Sam: Our second day on Isle of Man, we went for breakfast at a place next door to our hotel called The Boathouse. The guy working there was very nice to us. We took a bus to a place called Castletown. It used to be the capital of Isle of Man. There a big castle called Castle Rushen. One of the first things we saw as we entered was a cannon. We walked up a drawbridge and through two portcullises. Then we walked into a room where there was an introduction to the castle tour. I did the 360° tablet, where I could see a complete view of each room. Charlotte: One of the funny things about the castle was when Sam was walking into a room, he freaked out. I asked him what it was, and then he said, “There’s a mannequin in there!” The mannequins looked real. I also think it was really cool that I could sit
Ireland and Isle of Man
We’re Going on a McCloy Hunt (or I Can’t Believe We’re Doing This!)
So, as promised, in this post I’m going to detail our crazy scavenger hunt which took place the afternoon of July 20th. My grandma, Barbara Whyte, has long been our family’s historian. She has prepared detailed family trees for all sides of our family and has done further research to create really amazing booklets to share all that she has learned about the individuals therein. On the McCloy side (my great-grandpa Mac), we come from Northern Ireland. His father was born there and raised in a township called Aghadowey. My great-grandfather’s cousins, Sadie and Edna, were the last family members to live in the area as neither of them married or had children. My Mom and I were armed with the name of the town and an old black and white photo of the homestead from well over 100 years ago. Brad was skeptical, the kids were excited because they love a good adventure, and Mom and I were both
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In Need of a (Manx) Cat Nap
Charlotte: We went on a ferry all night long and got to Isle of Man early in the morning. I had a bad sleep on the ferry. I had to sleep on two chairs pushed together. For a blanket I used Dad’s sweater. We stayed at the ferry port for awhile and ate some snacks from Costa. We had to wait until buses were working and our hotel was open. We finally left and went on a horse tram to our hotel and left our bags. We couldn’t check in to our rooms until 3 o’clock. It was only 9:30am. Sam:Next we took the horse tram again to get to the electric railway. We went to Laxey. It had a mini steam train that went through a mine. Then we visited the Great Laxey Water Wheel. It is the biggest waterwheel in the world. We climbed up to the very top and saw a great view and the mechanisms. Then
Belfast Birthday
Charlotte: We got up and I said happy birthday to my mom. We ate breakfast in the hotel. Then went on a colourful tour bus. We sat in the very front on the top floor. We had a huge window. We saw peace walls with lots of pictures and letters and cool stuff. Some were scary and sad. I also saw a humungus park with really cool equipment to climb on. The bus driver was funny. After the tour, we went to a bookstore and looked at lots of books. Then we went for lunch at a place called City Picnic, and I had a yummy bubblegum milkshake. We walked really far to a mall and in there we played mini golf. Grandma and Mom were going to play Bingo while we played more golf, but they couldn’t, so then they won money at a casino. They were fanning their heads with the money while pretend coughing when they came
Giant Steps, Deep Roots
Sam: We woke up in our hotel and went down to have breakfast. After breakfast, we went to get a rental car so we could drive out of the city. First, we went to the Giant’s Causeway. It is lots of different pillars with different layers. It is right beside the ocean and the pillars are shaped like hexagons. There is a legend about how it formed: A Irish giant challenged a Scottish giant but then realized he couldn’t get across the ocean. So, he there a lot of pillers into the ground to form a bridge. When he saw the Scottish giant, he ran back home because he realized the giant was twice his size. He told his wife to help him. She dressed him like a baby and put him in a cradle. The Scottish came and saw him and thought that it was the Giant’s child. He figured if the baby was that big, the father must
A Magically Irish Day
Charlotte: Yesterday I went with Grandma to this fairy garden called Gillighan’s World. It was really pretty and nice. There was a scavenger hunt that was really fun. I got all of them right except for one. For doing so well on the quiz, I got candy mushrooms – they were delicious! One of the special things I saw were gnome houses and a real live fairy. Guess how I found it… I was doing ballet in their ballet class. It’s in the fairy ring, and then I was dancing and I saw a head, a face, hair, and wings and it was flying. At first I thought it was just a butterfly, but then I saw the dress, and I knew it was a real live fairy! I also liked Gillighan’s house because it was really tiny. They warned us that it could be messy because Gillighan is sometimes messy, but it was really tidy. I also found chickens.
Grandma in Galway
Sam: We woke up very early in the morning and Mom told me that it was time to go and pick up Grandma. So we had breakfast and then got into the car. We drove for over two hours to get to Galway. When we got there, we met Grandma at the train station and then walked around town. We went to a place called The Pie Maker for lunch and had mashed potatoes and for dessert I had a Banoffi pie. That’s banana and toffee. Me and my sister switched pies halfway, so then I had Irish apple pie. After lunch, we went to the river and took a picture at the Spanish Arch. After the arch, we went in a museum. There was lots of axes and a giant sceptre and sword. Next, we went to the bookstore. My grandma bought me a book. Then we went home. In the evening, we went and had
Conquering Cliffs
Charlotte: My favourite part of today was the mountain climbing. We climbed really high. There were caves at the top. There were just rocks in the caves. It was pretty easy to climb. It took about 20-minutes to climb. From the top we saw views of farms with sheep. I’ve farm has only one sheep that was lonely. We could also see houses. The views were pretty. Sam: Before the caves, we tried to go to a place called Gillighan’s World, but it was closed today. We’re going to bring Grandma with us and go back on Wednesday. Dad and I were the only ones who went to a cave that was hard to get to. I had to climb up the edge of the cliff and duck under an overhang to get there. Mom and Dad: It was another low-key day. We all slept in until about 10:30 and were slow to get moving. Once we were all conscious
Soaking in Sligo
Sam: Mostly we relaxed for the morning at our house. We went to the local park for about an hour and then we went into Sligo town and walked around. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant. I had noodles and garlic bread. For dessert I had mint and chocolate ice cream. Then we came home and watched a movie called Molly Moon. It was pretty good. Charlotte: I woke up and read a book, wrote a letter, and played for the morning. In the afternoon, we went to the park. It was raining. Mom, Dad, and Sam went to sit in the car, but I started and played more. Then we went to a castle church. It was pretty. It was breaking and had no roof. There were lots of gravestones inside it. The carved altar was my favourite part because it was very detailed and even though it’s really old it’s still very, very neat. At night, we
Sam and Charlotte take on the world! 