Climb every mountain

We each stuffed two euro into an honor box outside a sheep farm, and made our way up Carhoo Hill.

None of us, not even the two people who had planned this excursion, had any idea what waited for us at the top.

Wind whipped our hair as we hiked switchbacks passed an insultingly unimpressed flock of grazing sheep.

Exhilarated by the circumstances and the setting, I increased my pace as I approached the last bend.

Then, I rounded the corner, gasped, stopped dead and did a full, Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music, circle.

A crystal clear Atlantic Ocean winked at me from the south, the Dingle Peninsula sprawled out in all its glory on the north. Honestly, I could not breathe as I tried to absorb that stunning view.

Then, I got to watch everyone else as they rounded that corner and took their first look at that glorious panorama.

A giddy group of us gathered near Eask Tower, a stone structure built during the potato famine in 1847. It provided a great shelter for us against the wind as we caught our breath from the climb and the glory of the view.

We lingered up there, taking pictures, watching Ed take pictures and just absolutely marveling at beauty.

Eventually, we made our way back down the path where a kind sheep farmer who suffered no fools showed us where to hose off our shoes.

She reprimanded Vinnie for not cleaning my shoes, and then grabbed the hose and did it herself.

Then she introduced us to a few of her favorite sheep and walked us back to our car.

We spent the rest of the day in Dingle, took a ferry out into the bay, sipped some impressive craft cocktails at the unassuming Kennedy Bar and enjoyed a delicious seafood dinner.

I hope I remember exactly how I felt when I rounded the last corner of Carhoo Hill and saw that unbelievable view.

It’s a good reminder to climb every mountain because sometimes your view at the top is even better than you dreamed.