West Ireland Towns
These towns we went through are quaint, quiet, and are quelchingly stocked with Guinness
02.10.2011
Onward from Kilkenny, we drove to the south to a lil' town called Kenmare. It's a port town right smack dab on the ring of Kerry, one of the more famous drives in Ireland. We read up on it and thought it would be a good place to park for a couple days while we drank in the scenery, sounds, and the occasional ale. 
It's about time to show you some of the road signs in Ireland. Kenmare had plenty of these signs that pointed all kinds of directions, and of course you are supposed to read them all, know where you are going, relate that to which sign and direction you should pay attention to, all the while, driving a stick-shift at 100Kph (the standard two-lane speed limit here - around 60Mph) on the left side of the road, and trying not to read a map at the same time. Take this as an example:
No big, right? Well we eventually got to where we were going, but not before I had the opportunity to practice my three-point turn a few times. :-)
While on the road, there are a few other eye catchers...
For example, every time you see a pub, you'll definitely see a Guinness sign. Some are funny and have some witty saying. We didn't get pictures of the funny ones because well, they went by too quickly, but we did capture these:
You see that last one everywhere. "Guinness for strength". See where I grew up, it was "Eat your Wheaties". Maybe I should have grown up in Ireland instead.
When we were on the road, as most witnesses do, our eye was constantly on the lookout for a Kingdom Hall. In our trip, up to Dingle, we hadn't been able to find one. We later found out that the meetings held in the towns we were in were held in rented halls because the congregations are too small to have their own hall at the moment. But anyway, whenever we saw the word "Kingdom" we'd perk up and expect to see our brothers and catch a meeting. Little did we know that County Kerry, which we spent almost a week in, has a nickname amongst Irelanders as "The Kingdom". So lots of companies and stores use the word Kingdom in their signs or advertising. 
Signs saying "Kingdom Fresh" and "K H" were a common sight. It wasn't until we were on our way to Dingle that we found a hall! Then in Galway we were able to locate the friends there and go to a meeting with them. The congregation was very warm and showed us the Irish hospitality. They were a blast.
Here are a few randoms of a couple other towns we went through. One of them, Dingle, on the Dingle Peninsula was our favorite of the trip so far. It was a foodie little town with great vibe and lots of music. There is also a brewery there which we got to tour. An english guy is setting up shop there in Dingle and starting to crank out some good beers. He's doing his best to take on the big boys like Guinness and Smithwicks.
Next we'll post some pics from the drives and some of the sights like the Cliffs of Moher. But for now, here's a random sheep chasing shot. Naomi found out the fun of giving them a little chase!
