We Might Not Be Back: My Birthday in Killarney

Pretty much the entire time we were in Kerry I had the songs "Christmas in Killarney" and "Climb Every Mountain" stuck in my head. I suppose I should just be happy I finally stopped waking up singing "Let It Go." We'd seen the signs for Killarney on our way to our rental and Nick told us we should take a day for each Killarney and Dingle. We'd already crossed off Dingle (sort of) and so we set out for Killarney with Dan behind the wheel. Happy Birthday to me I got to give up control of the driving and instead dig my nails into the passenger seat. Considering he'd never really driven a manual transmission and now had to do it both on the "wrong" side of narrow sometimes mountainous roads I'd say Dan did pretty well.
Killarney National Park is a pretty big undertaking. In the interest of keeping the girls happy we started with Ross Castle. Unlike the previous two castles this time we had a guided tour with a real person not just an audio tour. Gabby was RIVETED. This kid followed tour guides around like a puppy dog. Lottie was acceptably behaved and came away with some fun facts about castle potties and pigs blood in the plaster. Both girls were fascinated by the hygiene habits of people way back in the day.
After Ross Castle we went to Muckross House, which was my favorite. I was irrationally excited that I already knew about a lot of what the tour guide was telling us from my Downton Abbey watching. It was like being in a version of Downton. This was like my version of Disney. We also thankfully got to see some chamber pots and potties from the early 20th century, so the girls were happy. Gabby was upset we didn't get to see the servants chambers in the attic (I secretly was to since that would be where all the good characters lived). The tour guide mentioned parents in the house would only see their children for four hours a day. If only I could go back in time and be super duper rich.
The last stop of the day before birthday dinner was Torc waterfall. The girls were getting a little tired at this point, but that is of no concern to us when traveling. We must press on! So we dragged them up to the waterfall. Dan convinced Lottie there were leprechaun holes along the way. Once we got to the falls instead of turning around to go back to the car we made the poor choice to go just a little farther. We ended up walking for probably close to an hour and of course during this time the weather took a turn for the worse. We dragged them up and down some more hills and got a little worried because the trail wasn't so clearly marked towards the end. We finally made it to the car and were completely soaked. Thankfully they fell asleep almost immediately.
We tried a couple pubs down the street for dinner but I think because it was their off season they didn't have food. We went back into Milltown and had dinner at a place called Larkin's. Everyone was much happier after some food. We headed back to the house for ice cream and apple tart.