On Saturday, August 22, 2026, we awoke in an AirBnB near the town of Kells, Northern Ireland. The master bedroom of our AirBnB had a door that opened onto a deck in our own private garden area.
There was a gazebo of sorts out there, so I did a bit of "gazeebing" (morning scripture reading) in there.
The AirBnB was a cottage on a property with several buildings and a garden. I saw that they used several old bathtubs as planters, and I thought the sign on one of them was cute:
And into the garden I go
to lose my mind
and save my soul.
I thought of Leslie and Kelly, who love gardening.
There was a little greenhouse there as well.
I drove over to a nearby grocery store and I thought the tabloids were funny, because they were all kind of British things, like news involving "Meg" (Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex) or "Harry"; "Celebrations planned for Ballymenas official 400th birthday" (Not many towns in the U.S. have 400th birthdays); and a section called "Farming Life".
I picked up some cereal and other things for breakfast, and it was cute seeing the happy couple at the little table.
We drove up to the north shore that morning, and along the way, we got stuck behind a whole flock of sheep that blocked the entire road.
Along the way, it was so funny when a bunch of other sheep in a nearby pasture came running to join in on the excitement, as shown in this 1-minute video.
We were stopped at one point and I took a picture of these sheep, who seemed to be up to something.
After 15 minutes or so, the sheep reached the field that they were heading for and we were able to get by.
Our next stop was in the "Binevenagh (bin-EV-a-na) Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty" which is their way of saying "National Park". We parked at a little pond and hiked to a cliff that had an "outstanding" view.
There is a rock formation called "Devil's Thumb" that juts up out of the ground that is apparently pretty impressive if you're looking up at it from below, but I didn't even notice it until I looked it up when I got home. But that's fine, because the rest of the view was fantastic!
Here's the kind of picture that tends to give your parents the heebie-jeebies. I spoke with some nice Irish folks who were there on holiday, and asked if they knew what "heebie-jeebies" were, and they did, so apparently that is a widespread term.
There's Linette way over there on that cliff.
And she took a zoomed-in picture back over my direction.
I tried the penny-whistle again at this spot, and this time it wasn't too windy so I could sort of pull it off. Here's a 30-second video of that.
We dropped by Downhill Strand for a few minutes ("Strand" is their word for "Beach"). Here's a 30-second video showing what it is like when two cars have to pass each other on a 1-lane Irish road:
The "Mussenden Temple" overlooks Downhill Beach. It was built in 1785 by Frederick Augustus Hervey, the 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry as a private library. It is modeled after the Temple of Vesta in Tivoli, Italy.
We saw signs around the country all week congratulating their local "hurling" teams and wishing them well. I hadn't heard of "hurling" before, but apparently it's a big deal there. It looks a bit like LaCrosse, where you smack a ball around with a flat stick.
Here is a 30-second video of a dad playing this game with his son and daughter on the sand. I call it, "Hurling on the beach," which sounds pretty gross to an American, where hurling means "vomiting".
Our next stop was Dunluce Castle, which overlooks the northern shore of the island. There was a suit of armor in the ticket area.
The castle itself consists of well-preserved ruins.
The castle was built around 1500 by the MacQuillan family. They hired Scottish mercenaries to protect the castle, including the MacDonnells of Antrim. Eventually, those very mercenaries saw what a strategic spot this was and how vulnerable the MacQuillan family was and took it over. They had married into the family by then, so they were able to legitimize their claim. Plus, back then, if you weren't powerful enough to defend your own property, people felt like it was kind of fair game to take it.
A ship named the Girona from the Spanish Armada wrecked nearby in 1588, and Sorley Boy MacDonnell recovered the ship's cargo and installed its cannons in the castle gatehouse. (No cannons there now, though).
This was probably a chimney at some point.
During a storm in 1639, a chunk of one of the cliffs collapsed, taking part of the kitchen with it. That made Lady MacDonnell nervous, so they moved to a safer house nearby. During the Irish rebellion of 1641, the castle was captured and the nearby town was burned. 50 years later, the MacDonnells backed the losing side in a war and finally abandoned the crumbling castle. After that, locals scavenged some of the stone and lumber from it, leaving it in its ruined state we see today.
A few bits have been shored up to make it safe for people to wander around it.
It's a pretty cool place.
The view from the castle walls is amazing.
Here's a look up the chimney.
I especially liked this view. :)
There was a cool red sailboat floating by out on the ocean. In the distance, you can see islands that belong to Scotland, just 20 miles away.
From up by the parking lot, you get a good overview of the castle and its cliffs.
This is called Sheep Island. People used to haul sheep up the cliffs on ropes to let them graze.
Now it is a protected seabird sanctuary, hosting one of the largest breeding colonies of cormorants in Northern Ireland.
Here's a 1-minute video of the view from Dunluce Castle.
Our next stop was Carrick-a-Rede Bridge (pronounced KAR-ik-a-REED, where the first part rhymes with "Darrick"). The approach to the bridge had a pretty sweet view of some more dramatic cliffs and caves in both directions.
The Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge is 66 feet long and 100 feet above the rocks and waves below. It used to be a lot sketchier than it is now, with a single rope to hold onto and swinging wildly in the wind. Here is Linette heading across.
It used to be used by fishermen who would cross the bridge, walk down some steps to the Fisherman's Cottage, and fish in the narrow channel between the rocks. The name "Carrick-a-Rede" comes from the Scottish Gaelic Carraig a' Rèididh, meaning "Rock of the Casting", referring to the casting of salmon nets there.
Here are Katelyn and Jared walking across to join us.
We wandered around the island that the bridge went to.
Down in the cliffs we could see some seagulls nesting.
You can see the fishing cottage at the bottom of the steps.
And then it was time to head back across the bridge.
Here is a 2-minute video showing us crossing the first time, seeing the view in all directions, and then heading back across.
We had a bit more time before we had to head to our sunset destination, so we drove to the Magheracross Viewpoint (prounounced MA-her-a-cross).
Even though we had seen a lot of cool cliffs, they just kept being breathtaking.
I appreciated that this cart said, "All you need is Ice Cream," so I gave it a try. It was basic soft serve ice cream but with fancy presentation that made it fun.
Our final stop for the evening was at Giant's Causeway, a place with interesting, famous rock formations.
Jared & Katelyn had never done "bridals" (a bridal photo shoot) before they got married, and Katelyn wanted to do them in Ireland. So she packed her wedding dress in her carryon and still somehow had room for other clothes. She couldn't walk well in her dress, so she carried it with her as she and Jared walked down the path.
There was a bit of red rock peeking from under the greenery as we walked along.
We discovered the ruins of a little room on the shore, so I stood with my back to them, holding two umbrellas, while Katelyn put on her wedding dress.
Once we got to one pretty spot, Katelyn started getting her camera ready. I stood out there to give her a subject to focus on.
Then I said, "People walking by are going to wonder why the bride is taking pictures of some random dude."
Soon we got things set up for our photoshoot, and the sun started painting some colors in the sky.
Once we were set up, I took a bunch of pictures for them. I don't have the official ones, so the ones here are just from my iPhone.
This is one of my favorites.
I thought it was cute how they were checking out the pictures.
The Giant's Causeway is made up of some 40,000 interlocking basalt stone columns, mostly six-sided hexagons, that look like they are man-made.
The formation was created around 50 million years ago when a massive fissure opened up and lava poured out. It cooled slowly, causing the stress to build up evenly. As it cooled, it contracted, and a hexagon is one of the most efficient geometric shapes for relieving tension with the minimum amount of energy.
Millions of years later, glaciers sheered off the tops, leaving the hexagon-shaped rocks exposed below.
Linette parked the car and eventually joined us.
All the other people there smiled at the couple getting their pictures taken.
Look at these cuties!
There was a German guy there taking pictures of the landscape and such, and he asked if he could take their picture. So he did, and e-mailed this picture to them.
Eventually, the sun had set enough that the bridal photoshoot was over. We spent a few more minutes exploring the formations.
I think the columns look like Superman's "Fortress of Solitude."
We had one day to "do" Northern Ireland, and I think we packed a respectable amount of sightseeing into it, and fulfilled everyone's dreams.
After all of that, we picked up some Thai food and took it back to our AirBnB for dinner, and it was so great.
On Sunday morning, August 23, 2026, we attended church in Belfast, and unlike the tiny branch in Ireland the week before, the ward in Belfast was vibrant. After church we spoke with a cute couple for a while. The gal reminded me a lot of Hermione Granger from Harry Potter. She worked for the Missionary Department, helping new missionaries adapt to missionary life.
After church, we drove over to Belfast Castle.
Belfast Castle was built in the 1860s by the 3rd Marquess of Donegall. This was after defensive castles had became obsolete (since cannons could knock them down), so it was mostly for fun. It was gifted to the City of Belfast in 1934.
The inside was very fancy. We were surprised to hear that you could rent out the entire castle and garden grounds for $1000 for a wedding reception.
This table looked like it should have a wedding cake on it, so Jared and Katelyn posed for one.
I used A.I. to add one in.
They also pretended to shove cake in each others' faces, so I had AI add some flying cake as well.
The view from the garden made the castle look even cooler.
After that, we drove to downtown Belfast and parked at a very safe-looking parking lot.
There was a guy there playing the cello beautifully. He was blind and used the tag "@blindcello".
Here's a 90-second video of a couple of the songs he played as people passed by.
I hadn't really made plans for Northern Ireland, so I let Jared and Katelyn lead the way. They led us on a walk to a big mall with an observation dome on the top, where you got a great view of the whole city.
This is the Albert Memorial Clock, built in 1869 to memorialize Prince Albert, the late husband of Queen Victoria.
As we walked through Belfast, there was vibrant art on some of the walls and even ceilings.
We went into the Cathedral Church of St. Anne. Linette and I returned to watch a choral performance, but it turned out they were off for a summer break and would be back the next week, so we ended up sitting through a mass without a fun choir.
There was a display there about the Titanic, which was built in Belfast. A quilt there had one cross for every person who died in the tragedy.
Meanwhile, Katelyn had arranged with a model agency to meet with a couple of models (for free), in order to get material for her portfolio and for theirs.
We sat at a park across the street from the church to watch Kynli's farewell talk via Zoom. She was preparing to head on a mission to Germany.
This building just looked cool.
So did this one.
The Cathedral needed a new spire, so they had a contest to see who could come up with the best design, and the winner was a long, sharp, metal spike.
This eye looked like it was looking at us.
The flowers in the flower boxes were nice, and there was more art painted up the side of this building.
Jared always does like to "boop the snoot."
Here's Donegall Street, which reminded me of my dad, who sang "Dear Old Donegal" with gusto.
We dropped by the Titanic museum.
There was an outline of the ship running from the museum to the dock, showing how big it was. It wasn't actually as big as most cruise ships now, but it was sure big for its day.
And since we were in Belfast, I couldn't help but think of the many times Sienna did Irish dancing to the tune of "Tell Me Ma," which has the words,
She is handsome, she is pretty,
She is the belle of Belfast City.
So here is a 90-second montage of Sienna dancing to Tell Me Ma over the years.
Back at our AirBnB that night, I said hi to the kitty while I did a small load of laundry to last me the rest of the way home.
While the laundry went, Jared and I played a game of pool.
We did another round of Hand & Foot that evening.
Linette and I dominated the first round. Katelyn & Jared returned with a vengeance on the second round. It was extremely close in the end, but the young 'uns pulled it out.
Our AirBnB hosts were extremely nice and we had a fun time chatting with them.
Monday morning, August 24, 2026, we said good-bye to our host and started our journey home.
As we left Northern Ireland and headed towards Dublin, we went through Hollie's Bridge.
Our rental car was already pretty scratched up, and the lady didn't bat an eye at most of it, but there were some deep scratches on the plastic siding that she asked about. I was able to pull up pictures on my phone showing that it was already like that, and she was satisfied.
We had a good couple of flights, and were coming in for a landing in Salt Lake City when suddenly the engines roared to life and we pulled up. "That seemed like an aborted landing," I thought. Sure enough, the captain said that there was a thunderstorm ahead and we were asked to go around it for now. I saw a little rainbow in the storm as we passed it by.
I saw the Layton Temple go by, so I knew that we had taken quite a detour. Then we went back over the Salt Lake.
The reflections on the water were pretty.
We circled over the Kennecott copper mine, and then turned around over Riverton. I looked down and saw our house!
As we finally landed, we could see lightning in the distance.
We had a marvelous trip to Ireland. We saw incredible green hills, magnificent cliffs, historic castles, and cute sheep. And we met people with warm hearts and great accents.
I sometimes sing "Star of the County Down," which has a chorus that goes,
And from Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay,
And from Galway to Dublin Town,
No maid I've seen like the sweet colleen
That I met at the County Down.
Bantry Bay is on the south, Derry Quay at the very north, and Galway and Dublin were on the west and east side of the island, respectively. I felt like we had traveled all over, and it was quite an adventure.
I showed this picture before, with red hearts in places that some of my ancestors came from. The yellow stars are places we visited on our trip, and it was a lot of places! We will always remember this trip with fondness.
To close, I'm including a video of my dad, Robert Wilson, singing Dear Old Donegal, a song about a guy who left Ireland and was so excited to return and see everyone. The highlight is when he lists all the names.