Ah yes, the day I’ve been waiting for. The day I get to enjoy wandering some Irish fields with sheep. In the rain.

To back up a bit, we had planned to spend the day driving a famous scenic route called The Ring of Kerry, which winds through beautiful fields, mountains(or hills as we would call them in the Pacific Northwest), and gorgeous cliffs and beaches along the Atlantic Ocean.

I had also booked us a farm tour that included a sheep herding demonstration. Which was maybe my main reason for being excited about this drive.

We started out a bit late this morning due to a combination of half of us being jet lagged, and the process of herding cats that is getting a large group of people to get a move on. We decided that time dictated we head straight for the sheep.

Jimmy did some truly excellent driving along tiny country roads in the pouring rain, and I showed excellent gratitude that I didn’t have to drive.

Here are some scenes from the car:

There were so many fields with so many sheep, but I didn’t make us stop at all because I knew we were heading somewhere special.

We eventually made it to that adorable yellow house in the distance of the pic, where we were able to use a bathroom and get geared up for the rain. Because it was really raining.

This tour was found on Airbnb, and is operated by Sinead and her father Tim whose family has run the sheep farm for generations. They were extremely knowledgeable, and also just incredibly friendly and funny. They were also great with the child in our party.

The first animals we got to meet were a pack of alpacas hanging out in a barn to stay dry. They were very cute, and also very excited that we had cone bearing alpaca food.

We all got a chance to feed them, but the runaway pro was my niece

The baby!!! I can’t even.

After meeting the alpacas there was an ill fated attempt to get my niece to hold a chicken (she’s afraid of them just like her aunt; Sorry Joy), then it was on to the sheep herding.

We drove a bit further down their land to find a group of sheep hanging out peacefully in a pasture.

Then out of the farmer’s pick up pops Rose the border collie

Rose was not here to mess around. She was super sweet with us all and gave us a greeting, then she headed towards the sheep and was all business.

Check her out in action.

That is Rose with her shepherd, Tim, being a little wolfie. She was amazing, and Sinead told us that one border collie like Rose can herd hundreds of sheep solo. And she was so stinkin’ proud of herself when she got them in the pen.

Once they were in the pen Tim and Sinead told us a lot of about their wool, and took lots of pictures for us.

Did I mention it was raining? Cause it was raining SO HARD.

This experience was truly so much fun, but as the rain poured and our tummy’s began to rumble, we said goodbye to Sinead, Tim, Rose, and the other animals and headed in search of a nearby village with a pub they had recommended for lunch.

We ended up in Waterville, which is covered in art of Charlie Chaplin, and I’m still not sure why.

It’s a cute little village, and O’Dwyer’s pub was open on Christmas Eve, had good food, and delicious hot cocoa.

I had a ham, cheese, and pineapple toasty, and I dare you to hate me for it.

After a regrouping on planning the rest of the day lunch (me and my sister who is also a super planner discussing options and deciding to just go for it and complete the Ring of Kerry), we hit the road. And it was a gorgeous road.

We made a brief stop at a cove along the coast called Carrolls cove to stretch our legs and run in the sand.

After visiting the cove we also stopped by an overlook on top of the hill.

By this point we were running out of daylight and looking at traveling tiny, windy roads, so we decided to make one last stop at Staigue stone fort to visit one of the old ring forts along the route. We pulled into the parking lot as the only people there, but soon an older gentleman pulled up and told us we were welcome to go through the gate and visit the fort for free (it’s normally a euro) and happy Christmas.

We walked through a gate and up to the small fort ruins.

Join me in this dark hole anyone? I did actually crawl in and it’s a small room in there.

Lovely views from the fort

At the parking lot there were little paintings set up, and the local man told us that a woman who lives just up the road does them. To buy on you just leave money in the money box attached. I couldn’t help myself with this one. It was too perfect.

At this point, it was time to head back to our little cottage in Killarney to eat dinner and get ready for Santa.

We ended the night all nestled in our beds, while visions of sugar plums danced in our heads.

Good night.