Magical Forest and Split Personality Castle

Written by:  Abby Cakebread

So I bet you're all DYING to know what we did last weekend that is shrouded in mystery. Well, good luck getting it from me. YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE, COPPERS!!! HAHAHHHAhAHAA! 

Anyway, on Friday night we packed up for a night and two days. Saturday morning we headed out to Northern Ireland, to see Tullymore Forest. The ride was about two and a half hours, so when we got there it was like 10:00.

It was a nice day, with the sun out, no clouds, and relatively warm. We hiked around for a good 3 hours. I, of course, did not anticipate the long hours of hiking and brought my (you guessed it) Converse.

Not my running shoes. Not the ones that have some cushioning. 

Anyway, after hiking around, we headed over to lunch at Castle Ward.

Before Ward, though, and after lunch, we took an hour long hike near where the castle is located. After, it was Castle Ward! Castle Ward is a huge estate, and the “castle” is really a mansion. But an awesome mansion! Here's the story: the rich couple are like, we need a house, but they couldn't agree on the design.

The woman loved Gothic style, but couldn't stand Classical. The man loved Classical

but couldn't stand Gothic. So, as a solution, they split the house in half. One side is Classical, the other Gothic. The tour lasted an hour and was very cool.  We were there for another few hours, and then off to dinner. 

The first place we tried to eat at was holding a wedding. So we scoured for a restaurant, and found one! The nice people there let us have a reserved table, and we ate (relatively) quickly. There was a T.V. playing a Doctor Who ad and I was like “yes, this is the place I belong. These are my people.” But the ad ended and played a bug documentary type thing. All I know is that there was bugs and I wasn't turning around if you paid me. Well, if it was like a dollar I wouldn't, but I'd totally go for 10 dollars! The screen I was facing was playing “The Chase,” and I have no idea what the rules are, but these people talked for a bit and I think they answer questions to get a score (the sound was off), and then they answer more trivia questions. If you double your score, you get the harder questions, if you stay, medium, and if you divide it, easy. The old lady won like $47,000. But then the show goes haywire, like this guy comes out and then they answer more trivia questions and there's a red arrow involved, and if the red arrow reaches your score it's game over? I don't know. I'd rather see Doctor Who. At least I can follow that. After watching it twice. Still. 

Anyway, after fish and chips, we went to the hotel Dad and Mom got,

only to find a baby bed--a crib!--instead of the cot we ordered. The people were really cool, like they took the bed and put in a cot. They were awesome. I ended up with the bed, and Colleen the cot. The shower was AWESOME. It had WATER PRESSURE!!!!!!!!!! And a fruity, citrus-y smell to the fancy shampoo and it was lovely. 

The next day we set out, ate breakfast

, and hopped back in the car, heading to the Carrickarede Rope Bridge near Ballintoy. It's very famous, one kilometer from the reception desk, 20 meters across and 30 meters above water.

It links the mainland to Carrickarede Island. It's a gorgeous view,

on that small island, but there are no fences. They don't care if you fall. One less tourist.

The ground is very spongy, and it's a slightly sharp uphill when you're at the edge. There is a structure that claims to be built in sometime, BCE. Mom doesn't believe it, because it's perfectly flat. I think it could be, but just reshaped over time and human work. 

We left Carrickarede for the Bushmills Distillery, the oldest distillarey in the world. It was founded in 1608, and had it's 400 year anniversary in 2008. After the tour, we got to taste the whiskey. Colleen downed the taste cup like a regular, and I was hesitant, knowing full well that beer itself tastes like Sasquatch sweat and hate. I tried it, and it was the nastiest thing I have ever drunk. It was worse than beer. And the taste did not come out of my mouth until I drank half of my Coke. Nasty. How do you drink that without batting an eye? Ew. 

We ate lunch, and went to Belfast for the Titanic Experience.

We got there on time, at 4:00. It was pretty cool, as Belfast is the place that the Titanic and it's siblings were built. We were there until they closed, and headed home. We got home around 9:00, after having Burger King for dinner. 


This is Abby Cakebread, signing off.