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We went to Killarney National Park for more breathtaking mountain views and a horse-drawn carriage ride around the Muckross House and Friary/Abbey grounds. (My phone wants to correct "horse-drawn" to "horse-dragon." Not this time, phone.) The horse's name was Scooter. "He's the fastest horse we have," said the driver. He was supposed to walk, but mid-ride he decided to break into a fast trot for fun. Eventually he got tuckered out and returned to a slow walk. About then, two cars came up behind us (are cars even allowed on the horse path?). Scooter was tired and didn't feel like pulling over, so the cars just had to put up with his slow walk pace until the driver finally convinced him to pull over.

Anyway, Muckross House. Apparently an English nobleman spent his fortune renovating the house to curry favor with Queen Victoria when she came to visit. She thought it sucked and left early. The nobleman won no favor, went bankrupt, and had to sell the house. Eventually it wound up as state property.

We saw the house from the outside (52 bedrooms, 10 baths. that's a bad ratio) but I was preoccupied with watching the rooks. Rooks are crow-like black birds with a distinctive gray beak and muzzle. They're very common in Ireland and as bold as pigeons, but smarter. Yesterday in Kenmare, a rook was eyeing us closely as we sat at a bench in the park eating ice cream. After we got up, he came to inspect the ground around the bench to see if we dropped any food. Today at Muckross House, a rook was watching a woman feed her baby in a stroller. Predictably, the baby dropped some food. The rook obviously wanted it but was wary of getting too close, and he did this back-and-forth hopping dance before darting in to snag it. Then a four-year-old ran up shrieking "birdie!! birdie!!" and chased him off. BB would love this place.

(The rook was persistent. After the four-year-old moved on, he returned to camp the stroller for food drops.)

In the afternoon, we reached the west coast. We took a ferry (the Shannon Dolphin) across an estuary. Saved us 75km of driving around. The way it works is, the ferry lowers a huge ramp and anyone can drive on. The ferry operators tell you where to park to distribute the weight properly around the boat. During the ride you can leave your car and go to the observation deck to enjoy the sea breeze and view of the bay. Then at the opposite shore, a ramp lowers on the other side of the ferry and everyone drives off. While we were at the observation deck, I got to witness the Great Hat Save of 2025: someone's hat blew off their head, and a guy dove to the deck to grab it an instant before it tumbled overboard.

We had a nice half-hour walk along the Cliffs of Kilkee. Sheer cliffs down to the sea on our left, cows peacefully grazing on our right. Seagulls flying overhead and waves breaking against the shale cliffs. We were warned not to go to the edge of the cliffs, because often it's just a dirt overhang with no support.

We spent the night at a small coastal town called Lahinch and moseyed along the main street looking for dinner. It was busy. Every place with Irish fare - seafood chowder, fish and chips - was full. "Twenty minutes' wait," they'd say. Dave later informed us that's entirely fictitious. They can say that one moment, and then someone else walks in and it's "we'll have a table in five." But we didn't know that and kept walking. Eventually we ran out of main street and ended up at a dingy pizza joint called Joe's. It was mostly empty, which tells you all you need to know about the quality of the pizza. But we got ice cream afterwards so it's all good.

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Pictured: Yew tree at Muckross Friary, and the Cliffs of Kilkee