The Antrim Coast

Tuesday I had to say goodbye to Brittany as she had to go back to work (sucker!). So her flatmate Catherine and I decided to keep the car another day and travel up to Northern Ireland's northernmost coast, the Antrim Coast, where there were supposed to be some neat geological occurrences and, naturally, more cliffs.

It was raining so we first stopped off at the Bushmills Whiskey Distillery, which is the oldest distillery. And they do all the step of manufacturing and process and packaging their

whiskey on the premises. It was a cool tour of the old distillery and to watch the workers/machines package thousands of bottles and boxes. And of course we got a nice little tasting at the end, although it was a tad early at 11 am for whiskey. I bought my brother a nice polo shirt that has their logo on it, so be on the lookout for that coming home Mom.

Stop number 2 took us to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge which connects

the mainland with some small outcroppings where fisherman have salmon nets. Of course, it was closed for

repairs. But we walked out there anyway and a suuuuuper nice workman let us come down to the bridge and go out a ways to take a photo. I love it when random

people are nice to tourists. Catherine was terrified of being on the bridge but I was loving it.

We then moved down the coast to the main attraction, The Giant's Causeway. Here was a unique rock formations that led right into the sea, the only place on earth that looks like this. It was like a bunch of different stone pillars being pushed out of the ground to different heights.

At first Catherine and I thought they looked pretty small and lame from atop the cliffs, but when we actually got down to the main part, the rocks prov

ed well worth the trip. Some of the rocks became much blacker as they were close to the sea because waves wash over them more frequently than higher ones. The cliffs behind them also served as a nice backdrop. We spent a good while climbing all over them, despite it being cold and rainy again.

Back towards the highway we stopped off at Dunluce Castle, which was built on, can you guess?, a cliff. So much so that at some point half of the kitchen and its servants fell off in

to the sea below. I couldnt understand why someone would build a whole castle right into a cliff, but I guess it was good for defense. Seemed slippery to me, but what do I know, most of it has lasted hundreds of years.

Finally, a castle that wasn't closed!