Ireland, Day Six - Whitepark Bay and 1D

Day six was our last full day in Ireland and it was definitely a bittersweet day.  Jared and I woke up a little early and went for breakfast at a little tea shop called The Copper Kettle.  I'd been wanting to go there all week, but they closed so early in the afternoon that it never worked out.  I had the best scone ever and a ginormous cup of hot chocolate and Jared had the Yankee Pankee - two pancakes and some bacon, both of which were very different from your traditional American versions of those foods. I love that Jared made sure I got to eat at The Copper Kettle; he would have been happy to sleep in and eat cereal for breakfast. He takes good care of me!

We had been having such a great time with the Kennedys; sleeping in every morning, sightseeing in the afternoons, and playing games at night.  We had time in the morning to be together and take a quick picture, but we quickly said our goodbyes afterwards.  Say your goodbyes and move on - I think it's a little better that way, like tearing off a bandaid. At least the sting doesn't last as long and we can look forward to this summer when we'll be living just one state away from each other.

Emily likes to buy at least one postcard from every place we go and this trip was no different.  Earlier in the week when we'd gone to Carrick-a-rede bridge she grabbed a postcard from the gift shop but didn't realize that it wasn't one of the rope bridge until we'd gotten back to the cottage.  She had accidentally bought a postcard of Whitepark Bay instead and since she didn't want to have a postcard of someplace she had never been, we made a quick stop at the bay on our way out of town and to the airport in Dublin.  

Compared to the other places we'd been during our stay in Northern Ireland, Whitepark Bay wasn't too terribly exciting.  We parked in the little gravel lot and walked down the grassy hills and across the dunes to the smooth, sandy beach.  Most of the beaches we'd seen had been rocky and small, but Whitepark Bay was beautiful and sandy and stretched on forever.  It didn't look like the type of place you'd come to swim in the summer, but it was a peaceful spot that made me grateful for the beauties of the earth.  It was pretty much us and the cows on the beach.  Yep, cows!  I've never seen cows grazing on a beach before and don't think I ever will again.  Jared is braver than I and got a little bit closer to the cows that I ever would - especially because they looked like angry cows to me.

On the walk back to the car we were all talking about our time in Ireland and what our favorite day or place had been.  I couldn't make up my mind, I think because I liked relaxing at the cottage most of all.  All of the places we visited were certainly amazing and I'm glad we got to experience them, but I just loved the break from real life most of all.  Surprisingly, Jared and Emily both said that Whitepark Bay and that very day had been their favorite part of the trip.

Then we were back on the road and on our way to Dublin for our flight home.  We turned in our rental car and found out that we'd overpaid when we picked it up so some of our payment was refunded to us - such a happy vacation ending surprise.  We had some extra time once we arrived at the airport so weren't in any hurry to get to our gate after we'd gotten through security. We even did all our souvenir shopping at the airport, not that we didn't have plenty of time and opportunity to buy gifts for people at home earlier in the work. Is it strange to bring home a big bag of potato chips as a souvenir from vacation?  Not when the chips are the amazing Tayto Cheese and Onion Crisps.

 Emily just had to have a picture taken with her favorite Irish-English boy band, One Direction.  Jared couldn't pass up the chance to jump into the picture as well.  For Emily, I think it was the perfect ending to her week in Ireland!