After Saturday, I Just Want to See Moher Cliffs In Ireland

Despite how the title can be a bit misleading (had to throw in the pun), I did actually travel to the Cliffs of Moher on the west coast of Ireland this past Saturday. It has been my computer background for about 2 months now so one could say I was pretty excited to make the journey there and witness the breathtaking views the Cliffs of Moher had to offer.

The day started out bright and early, boarding a coach bus at 8am. Luckily our bus had Wi-Fi, although the two other busses did not, so I was able to pass the time pretty well. I sat next to a stranger on the bus in hopes to make a new friend and it worked out better than I could have thought. He was an agricultural science major from Cornell University and not only was he a study abroad student, he was directly enrolled at UCD and studying there for a whole year. Given that I am an Agricultural Engineering major, we connected pretty quickly. After about 30 minutes of talking, both of us realized it was still way too early for us to be awake and therefore nap time. I put my headphones in and was out.

I woke up to the bus pulling into a travel plaza. As I rubbed my eyes to wake myself up, I couldn't believe what the travel plaza was called....the Barack Obama Plaza. Was this a joke? Barack Obama in Ireland? Am I still even IN Ireland? All questions aside, everyone else was murmuring about it as well. And sure enough, this travel plaza was built and dedicated to Barack Obama because he had ancestors from that town and as they quoted in the museum in the travel stop, "There's no one as Irish as Barack Obama." I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around that phrase. So I guess if I ever get into a shady situation in Ireland, I'll just name drop "Barack Obama" and instantly I'll make friends because apparently the Irish love our president. The more ya know.

Continuing on in the journey, it snowed, rained, overcast and even sunny all in the span of about 2 hours. The weather is a mystical thing here in Ireland and can go from being 50 and sunny to rain in the blink of an eye. It still beats the 10 degree temperatures of State College any day though. About 2 hours later, we arrived at the Cliffs. We hiked up about 15 minutes to a picture perfect spot. Oh but I forgot to mention, to get to that spot, we had to push through winds as strong as I'd ever felt. I was getting pushed around and so was everyone else; I couldn't help but laugh about it. Not only was there wind, but the winds pushed and pulled the ocean water up the side of the cliffs and sprayed everyone on the path for a portion on the trail. I wish I would have gotten a GoPro video of it because it felt like a hurricane if I've ever been in one. At the top, the views were beyond breathtaking and it was amazing to witness something I had been starring at as a background for the past two months. The pictures barely do the cliffs justice. Some were as high as 700 ft which is unbelieveable. Despite the treacherous winds and constant body weight shifting to stay upright, the views were worth all of the trouble.

The Cliffs were amazing and I truly cannot wait to see Moher of this beautiful country and explore all it has to offer.

-BR

Cliffs of Moher Saturday Footage