On Sunday, August 16, 2026, we awoke to see how gorgeous the garden was outside the living room window at our Home Exchange.
The home included two bikes, so I took one of them and went on a bike ride through the amazing paths a few blocks from the home.
The network of walking and biking trails went all around Killarney National Park. This tree reminded me of the one from Toy Story 5.
For breakfast we tried several cereals. They use less sugar there, so multigrain Cheerios and a knock-off brand of Cocoa Pebbles both tasted about halfway between the American equivalent and cardboard. The granola was fine, though.
We drove about 45 minutes to get to the town of Tralee (TRAH-lee), where we attended a tiny branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There were only a few members from the branch there (like 2-3), plus some other visitors, some missionaries, and a high councilor. It was the holiday month, so some people were out of town.
I have a friend at work whose wife is from Limerick, which was not too far away. It turned out that the high councilor was from there, too, so I asked if he knew my friend Richard. He did! So I snapped a selfie and told Richard, "Tom Murphy says hi!" Richard replied immediately with "Very nice!" (even though it was 5:14am in Utah—he's an early riser).
As luck would have it, the guest speaker that day was my friend's nephew. Small world! (Or, at least, small church).
After church we drove around the famous Dingle Peninsula. Soon we came across a windmill in misty weather, so we pulled over to take some pictures.
Then we went for a long walk along the canal, picking blackberries along the way.
Linette sat on a bench next to a family of swans: The Pen (mama) on the left, the Cob (papa) on the right, and the Cygnets (grey juveniles) on the side.
A little later they waddled through a path in the brush to go for a graceful swim.
There was an "otter crossing" sign on the road, so Jared was really hoping to see an otter. He freaked out with "No way!!" when I showed him this picture, until I told him that AI added the otter for me. (No, I didn't see an otter).
These cute colorful houses looked cool with the cute farms in the distance. Farms are often divided by rock walls built by carefully stacking rocks together. And green plants often then grow over these to make pretty green borders between the fields.
We stopped for gas, and I was pretty worried that I might park too close to the bollards, since I had no idea what they were. (Poles to block traffic, it turns out).
We drove up a mountain towards Conor Pass, and things got really pretty along the way, made mystical by the low clouds that toyed with the landscape.
Here's a close-up example of a traditional stone wall, built without mortar just from stacking stones.
This little building under the tree looked cool.
When we got to Conor Pass Waterfall, we saw some black-nosed sheep up close. The sheep there are often splashed with dye to identify whose sheep they are. The dye washes out when the wool is treated.
Conor Pass Waterfall wasn't huge, but it was cute.
I saw some people hike up further, so I followed along, and saw that the waterfall trickled through some rocks as I climbed up.
Then I got to a flat area and wasn't sure what I was seeing. Was it a field?
When the fog cleared just a little bit more, I realized I was looking at a lake that sat just above the falls.
The fog cleared more and more until I could see across to the far side of the small lake.
Katelyn and Jared made the trek up the hill as well and took some pictures through the mist. I also had a really fun chat with a couple from Austria or somewhere.
There was a purple rock that kind of matched Linette's toes (you can't see the rock well in this picture though).
Here's a 40-second video of Conor Pass Waterfall and its lake.
We drove just a little further up the road to reach the amazing vista at Conor Pass. This is what it looked like.
There was a sign there that showed what it was supposed to look like, so I took a picture in case that was all we got.
Fortunately, within 15 minutes, the fog blew past and we were rewarded with the real view, and it was beautiful. Here is a 40-second time-lapse video showing the view going from "pea soup" to "panoramic vista".
The view was wonderful once the fog cleared, and the mist added a cool effect.
I liked the little patterns people made with the stones. One almost looked like a heart. It also looked like there were remnants of an old stone building down there. People have been living in Ireland for thousands of years, so there are really old things everywhere you look.
The light kept shifting, providing different views of the area.
And we saw some more "blue-backed sheep" on the hill there.
In the town of Dingle, we ate at a restaurant called The Boatyard, which Katelyn's friend had recommended as having excellent seafood. I don't usually like seafood, but I got the fish & chips and it was great. Katelyn got lobster and it took a bit of doing to figure out how to get into it. Everyone was pretty happy with their food.
We finished things off with the traditional "Sticky Toffee Pudding." Keep in mind that "pudding" can just mean "dessert" (not Jell-O pudding), and in this case it was a hearty cake with caramel-like sauce poured over it, served with some ice cream. It was delightful.
Our big destination that day was Dunquin Pier, which had incredible cliffs touched with some beautiful greenery.
A steep, winding path leads down to a pier that fishermen use to launch their canvas-covered currachs (boats) through the narrow channel, sheltered in part by the two triangular rocky islands, which are locally known as Cuskeam or The Dunquin Sea Stacks.
Going down and back up the path was a good workout. I got a picture of Linette from up top.
And then she took a picture of me from down below.
It was a cool experience just to wander around the paths and the cliffs to see the views from various angles.
The green fields were so pretty sloping down towards the dramatic cliffs.
Back in the town of Dingle, we went to the original Murphy's ice cream shop to try a couple more of their flavors.
In the next episode, we circumnavigate the famous Ring of Kerry.