My Somewhat-Hyperbolic Letter to Urban Meyer

Dear Urban Meyer:

So its official. I guess there is no turning back now. When this relationship started you used words like "dream job," "forever," and "last stop." But I guess that wasn't meant to be.

When it ended last year, that hurt. I was upset. But then Will came along and I have accepted his new role in my life; although these last two months that has been increasingly difficult [and I will never accept Charlie Weis. Its just not going to happen.].

But now its really over between us. You have a new love. Well, not really new. You are just returning to a life-long love. And I can respect that.

But you have to understand, Florida football is my life-long love. Its been a part of who I am for 26 years.

You were there when most needed. You helped after the horror that was Ron. So while I am happy for the times we had, this final acknowledgment that its over is still hard to swallow.

I can't say I wish you the best. Not yet. Thats like saying you want your ex-boyfriend to marry the first girl he dates after you break up.

I'm just not there yet. I woudn't say I'm angry- although I understand why some people are. I'm just not quite ready for this. With that being said, it still hurts to see Steve on the opposite sideline, so don't count on me coming around any time soon.

I recognize that football is technically only a game, and maybe I shouldn't care so much. But I do.

As always, It is Great to be a Florida Gator,

Amelia

PS- If we play Ohio State in the Gator Bowl, as is predicted, I will cheer even more for an ass-whoopin' than usual, its the nature of the beast.

We interrupt this story...

Sorry to interrupt the story of my 2 week break...

but I wanted to let you know what I'm doing right now:

For Thanksgiving this year, I'll be in Turkey.

Thats right.

Since I can't eat Turkey this year, I'll be going to the country of Turkey.

And I couldn't be more excited!!!!!!!!!

I'll tell you more about why I'm excited and what I do while there when I get back.

But first I want to assure you that on this Thanksgiving, I couldn't be more thankful for the people in my life- friends and family.

This trip would be impossible without my family and miserable without my friends.

If I thought I could list all my blessings without missing something or someone, I would. But I'm too overwhelmed to think that that would be possible.

So thank you. Thank you for your love. Thank you for your support. Thank you for taking time to care enough to read this. It means the world to me.

And now...b/c its what all the other bloggers I know are doing, I will share my favorite Thanksgiving recipe

Amelia's Famous Chess Pie 

1 unbaked pie shell
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 Tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons cornmeal
5 Tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon banilla
Grated nutmeg

Beat the eggs until thick and lemon colored. Add the sugar, milk, flour, cornmeal, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly and pour the filling into the unbaked pie shell. Sprinkle freshly grated nutmeg on top. Bake in a preheated 300° oven for about an hour, or until a knife inserted in the center of the pie comes out clean. 

I have made this every Holiday season since I was 6 years old. Its what I do. And its delicious. I don't really expect you to make it, but I thought I would share it anyway. 

Lots of love to you all! And infinite blessings this Thanksgiving and all through the season

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling [Day 4]

I have been mentally writing this post since the day it happened, and I now finally going to actually write it down and share it with y'all.

First there are 3 things you need to know before diving in:


1) I didn't know we would be hiking when I packed for this trip, so I left my hiking clothes and shoes in St. Gallen. Hence the nice leather boots on this hike [and the hike and bike ride earlier in the week]


2) I am deathly afraid of heights. Like super duper super duper super duper afraid. I don't even change light bulbs if climbing a ladder is involved. [If you are asking how such a fear fits with my willingness to be a pilot, its all about control (and my dad has the same fear and is a very accomplished pilot, so its also genetic...)]

3) My dad's mom (my last living grandparent, in fact) died in September. She passed away 4 days before I left for Switzerland and her funeral was held the day I arrived here. As such, I was not able to be there and never really got any closure. Well this same grandmother is the one who took me to Ireland in Spring of 1997 for my first trip out of the country. This day was my closure of her passing in many ways. So I did a lot of crying.

So, without further ado,

The Cliffs of Moher [also known as the Cliffs of Insanity or the hiding place for one of Lord Voldemort's horocruxes]

There isn't an official hike along the Cliffs and as such there is no path/trail or signage. So we had to get a map from the man at our hostel

What this tells us is there are two gates we have to climb over, a waterfall, a stone village, and a jut-in; thats it. [and the helpful note on where the "sea" is located]

With this unbelievably detailed map in hand, we set off on our hike 

Our destination 

The first gate we had to go around. The one that says this is super dangerous don't do it. 

So pretty

How Irish is this!!

We had been warned that the walk would be very muddy, when we first started with this kinda mud, we weren't worried. We had no idea what was to come 

Scenery pictures

Random castle 

You can sort of get an idea of how muddy it was from this 

Playing in the mist 

Wild goats 

Which Daniel then chased...

Onto the path right in front of me

Daniel and Lina on the wrong side of the fence

Holding on for dear life 

Cows

Jumping down to the "path" 

My buddy

Down the path we go

Walking on a wall to avoid the mud 

Then back to the mud and animal excrement 

Being very careful not to step in the deep part of the "mud"

Taking a quick rest before starting on the Path of Death 

In case the name doesn't hint at what to come, from this point we spend quite of bit of time on an approximately 8 inch wide path. 

On our left, barbed wire. 

On our right, solid cliff face, rocks, and certain death in the ocean.

At the times the path got wider it was because there was some other obstacle to over come 

A river to walk through

A hole to jump over

Rocks to climb over

And through it all, super slippery mud. 

There was no option to turn back, we were about 2.5 hours in [on what should have been a 2 hour hike...but whatever]. 

Freaking out wasn't really an option, but its all I wanted to do. 

The key was to keep low [got a great quad workout] and take very deliberate and careful steps.

 Jumping over this river that swept over the sides of the cliffs just out of this shot to the left [notice to the right of Daniel's arm the lake like puddle...]

Lina is almost there, just grab Daniel's hand and we all make it safely

And then she slips!! And by the grace of God Daniel grabs her, and as he is trying to pull her up, she is laughing hysterically. Near death will do that to you [and I'm helping by taking pictures obviously]

Barbed wire fence. Thigh high puddle. Cliff edge. 

Daniel made it, but in the process, broke that wooden stake. Making it a bit more difficult for Lina and me [but to his credit, he did help us]

This is the path...

Just in front of the reflection, you can see the fence posts. This really was the Path of Death 

 

Lina and I finally got to a point where we could get on the safe side of the fence [before this it had not been possible b/c the other side of the fence was impassable landscape] Daniel stayed on the wrong side for a bit longer. But then decided it was a better idea to climb THROUGH the barbed wire then continue on the Path of Death 

At this point, the path opens up. We have survived the Path of Death. This deserved a group picture. With the camera sitting on its case and some fun self-timer work! 

YAY!!!! Had so much fun with these two

Finally the traditional "Cliff of Moher" come into view. And we take some fun pictures

Tebowing the Cliffs of Moher

Daniel took this picture with no warning. And I LOVE it

There was one more pseudo-dangerous path segment. That ended just up ahead [as you can see] into the Visitor's Center area.

The only problem is, there is a HUGE fence to keep people at the Visitor's Center from wandering down the path. But it also prevents those people on the path [who really shouldn't be on said path (remember that fence at the beginning...)] from getting to the safety of the Visitor's Center.

So we had to jump over a barbed wire fence into a pasture

This is a short, kinda funny video Daniel made of me making the jump 

Once in this pasture, there is just one little waist high fence between us and the Visitors Center. Easy peasy. Or so we thought. Daniel went up and touched it. Electrified. So we walk along the fence and come to another fence segment in our path. Also electrified [Daniel tested this one also, God bless him!].

Yep. We are trapped.

Luckily where this second electrified fence is only electrified on top, and we can crawl through it to get to the next segment of pasture. We are thinking that we are going to have to do this all the way to the road. [The fence between us and the Visitors Center did not present such an option.]

But then we see this little drainage area. Yep. Thats our way out!!!

So with about a dozen people watching, we crawl through...

One of those days

View from the Visitors Center. As the sun was setting. Gorgeous 

At this point I was ready to head back to the hostel, but Daniel and Lina were not. I had two real options: walk the 8km or wait about 45 minutes for the bus to arrive. 

I decided to walk. 

I made it about half a kilometer when a 30-something year old man in an old, beat-up car pulled up and asked if I needed a ride to Doolin. YES!! As I was climbing into his car, my first thought was "This is how girls get Natalie Holloway-ed." But after what I had been through that day, I was feeling like I could definitely kick ass. Also, the Irish are about the nicest people in the whole wide world.

So this incredibly nice man dropped me off right at the door of my hostel. And Daniel and Lina followed about 30 minutes behind [they had also caught a ride]. 

The night ended with bacon cheeseburgers, whiskey, wine, cards, and

These delicious deserts from the pub across the street.

So thats my adventure. Sorry its so long, but it was quite the day.

Photo credits to Lina, about half of them were hers!!

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling [Day 3]

We woke up on Friday, November 4 with only one task for the day: make it from Killarney to Doolin. By bus. Woo. Bus.

Getting a couple Irish Coffees before getting on the bus

It was an all day bus ride. Which was less than fun. So there isn't much to talk about for Day 3.

Except our "layover" in Limerick.

We knew that Doolin was a really small town with not much in the way of restaurants or grocery stores [also no banks or ATMs], so we decided to buy the groceries for our dinner that night while in Limerick.

But the bus station was not well situated for such a mission.

After lots of exploring we found a butcher who was running the following special:

10 1/4 # hamburger patties
10 sausages 
1 lb bacon

For 10 Euros.

There are 3 of us to split all that food for very little money. [We also got some eggs while there]

After a quick dip into a convenience store for bread and cheese, we were set for dinner and breakfast for the 2 days in Doolin.

Quick beer before getting back on the bus [we had to celebrate our awesomeness!!]

All our luggage hanging out in the pub while we drank. Yep...tourists

From there it was just a bus ride to Doolin. Checking in at our most stunningly gorgeous hostel. Playing some card games. And drinking Whiskey.

All to prepare for the adventure to come the next day

When Irish Eyes Are Smiling [Day 2]

Daniel and I wake up on the second day, which is Thursday, November 3rd and he has a GENIUS idea:
We are going to rent bikes and go on a 30-mile bike ride around the National Park and through the Gap of Dunloe and its just going to be fabulous.

Yes, maybe its supposed to rain, but thats no big deal.

Also not a big deal, the fact that I'm not totally sure I can bike 30 miles. That sounds like a lot. And it sounds like a work out. And I do not love working out.

But I'm going to do it. Because you only live once. And because I swore to Josh that if I did this trip I would get everything I could out of it so it is worth all the sacrifices.

So after breakfast we go and rent our bikes

 Don't worry about that ominous rain cloud! We are good to go!!

Yay!! We've got our bikes and are ready to go

See that rain cloud was just there to give us this beautiful rainbow. A single rainbow, but we still acted excited [remember, no rain in Texas = no rainbows...]

About 3 minutes into the bike ride, the sky opens up Noah's Flood style. Just raining out of control. But we keep going. Riding on the road. With traffic. Trying to avoid all the debris that's falling down around us. Trying to avoid puddles and hoping the cars will do the same. Awesome fun. 

We go about 15 minutes and then Daniel sees a gas station with a nice over hang for us to stand under for a while 

We stayed at the gas station staring at the rain for about 30 minutes. And over time there were many other bicyclists who joined us. It was a nice little gathering of disappointed people. 

Then I went inside the gas station and heard over the radio that they were expecting flash floods. 

Well that was it for me. Flash floods + going some place with the "gap" in its name + no real map to speak of = no go for this lady. Nope. Not at all. 

Add to that the fact that it was cold and I HATE the cold. And I was headed back to the hostel.

Daniel decided to ride on. 

Since his friend from London was joining us that afternoon I figured it would work out well that I was there to meet up with her and then she and I could figure out something to do.

Now I will introduce you to Lina. Lina is studying abroad at Queen Mary with Daniel. But she goes to UF Law and went to UF undergrad. Daniel was convinced we would be instant friends. And we were. 

After drying off and warming up at the hostel, I took a quick nap and then was all ready for Lina when she arrived. 

At this point the rain has stopped. So we decide that she will rent a bike too and we will go on a bike ride to the Torc Waterfall. 

It was about a 45 minute ride. And it was gorgeous the whole way. 

Quick break after my bungee cord got caught up in my bike chain. But we fixed it!! Big, strong, independent women that we are!

Bikes unceremoniously thrown on the ground when we got to the waterfall

You will notice that I am not appropriately dressed for a bike ride. We will get to that in a later post.

Back to town we go [it was about 15 km round trip, so a good work out. Thank you very much]

And, naturally, just as we set out towards town, its starts to storm. Hard. Lots. Woo.

Now what of Daniel you may be asking yourself. Well at about 2pm I got a text from him that said: "Path flooded. Lost. Phone dying. <Expletive>."So I was a bit worried about him all afternoon, but there was nothing I could do.

When we got back to the hostel, I saw one of the guys we had met at our gas station hang out. He informed me that he had hitchhiked back because with the path flooded about 3-5 extra miles was added to the trip, and there was no way to be sure one was heading in the right direction.

He also told me that Daniel said that if he wasn't back by 8pm I should call the cops.

It was about 530 now. Luckily about 30 minutes later Daniel arrived!! He was very wet. Very cold. And not in a very good mood. But he was alive.

And I was so very happy with my decision to turn back early in the trip.

That night we cooked dinner at the hostel again and then went to the pub across the street for some beer and live Irish music.

Daniel wasn't sure he loved the music.

Our the Guinness apparently

All and all. Quite the day.