County Antrim

County Antrim was one of my favorite counties so far.  We had a wonderful (WARM) cottage, lots of space for the boys to play and burn off energy, and short drives to the sites we wanted to see.  The nearest village was Bushmills, home of the famous whiskey distillery.  The next village was Portrush, home of a world-famous golf course that Chris was interested in seeing ~ unfortunately he and Jeff did not get time to play.

This was our cozy little cottage.  There were walking trails through the forest in the background and an area where the boys could kick Chris' new soccer ball around.  It was a really nice home base.  

We had two major attractions on the docket for Antrim ~ this was the first, the Carrick-A-Rede Bridge. It is a rope bridge between two outcroppings of rock that leads to what used to be a busy fishery, and it is placed in what felt like a wind tunnel.  If you have read any previous posts, you might guess that a certain member of our family was NOT looking forward to crossing this bridge.  The whole drive there, Ben repeatedly said, "I'm NOT doing it.  I am NOT doing it."    He did it. :)

He pretty much ran and would not turn around for a picture....but he did it!

The wind got even more gusty just as Chris was crossing (hence the blurry picture ~ it was actually hard to keep my camera steady!).  It was the wind, more than the height, that made this bridge a challenge.  I love his look of concentration.

Another photo that gives an idea of how windy it was.  Ben looked like a big green marshmallow.  Have you come to recognize that fake grin of his that always shows itself when we are up high?  

I just posted this one because I thought it was cute. :)

On the way back, Ben did stop for a photo.  So proud of you Ben!

I loved it! (I might have been the only one.)

Next stop.....the Giant's Causeway.  It is a series of incredible, mostly hexagonal-shaped basalt columns that some say were formed millions of years ago as lava from volcanic eruptions cooled.  But the locals know that it was actually built by a giant named Finn MacCool who was challenged to a fight by a Scottish giant named Benandonner.  Finn built a bridge (or "causeway" as they say here in Ireland) to Scotland to go after him.  He went, but saw how big the giant was and came scurrying back home, asking his wife to hide him from this giant.  She dressed him as a baby and put him in bed.  Benandonner came looking for Finn, and when seeing what he thought was Finn's baby led to images of how big Finn must be, he ran back to Scotland, breaking up the causeway as he went.  There is a similar rock formation on a Scottish island, which is only about 20km away.   Silly scientists!

These columns covered a huge area....I think they estimate the number at about 40,000 columns.  The boys had a blast climbing and running around.  This was just one of a couple of great days in Antrim.