Reporting from Cork

Since my last post, I have flown from Des Moines to Chicago (which almost didn't make it due to a thunderstorm on our tails) to London to Edinburgh, then drove to a tiny town called Inveraray on the northwest coast of Scotland. It was beautiful up there, especially once the weather cleared up a bit and rained less frequently with sunshine in between. We did some touring by car, and saw stuff like old castles, of course, some breathtaking views of the lochs, and an old charcoal-fired blast furnace where they reduced iron ore to pig iron. What can I say, there's no vacation from being a geek. Then we spent just over a day in Edinburgh, which is a really beautiful town. It's neat to see how the city's development over the years has been so dependent on its geography, and how the layers of the town over the years can still be seen. Just beautiful, but the hills make it a challenge to someone like me - increasingly wimpier from week to week. Pictures will follow once I get home, and hopefully they can convey some of the really beautiful sites we've seen.

Today we flew from Edinburgh to Cork, checked in at our B&B, and spent the most of the afternoon at Trav's brother Mark's flat. He gave us a brief tour of the University of Cork College where he "studied" last semester. He and his roommate Pranav cooked us an Indian feast for dinner, and now we're just chillin before we head to the pub to celebrate Trav's 26th today. He's got his Guinness polo on, and he's ready to party. It's nice here that the pubs are smoke-free, so Baby and I should have a nice time too.

More later!