakfast and finally arrive at The Woodlands. It's a bit far from the harbor, but our room made up for it. Our room was huge and had a commanding view of the harbor and town of Kinsale down below. We quickly showered/changed and got back in the car to park close to downtown and explore. By the time we got there, most things were already closed or closing, so we just walked around the harbor, and then tried to find a place to have dinner. Most places we saw were really upscale and here we were in jeans and wool sweaters. So we decided to just go to a pub and grab dinner and a few pints. That is how we discovered the "Muddy Maher." We walked in, took a table at the back of the bar and glanced over the menu. The bartender came over to take our drink order and I asked him to recommend something that people from the area like. I decided to try the Irish beer called Harp, and Boo tried a Danish beer called Carlsberg (the bartenders favorite beer.) We found some new favorite beers. After dinner (Boo orders the "Legendary Doorstop sandwich" and it was huge! I could probably stop a door), we decided to go sit at the lively bar and see if we could mingle with the locals. We inched up to the bar, ordered more pints and took a seat. We met a funny Irishman in a purple sweater drinking wine! His name was David, and he lives in Kinsale part time and in Spain part time (explains the wine drinking.) He was so warm and welcoming. He talked to us most of the night and introduced the other characters around the bar. What an eclectic group. We had so much fun and we even had some "craicing" going on. (Irish joking around.) One guy was wearing an Ernesto Guevara "Che" shirt, and from where I was sitting it looked like a Bob Marley shirt, so I asked him if he liked Bob Marley and Reggae music. He had no Idea what I was talking about, and after that, everyone started calling him Bob Marley. hahah! Even the bartender got in on it. Muddy Maher was probably one of my favorite pubs from our trip and it was all because of the local people and how welcoming, and open they were to us. Good times.

Ireland (Kilkenny)

We landed in Dublin at 8:30am and spent an hour going through the immigration/custom lines. Since we had no checked bags, after getting our passports stamped, Boo headed to the cell phone store in the airport to pick up an Irish sims card to convert our phone and I headed to the ATM to get out some Euro's. We then took a shuttle over to the Hertz to pick up our rental and imagine my surprise when instead of seeing the expected economy, generic cars, we were greeted by a fleet of Range Rovers, Mercedes Benz, Volvo's, BMW's, and Lexus'. WOW!!! Europeans know how to drive! Boo was drooling and I didn't have the heart to tell him I booked us an economy (think Ford Festiva). We pull up to the counter (after a 30 minute wait) and I finally get to hear a real Irishman. I was mesmerized and grinning at his Lucky Charms (cereal) accent. He must of thought I was a total idiot tourist. hahha! Well, it must of been the luck of the Irish, b/c they were out of economy cars and we were upgraded 2 levels! No Benz, but we got a Toyota Avantis (Camry). Off we went. Navigating the crazy roads and plethora of round abouts that make up the Emerald Island all while driving on the left side of the road, and with the steering wheel on the left hand side.

Our first adventure was Powerscourt in county Wicklow. It is one of Europes greatest treasures and Ireland's best garden and house. If you've ever seen "The Count of Monte Cristo", the part where he hosts a party at his home, was filmed here. Absolutely stunning and breathe taking is all I can say about the view of the gardens from the house. The view from the Italian garden beckons your eyes to travel down the terraced steps to two huge silver reared up horses, then to a shimmering lake with a fountain, and finally up towards Sugar Loaf Mountain. It was stunning. One of my favorite parts of the gardens was Pepperpot Tower. You were actually able to climb up to the top of the round tower. I felt like the princess on top of that tower! The Japanese gardens were gorgeous and the pet cemetery was a bit quirky. We opted for the 60 minute walking tour vs. the 30 min. tour, and honestly, the 60min took us about 30 minutes. We didn't walk fast, we walked at a leisurely pace, taking tons of photos and just admiring the general splendor. We spent about 2 hours at Powerscourt before leaving for our next adventure. Riding through Sally's Gap to Glendalough. If you've ever seen the Mel Gibson movie Braveheart, alot of it was filmed in Sally's Gap. This was one of Boo's favorite drives in Ireland. We stopped to see our first peat stacks drying out. Peat is a charcoal turf that is dug up in chunks, air dried, and then used as fuel for heating an Irish home. We pulled over and explored/took photos of the peat bog, but not for too long, the chilly wind was whipping thru us.

We finally arrive in Glendalough and take a tour of the 6th Century, early medieval, monastic settlement founded by St. Kevin. County Wicklow was gorgeous. We walked along the river on a short path to the monastic settlement. I had the Rick Steve's guide book with me and was reading about the settlement and the history of the ruins to Boo. I could just imagine what it looked like when it was being invaded by the Vikings. The monks either retreat into the round tower or fleeing into the woods. Even the old cemetery around the ruins was interesting with it's Celtic cross tomb stones sticking eerily up in the air. For about 45 minutes, we were pretty much the only people there and were able to get some great photos. As we were ending our walk, a huge tour group from France showed up. I understand the purpose of tour groups, but sometimes their presence can be really annoying. The quiet, tranquil, and peaceful church ruins and cemetery all of the sudden became loud and obnoxious with teenagers rock climbing and jumping onto the ledges of the church ruins and tomb stones. They really had no respect or interest in this place. What a shame. We left shortly afterwards.

It's been a long day and Boo has a bit of jet lag, so he is ready to check into our first B&B in Kilkenny (Kilkenny is where Smithwicks beer was invented). We arrive at Carriglea Bed and Breakfast and are pleasantly surprised. Our host, Josephine O'Reilly is cheery Irishwoman who warmly welcomes us to Kilkenny. Oh... and did I mention our B&B is right across the street from a castle! Kilkenny Castle. We ventured out for dinner, and upon suggestion of our host, we ended up at Kyteler's Inn. This pub has been around since the 11th Century. It was made out of stone and you could just feel the history seeping out of this place. Just imagine all the medieval Irishmen and women that frequented this pub. Pretty cool. I had my first official Irish dinner here, and I got my first pint of Guinness. I had the Irish Stew (lamb and potato stew) with brown bread. YUM! Oh...did I mention the Guinness tasted great. No bitter bite or after taste like I experienced back in the States. It was creamier, smoother, surprisingly really good. Boo had his first Irish Guinness too, but decided to slide into the culture a bit more slowly. He ordered a steak sandwich with chips (fries). I knew I had about another good hour out of him, he was so tired and jet lagged. I felt bad, because I didn't want to leave the pub, but I knew it was best to get him back to the B&B and to bed. After dinner and pints, we walked back to our B&B. Boo showered and crashed, and I reviewed the map and our next days itinerary.

After a good nights sleep, we woke up and went downstairs for our first full Irish Breakfast. A full Irish Breakfast consists of a fried egg, sausage links, bacon, grilled tomatoes, brown bread, tea, white pudding, and black pudding. (The bacon is like our Canadian bacon. White pudding is pork meat, oatmeal and spices mixed together and stuffed into a sausage casing. Same with black pudding except blood is added for flavor and to give it the dark black color. Black pudding is also called blood pudding. Appetizing isn't it?) I actually enjoyed the full Irish breakfast, though I could only take one bite out of the black/blood pudding, before images of the movie "Cary" started playing in my over active imagination. It kept me full for most of the day. Boo just couldn't dive into the culture yet, he opted for a southwestern omelet and white toast. In his defense, he did partake in some Irish breakfast tea. We thanked our host and off we went! Destination-Kinsale, with a few stops along the way. :)

St. Patricks Parade and Festival.

St. Patty's day has finally arrived! I think this year is the most exciting St. Patty's because in a couple of weeks, we will actually be going to Ireland for the first time. (YAY!) So we are really into the spirit of the holiday. We get up bright and early and catch the train into downtown. Boo is decked out in a green fleece and a green baseball cap. I don't own a stitch in anything green, so I'm in jeans and blue fleece. We find a good spot just in time for the parade to start. As far as parades go, it was just OK. I mean, not all the floats, bands, etc... were St. Patrick'ed out. And is Ronald McDonald and his gang really Irish? I get McDonald is an Irish name, but really? There were a ton of Miss/little Miss/tiny/baby beauty queens, I mean an overload of pageant winners that it was quite ridiculous. Or maybe there just wasn't enough St. Patty's themed floats to keep me satisfied. Like they had a few high school "step-dancing" clubs that had nothing green on, and nothing indicating it was St. Patty's. Oh... and the Renaissance festival characters where all dressed up and walking in the parade. There was even a float full of a bunch of college students marketing their college! From a different State! I suppose my town was hurting for some St. Patrick parade participants. Either way, it was entertaining in a lame sort of way. That's what I get for expecting too much. haha! The best part was the local fire department. They have their own bagpipe/drum/kilt wearing band and they were really good. And I can't forget about the local tween Celtic dancers with their bouncy curly hair pieces flouncing in the air as they did the Irish Jig down the parade route.

After the parade, the Irish Festival began. It was actually pretty fun. It had your traditional fair food like hot dogs, kettle corn, funnel cakes, deep fried everything etc... (but we didn't eat a thing b/c we were off to a local Irish Pub for an early dinner and pints.) The entertainment was pretty interesting, traditional Irish musicians, Celtic dancers, etc... The booths were pretty interesting too. We stopped by the family crest booth and checked out Boo's family shield (now my surname), and what part of Ireland they came from. I saw a real four-leaf clover fossilized in a pendant for $7 and decided I liked it. After I purchased it, I asked the lady to tell me where they find the clovers to put inside the pendant. Eagerly hoping for some intriguing story about how they only grow in the most remote part of Ireland for only one week out of the year. Nope...... She deflated my bubble so fast. My shit was grown in Mexico. Yup, my Irish clover pendant was from Mexico. Oh well. I still like it, I'll just pretend I never heard that story. :)

We finally leave around 3pm to go grab an early dinner at an Irish Pub. Boo has never been to this pub before so he's pretty excited. We decide we can't wait for Ireland to test out the beer theory so I get the Guinness and he gets the Smithwicks to go along with our Irish potato cake appetizers. While we swap sips of each others beer we get into a conversation/debate on how to say the word Celtic. I say it "cell-tick", like the Boston Celtics. Boo says it's "kell-tick". I've heard both, but decide to stick with my pronunciation for the sake of argument. :) So we order and I get a cheeseburger. Ok, so it's not Irish. I couldn't resist. :) Oh...and the beer? We decide the Guinness is really good with food and the Smithwicks is a good sipping beer. But honestly, neither was great. Hope they have Corona's in Ireland. hahaha!

We make it home just in time to shower/change clothes and head off to a martini party that one of Boo's colleagues is throwing. Whirlwind day but it was good to get out and enjoy what my town has to offer. Lame or not, I was outdoors today!

Ta me' ag dul chun Eire

For those of you wondering what "Ta me' ag dul chun Eire" is, its a Gaelic phrase meaning, "I am going to Ireland!!!"

Ireland, Erin, Emerald Island, Eire, the Republic of Ireland, the Land of Saints and Scholars. Whatever the nickname she goes by, I am lucky enough to have the chance to go and see her this March. Boo and I have always had Ireland on our list of places to see before we kick rocks, but I didn't think it would happen so soon. I was looking for some inexpensive places to travel to for our anniversary this year and low and behold, travelocity had an amazing deal on flights and car rentals to Dublin. Well, after I factored up the cost, I realized we would be paying less to travel abroad in Europe, then we would if we decided to take a quick vacation in the Caribbean! The only string attached was that we had to travel in late March/early April instead of on our true Anniversary in May. We both agreed that this once in a lifetime deal was too good to pass up. So Eire, here we come!!!

Visions of medieval castles, rolling green hills dotted with sheep, charming small villages, inviting local pubs with live traditional Irish music, pints of Guinness, friendly jovial Irishmen and women, a leprechaun hiding a pot of gold underneath a rainbow. These are the images that seep into my over imaginative brain. (Well, maybe not the leprechaun-pot-o-gold-rainbow scenario, but a girl can dream, right? hahaha!)

I've already taken steps to Irish-fy myself. I have two Irish music stations set up on Pandora, the traditional Irish Celtic music and the Flogging Molly band type music. Both are getting me into an Irish frame of mind. Oh... and St. Patty's is just a few weeks away! My husband will no doubt be sporting something with the "Kiss me, I'm Irish", and rightly so, he's Irish. I'll be green with envy b/c I can't. I wonder if they make any "Kiss me, I'm ALMOST Irish" or "Kiss me, I married an Irishman" stuff? hmmm.

We also picked up a Rick Steves Ireland guide from Borders last night and I've already read through half of it. Just reading about the different places, Dublin, County Wicklow, County Carlow, Kilkenny, Cork, Dingle, Ring of Kerry, Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Galway.... so much to see! The cute little local bed and breakfasts we will be staying in, (which I find are way cheaper than a regular hotel) and the pubs we'll be visiting daily to replenish ourselves. I can't wait! And maybe, just maybe, I will be able to finally put to rest the great Irish beer debate. Which Irish beer is better? The stout Guinness or the red ale of Smithwicks. I'm sure it will be fun finding out. :)

Challenging Disc Golf

Today we played Disc Golf on a new course. A competitive course. And dare I say a hard ass course! Wow!! Just take a look at some of the placements of these baskets. CRAZY. There were some lethal ravines you could happen to fall in if you didn't throw your disc just right. But don't worry, there were also some cables you could use to repell down to retrieve it if you did shoot it into the ravine. NO JOKE. It was hilly, muddy, slippery, hard, challenging, breathetaking, and fun. Needless to say, I played short the entire time. I didn't want to slip down into those ravines. Boo played well as usual, and he went all out. Just throwing those disc with full force. He made most of his pars. I on the other hand.... well lets just say on average if it was a par 4, it would take me about 7 times to get the disc into the basket. hahaha! We played with some really good people too. One guy played ultimate frisbee for over 10 yrs and only used a regular frisbee. We all were making so much fun of him with that BIG (I think some one called it a retarded frisbee, no offense to anyone. Just repeating what someone else said. ) frisbee. But he played the best of us all. Serves us right for picking on him. :) This course was fun and I can't wait to get back out there. I think we are planning on hitting it this weekend. Hopefully it won't rain! Til next time. GET OUTDOORS!

Tennis and Dog Guilt

This past Sunday, Boo and I played tennis. It was a gorgeous day, the weather was stellar and the tennis was really good. We both worked up a sweat, got some good exercise in. My backhand is improving and I practiced my serve. I got the mechanics of the serve down, I just need to get them to flow in one swift motion.

On a different note. I've been feeling a bit guilty about leaving the dogs at home lately. Usually they are my trusty companions on the weekends. It just seems as if I've been doing some outdoor sports that may not be suitable for MY dogs. I've seen plenty of dogs out with their owners on the Frisbee golf courses, but I know "thing 1" will make it his mission to retrieve every single frisbee anyone tosses. A long time ago we bought him a floppy, waterproof dog frisbee and taught him how to catch it in mid air. It's a pretty cool trick to see, anyways, its our fault for teaching him to be a frisbee retriever. No frisbee is safe in his presense. hahhaa! I think "thing 2" would do ok, but I feel guilty taking one dog without the other. Same issue with the tennis balls, they play with tennis balls as retriever toys. In fact, a funny little story, although Boo would probably disagree. We bought a mesh bag of 2 dozen tennis balls for our games this Spring. Well Boo accidently leaves the mesh sack on the stairs one morning. I come home from work that evening and I hear the dogs having a hay day in the front room. I go to see what kind of fun they're having and when I turn the corner, I see it. Yellow tennis balls splade all over the room, two dogs wrestling over one ball, and the sad reminents of what used to be the black mesh bag. I burst out laughing because honestly, I thought it was funny. The dogs found the tennis balls, thought it was theirs, and had a field day with them. Boo didn't find it as funny Ooops.... dog slobber and tennis just don't go together I guess. Ohhh the stresses of dogownership. :) Since the weather has been so nice lately, I'll think of something to get my trusty companions out with me soon. Promise. Til then, GET OUTDOORS!!

Snow Day!

Every few years we get lucky enough (or some in this town would say unlucky enough) to get some snow. It snowed the other night and only lasted 1 day, but it was enough for thing 1 to frolick and enjoy it. He is so curious, it just made me laugh watching him play in the snow. Thing 2 on the other hand was not having it. She stayed warm and snuggly inside and watched us out the window. Yay for snow days. Til next time. GET OUTDOORS!

Frisbee Golf

This weekend, Boo and I hit our local frisbee disc course for some outdoor fun.
(For those of you unfamiliar with frisbee golf, also called disc golf, here is a blurb taken from www.discgolf.com. ) "DiscGolf is a game played like conventional ball & club golf, however, the tools of the game are different, in that instead of hitting a little ball around the course into a little hole, you throw 'discs' at, or, into targets (baskets). The basic object is to to traverse the course in as few throws as possible to attain a low score."

We met a group up at the course and because if was some of us' first time ,(Boo has played before and is an old pro at this), we took it easy and had a nice time.

We get to the course a bit early so Boo can give me a breakdown on throwing, putting, and hand holding the disc. He pulls out a sack of brightly colored disc and only gives me two of them. :( I get a BRIGHT colored red and yellow disc. He said the yellow was a putter and the red I could use for everything else. (I suppose even if he tried to explain what the different disc's were for, all I would of heard was the voice of Charlie Brown teacher because I was mesmerized by the rainbow colors of the discs he had. ha!. ) So, I grab my two really bright colored discs and start tossing them into the basket for practice. It's alot harder than it sounds.

The rest of our group shows up and we finally start on our 18 hole adventure. We traversed through hills, bridges, woods, lakes, and ditches. I'm not going to brag and say that I was the best (cause I wasn't), but I wasn't the worst either and I didn't lose my discs. I was pretty happy with the way I played and I learned alot. It took us a little over two hours to complete the course (yes, we were slow, but we had fun. Even trampling in the woods looking for our wayward discs was fun. haha!) Check out the last picture on the right. I had to throw on either side of those trees b/c the basket on this hole was behind the median of trees. Next week our crew is going to tackle a tougher course. I'll let you know how that goes. Till next time, GET OUTDOORS!!!

Tennis Toes...

Ouchy! My arches hurt! I played 2 hours of doubles tennis today with Boo, and some friends and I hadn't realized how bad my tennis shoes were. I felt a burn in my arches about 1/2 hour into our game, but I pushed it to the back of my mind. I should of known, from all the hiking experiences, that ANY pain in your feet, you should stop, check out whats happening, and fix the problem. Well.... I should of listened to that little nagging voice in my head. I got a blister on the arch of my foot of all places!

Other than that, the game was great. I was nice to get back in to the swing of things (no pun intended.) Looks like I'll be gearing up this Spring for some good weeknight tennis matches. Boo did well as usual, I have to work on my backhand and serve. I never had a great backhand, but losing my serve has caused me to get mad at myself for letting my tennis game go. Thankfully I still have a nice powerful forehand. It was the only thing saving my game. Well, that was my outdoor adventure today. Til next time, GET OUTDOORS!

Swamp Sweat :)

Ok... so the title doesn't sound very alluring, but that's what I did this past weekend. Boo, the dogs and I hiked and sweated thru a swamp in South Carolina! hahhaa! The Congaree Swamp to be exact.

"The largest remnant of old-growth floodplain forest remaining on the continent. Experience national and state champion trees, towering to record size amidst astonishing biodiversity. Walk, paddle or just relax within this dynamic floodplain ecosystem. Beauty and tranquility reign supreme in the midst of this natural treasure." (from the Congaree National Park website http://www.nps.gov/cosw/ )

"Congaree National Park preserves the largest tract of old growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the United States. Located in South Carolina, the park is 22,000 acre (89 km²). The lush trees growing in this floodplain forest are some of the tallest in the Eastern U.S., forming one of the highest natural canopies remaining in the world. Bald cypress is a common tree in the park. The Congaree River flows through the park. 15,000 acres (60.70 km²) or about 70 percent of the park is designated wilderness area. "(Per Wikipedia)

What an interesting place. Some of those trees were so huge my jaw dropped. We hiked around 5 miles and on flat (yes flat) ground. Even though it was a forest, it was unlike any forest I've hiked. Though we didn't get to see the wild boars, our hike was still an adventure. There was so much grey colored Spanish moss dripping off some of the pine trees, like what you would expect to see in Savannah or Charleston.

The hike started at the little museum/ranger station. Because we had the dogs, we had to start on the "Dog Trail", and missed around a mile of hiking on the boardwalks. I'm still wondering what I missed. ;) But the "Dog Trail" soon caught up to the "Sims Trail" and from there we caught up to the "Westlake Trail" We could of added another 2.5 miles if we had taken the "Oakridge Trail" but decided to take it easy. The dogs had a blast as usual, Boo had a nice pace going, and I was the only one dragging. I kept stopping to take photos every few feet! hahaha! It was just so different and interesting. When I found the biggest tree in the park I had to hug it. :) I know, I know, typical goofy "tree-hugger" photo op. I'm cheesey like that sometimes. Anyways, I'm looking forward to the New Year and new adventures. Til next time, GET OUTDOORS!