Ben
had a recommendation to stop at the Ulster American Folk Park just outside Omagh. It was a recreation or preservation of homes found through out Ulster starting with a 1600's single
room farmhouse up until the late 1700's. There were chickens and geese running around. I really wanted to play with the chicks, but as Ben predicted, they ran from me. We walked down a recreation of a typical street frontage found in the late 1700's before boarding a boat showing the conditions of what it was like for a family to immigrate to America on. Four adults had to fit into a bunk (either on the top or bottom) that was the size of a double bed, for about 2 months. Amazing what people had to endure. When we disembarked, it was into a typical American street found in the same time period. From there it was homes found on the East Coast of the States up through the late 1800's. There were log cabins, and modest clapboard homes. Throughout the park, there were people dressed up in period costumes discussing what life was like. It was very informative, and I love hands on, visual learning.
From there
we stopped in Letterkenny for a bite to eat before reaching our final destination, Dunfanaghy. The co-worker that had recommended the folk park, was orginally from one village over from where we were staying, so John headed over to show us around. We drove around the cliffs to get a view of the peninsulas and islands. We had a bite to eat before heading to the pub since there was 
a festival going on. As we left to drive John to Carrigart it started to rain. I am so thankful Ben grew up in the country as he can manage to drive curvy dark country roads with ease, even in the rain. This city girl had to ask him to slow down for my sanity.
In the morning, the breakfast at the little B&B was huge and delicious, to get our day going. It was a bit drizzly as we headed to Magheraroarty to catch the ferry to Tory Island. We watched the ferry come in and were some of the first on. I was super excited as I had been wanting to go to Tory for years! The boat ride started out smooth, but as we passed the last island, the waters turned choppy.
I was glad that I had taken some anti-nausea as it was not so smooth with swells a few meters high. It was sunny on the island, with clouds all around. As we disembarked I was anxious to see the King of Tory Island, the last King of Ireland, but he was no where to be found. I was a bit disappointed, but I was not going to let that 
rain on my parade. We headed off to the western tip of the island first toward the lighthouse. The sun was not really out, but it was not really cloudy, we were just happy that it was not raining. With half the loop done, we headed to the eastern village. The landscape was rugged, and became hillier as we headed east. Up past sheep running around, dodging sheep poo, we climbed the highest cliff to gaze out over the Atlantic. I had to tie my jumper around my head as the wind was blowing from every direction. We stopped for a bit of lunch, ham & cheese toasties with a cuppa tea. 
I got to speak a bit of Irish as most people on the island would speak Irish as their first language. I was excited! With the sun dipping behind some dark and ominous clouds, it was time to catch our boat back to the mainland. If we thought it was bad coming out, it was way worse on our way back. We both fought off getting sick. It was a miserable 50 minutes. When we docked, we saw the king driving up to the pier, but I was not about to go talk to him, I wanted dry, solid land. We had to sit in the car awhile before Ben felt well enough to begin driving down the coast to Ardara. We passed through many little towns, where there was no English to be found, it was great! We followed the signs to our hotel, which was out of town, nestled among the trees, in a very quiet and remote area. We opted to eat dinner at the hotel as it was a three course meal. It was a splurge, but well worth it. After an amazing meal, the sun was still up so we figured we would watch a movie after I check my email in the lobby. About 10 minutes later when I got to the room, 
Ben was nearly asleep, and for the first time in weeks, he got a quiet nights rest in a large comfortable bed, sleeping well over 10 hours. He never does that.
For our final leg of our tour, we took the scenic route. I knew it would be longer, but little did I know, it would take hours longer. We headed out along the coast, stopping to take photos on the way to Gelncolumbkille. The steep cliff roads had sheep blocking our way, not that much in a hurry to get out of the road. These were also my first sheep I had seen with wagging tails! The cliff roads were only one car wide, and there were several places I held my breath as we neared the edge.
There were beautiful views, I was just glad Ben got out to take photos and not me. At the end of our detour was a hike to see the tallest sea cliffs in Europe, Slieve League Cliffs. We parked the car at the base of the hill where there was a gate. We figured at the top of the hill would be the sea. No. We had to walk about 45 minutes to the top car park area. All we would have had to do was open the gate. Ben's head had gotten quite burned the day before, so he took my jumper and tied it like a turban to keep the sun off him. We started hiking to the top of the cliffs, when Ben 
stopped to take a photo and my fear of heights kicked it. The rule is, keep walking, don't stop, I can follow you all the way to the top. Once I am at the top, I can make it down just fine and feel ok about it. It is just making it there. He did not understand the rules, even after all this time. After my mini melt down where I was happy to sit on a rock, just off of the trail, away from the edge, Ben had to go to the top alone as I gazed out over the sea and cliffs. We of course had to treat ourselves to ice cream after that, I mean the sun was out! We made our way down and headed finally to Donegal town for lunch. We stretched our legs for a bit before getting back in and heading to Enniskillen, for Lake Erme. There was a few ruins there we stopped at, and that was when we saw the black clouds. As we drove into Cavan, the heavens opened up and lashed rain. I did not mind returning home to rain, as it had been nice for most of our trip!
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