NORTHERN IRELAND, BELFAST: THE TITANIC MUSEUM

 July 10, 2024

After our two-part tour of Belfast, we decided to squeeze in a quick trip to the Titanic Museum. We only had an hour before it closed, but we had already been to the Titanic Museum and the Titanic Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, so we thought it would be okay to zip through.

The recovery effort after the sinking of the Titanic was based in Halifax, and that is where 150 of the recovered bodies from the ship were buried. 

Belfast is where the ship was built, and the museum there focuses on the ship's construction as well as on the disaster.

The heart of the museum is this large room surrounded by and audio-visual extravaganza.

A pathway leads visitors through the museum displays, and our first stop was to learn about the building of the ship, especially about its enormous size and its surprising power.

The shipyard where the Titanic was built can be viewed from the upper windows of the museum. It would have filled this entire dock.

A scale model is on display.

NORTHERN IRELAND: THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY

 July 10, 2024

The Giant's Causeway is a geologic rock formation formed by an erupting volcano 50 or 60 million years ago. The molten basalt seeped through chalk beds to form a volcanic plateau, and as the lava cooled, it cracked, much as mud does when it dries, leaving about 40,000 mostly hexagonal interlocking stones.

According to legend, these columns are the remains of a land bridge, or causeway, built by the Irish giant Fionn mac Cumhail and the Scottish giant Benandonner so that they could meet in the middle and fight it out.  The Scottish end, which supposedly looks like the Northern Irish end, is called Fingal's Cave.

This early-19th century poem presents a slightly different motive behind building the causeway:

THE GIANT'S CAUSEWAY

They met beside the stormy sea, those giant kings of old,
And on each awful brow was set, a crown of burning gold.
No ray the yet unrisen stars, or the wan moonbeams, gave,
But far and bright, the meteor light shone over cloud and wave.

"I have been over earth to-day," exclaimed one mighty king,
"The toil of half the human race, it is a foolish thing;
For I have seen on Egypt's land, an abject million slave,
To build a lofty pyramid above their monarch's grave.

"Now let us put their works to scorn, and in a single night
Rear what would take them centuries, and nations' banded might,"
Then up arose each giant king, and took a mighty stone,
They laid the quay; they piled the rocks—ere morn the work was done.

Vain fable this! yet not so vain as it may seem to be,
Methinks that now too much we live to cold reality;
The selfish and the trading world clips man so closely round,
No bold or fair imaginings within our hearts are found.

So vortex-like doth wealth now draw, all other feelings in,
Too much we calculate, and wealth, becomes almost a sin;
We look upon the lovely earth, and think what it may yield;
We only ask for crops, not flowers, from every summer field.

The mind grows coarse, the soul confined, while thus from day to day
We let the merely common-place eat phantasie away:
Aye, better to believe, I trow, the legends framed of old—
Aught—anything to snatch one thought, from selfishness and gold.

-Leticia Elizabeth Landon (1802-1838)

The Giant's Causeway was declared a World Heritage Site in 1986. In 2005, a poll named the Giant's Causeway the fourth-greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom.

We arrived at the visitor center and left our car in the parking lot, for which we had prepaid about $40. That included access to the visitors center (and the bathroom, which made it worth every penny). 

IRELAND, DAY 6: SLIGO'S YEATS TRAIL

July 9, 2024

After I spent a few minutes with the statue of Yeats in Sligo, we got on the "Yeats Trail," which takes visitors to several sites around Sligo that are somehow connected to the famous author.

Our first stop was Sligo Abbey, now in ruins but once a flourishing Dominican convent founded in 1253 and operating until 1760.

The Abbey is the setting for two short stories by Yeats: "The Curse of the Fire and of the Shadows" and "The Crucifixion of the Outcast."

Unfortunately, we arrived at 9:10 AM and it didn't open for tourists until 10:00--too long to wait.

IRELAND, DAY 5: SLIGO

 July 8, 2024

Sligo, population 20,000, is located on the coast just west of Northern Ireland.

As we drove into town, I spotted this mural, which I have since identified as the 1916 Easter Rising Mural. We would learn more about the Easter Rising, an armed insurrection by Irish nationalists against British rule that took place during Easter week in April 1916, when we got to Northern Ireland. The large figures of seven men and one woman at the bottom of the mural were key figures in the revolt.

This mural, known as "Sligo, Set your Spirit Free," pays tribute to the big waves that have made this area a surfing hotspot.

Sligo has what looks like a classic small town American Main Street:

KANSAS: CIMARRON NATIONAL GRASSLAND, THE SANTA FE TRAIL, AND POINT OF ROCKS

 October 17, 2020

After our exhausting climb to the summit of Mount Sunflower 🤣, we needed some nourishment, so we stopped in Syracuse (Kansas, not New York) for lunch and had a very mediocre tostada in a restaurant called "Porky's Parlor." The name alone should have warned us away. Not one other person besides us was wearing a face mask. Yep, Trump county.

However, at least we got to visit the "Home of the USA's First All-female City Council." That was a treat!

Mural in the restaurant parking lot

Our first afternoon stop was Cimarron National Grassland, 108,176 acres of grassy plains bisected by the Cimarron River. National Grasslands are essentially identical to National Forests, but think prairie instead of trees. This grassland, which used to the the territory of the Comanche Indian tribe, is now the largest area of public land in Kansas.

The Native Americans got chased out, but there are still a few local residents left.

Supposedly this is a popular fishing area, but when we were there is was so quiet. There was no one else there, but also no birds, no bunnies, no creepy-crawly things (except the aforementioned grasshoppers).

The Little House on the Prairie books take place in Kansas, and I could picture Laura running across this expanse, her gingham skirt and braids flying out behind her.

Our next stop was Middle Spring, a stop on the Santa Fe Trail, which pretty much bisects Kansas.

These trees are relatively new additions to the site. They certainly weren't here when the pioneers were passing through.

The bridge across the stream is also an addition since Santa Fe Trail days.

The travelers endured miles and miles of prairie with very little water until they reached Middle Spring.

Supposedly, these ruts were made by the wooden wheels of the Conestoga wagons that were a common mode of transportation.

In contrast, this was our rental car--a Jeep Cherokee.  I just had to squeeze a picture of it in for the great-great-grandkids. It might seem as foreign to them as the Conestoga wagons do to us.

We walked for a little way down the "trail" to get a feel for it.

Our last stop was at a tall butte called Point of Rocks. At 3,540 feet, it is the third highest point in the state and was an important landmark for travelers heading west.

An information board at the site has this great quote from Albert Pike. Note that he spells "Cimarron" "Semaron." 

Caravans on the 800-mile-long Santa Fe Trail took six to ten weeks to make the journey between Independence, Missouri, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. When the railroad reached Santa Fe in 1880, the Santa Fe Trail gradually slipped into obscurity.

I feel almost guilty for having accessed this spot via an air-conditioned four-wheel drive vehicle.

As we left Point of Rocks and started the drive to our hotel in Clayton, New Mexico, we drove past several of these interesting animals. It looks a little prehistoric, doesn't it? Something to do with fossils, perhaps?

A beautiful sunset was the perfect ending for a fun day.

"A Prairie Sunset" by Walt Whitman

Shot gold, maroon and violet, dazzling silver, emerald, fawn,

The earth's whole amplitude and nature's multiform power consigned for once to colors;

The light, the genial air possessed by them--colors till now unknown,

No limit, confine--not the Western sky alone--the high meridian--North, South, all,

Pure luminous color fighting the silent shadows to the last.

NEW BRUNSWICK: HOPEWELL ROCK STATE PARK

Thanks to Bob's excellent planning, we hit the next spot on our New Brunswick journey at exactly the right time: low tide.

As usual, just about every step of the way was filled with fairytale forest:

I was especially entranced by the trunks of the birch trees lining the pathway. They looked like pieces of installation art: