Day 4 Muckross House and the Gap of Dunloe

After getting to bed later than we'd hoped the night before it was a little hard to get up.  Everyone was comfortable in their own bedrooms and everything is so peaceful out in the country.  The alarm went off at 6:30 but I didn't get up until closer to 7:30.  Breakfast wasn't quite as successful as I'd hoped.  Dan and Connor liked the cereal they'd bought at the store but Ali and I weren't fans of what we got.  Not a huge deal, we improvised and everyone ate.  After breakfast we packed a picnic lunch.  My family gets pretty tired of eating out every meal and I know from previous trips to Europe that they are usually happiest when we just take a lunch with us.

We got a later start than I'd hoped, we left our little house in the country at around 9:30 am.  We arrived at Muckross house just outside of Killarney about an hour later.  I was worried that it would be crowded since it had opened at 9:00 am but that wasn't the case.  We walked up at 10:40 and were able to get on the 11:00 tour.  Admission to Muckross House was included in the Heritage card we'd purchased in Dublin.  Since we had a bit of time before the tour started we walked around the grounds a bit.  The kids had fun exploring some of the paths before we had a quick snack in the restaurant near the gift shop.  I was definitely in need of a snack after my less than stellar breakfast!

Beautiful Grounds at Muckross House

The kids were having fun being goofy and skipping down the path

Cool paths

Our tour started about 5 minutes late but there were things to look at while we waited.  Muckross House was built in 1843 on the shore of a beautiful lake near Killarney.  The setting of the house is absolutely gorgeous.   In 1861 Queen Victoria visited the house, the owners did massive improvements to the house to get it ready for the Queen's visit.  Two different families lived in the house throughout the course of history.  In 1932 the house and land surrounding it were given to the Irish Nation and it became the first Irish National Park.

Muckross House

The tour lasted about an hour and we learned some interesting facts about the house.  There were a lot of things in the house that reminded me of things on the show Downton Abbey.  I loved seeing the bells downstairs where they'd ring for the servants from different rooms.

After our tour we were ready for lunch.  It was kind of chilly out (people who know me know I'm always cold!!)  so we decided to eat our picnic in the car.  I had to laugh about both kids raving about how good their sandwiches were!  Ali loves having sandwiches on mini baguettes and Connor says the Irish ham was amazing!  I guess I should be happy that they are so easy to please.

Picnic in the car

After lunch the kids told us they were getting kind of tired of tours and that they wanted to do some hiking.  That was perfect because our next stop was the Gap of Dunloe.  The Gap of Dunloe is a narrow mountain pass outside of Killarney.

On the way to the Gap of Dunloe, Dan was pointing out some lambs in the field and a moment later he hit a big pothole.  This wasn't the first pothole of the day but this one did some damage.  We kept driving for a moment and I asked Dan "Do you think we have a flat tire?'  He pulled over onto a side road and I hopped out to look.  Sure enough, the back tire on the passenger side was flat as a pancake!  Thankfully we were pulled off the main road into a driveway so we didn't have to worry about cars rushing past us.  Dan checked the trunk and there was a full size spare!  We called roadside assistance because the special key to unlock the hubcap on a Volkswagon was nowhere to be found.  They told us they could send someone out to help but it would be expensive.  Dan ended up being able to get the job done without the special key!  The whole process took less than 45 minutes until we were on our way again!  I was pretty proud of how well Dan handled everything.  It wasn't a memory that we were planning on making but it will be a memory we will laugh about!

Changing a tire on vacation!

What a gymnast does while the tire is being changed

What a cheerleader does while the tire is getting changed

We continued on to the Gap of Dunloe with the new tire in place.  We parked at Kate Kearney's cottage which is a restaurant at one end of the gap.  We started our hike there.  You don't have to hike the gap, you can also hire a jaunting cart to give you a ride.  I offered this option to my kids but they were adamant that they wanted to hike.   The scenery is gorgeous!  We were there on a grey day but on a sunny day I imagine it is even more beautiful.  We hiked for about 45 minutes before we turned back, you are on a paved road so the walking is very easy.  My kids were so happy!  They were really enjoying being outside and being able to run around.  We saw lots of sheep and some were even "talking" to us, we saw a baby lamb too!

We saw deer right after we started our walk

Family selfie

Family fun 

We loved the tie dye look!  I read later that it is to keep track of which farmer they belong to.

On our way back to the house we made a couple of grocery stops to pick up some odds and ends we missed when we went yesterday.  We made spaghetti for dinner and had a quiet night back at the house.  Everyone is so happy to not be crowded into one hotel room anymore!

Our day was a success even with the tire mishap!  Life is what you make of it, we chose not to let it ruin our day!  We are not sure what our plan is for tomorrow.  We are waiting to see what the weather is like when we wake up.  We have a rainy day plan and a non rainy day plan, I guess we'll decide in the morning!