Still jet-lagged from our road trip tour of Ireland, we had little time to prepare for our lab party last weekend. Fortunately, it was a potluck, so we were able to play host while Westley served as the entertainment for our guests. Back at work, I’ve been contributing my share by giving a talk to a retirement community in Sun City, while also pressing forward with two research grant applications from the BrightFocus Foundation and DoD. In between, I’ve been checking out HBO’s Sharp Objects, where the strong female protagonists, haunting music, evocative locations, and immersive murder-mystery story-telling were reminiscent of Big Little Lies. This has left me little time to edit our vacation photos a.k.a. “panorama-rama”, which has taken considerably more time to photo-merge the expansive landscape sceneries. Last weekend, after our usual Farmer’s Market / Library / Dance Daze routine, Melody’s car battery died. After youtubing how to use our jumper cables, we drove around Davis to charge up and settled on Persian eats on the patio at Village Pizza, only to find that the battery died again. By the time she got the battery replaced on Monday, the Republicans had confirmed Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in face of multiple sexual assault and misconduct accusations, leaving us feeling powerless on all fronts.

With a belated start and a tight schedule, we took turns driving from Belfast to Connemara, filling on sandwiches from Sawers and Cuban Sandwich Factory and Melody’s aptly-named Stinky Bishop cheese. We hiked for an hour in Connemara before a locavore dinner at Kai Café and a short overnight stay in Galway. On Friday, we stopped by prehistoric Poulnabourne Dolmen on the way to the Burren, where our solitary nature walk through the unique, glaciated karst landscape reminded us of its once existence as a tropical sea. The Cliffs of Moher was more touristy, punctated by a singing troupe and a marriage proposal. Stuffed with mussels and Irish stew from Stonecutter’s Kitchen, we made our way to Adare Manor where our mud-splattered Mazda Juke looked out of place at the newly-renovated luxury castle. We indulged in the high-end amenities – free minibar, smarthome features, warmed bathroom floors – before dinner at the Oak Room, where my first taste of grouse fortunately did not contain shot. The concierge managed to squeeze us in for a private falconry experience next morning, where we handled 8 different falcons, hawks, and owls with an avid ornithologist. After a treacherous climb through Conor Pass, we stopped for a quick lunch and Murphy’s ice-cream in Dingle before completing the 3-hour drive along the gorgeous but windy peninsula. Filling on hearty crab dip and seafood curry at Quinlan & Cooke, we settled into our Cahersiveen glamping pod to the sound of rain. Next morning, we drove to Portmagee for our ferry to Skellig Michael. We were glad we skipped the landing tour after suffering the nauseating sail through the rocky waters and seeing the steep climb up to the ancient Gaelic monastery featured in the recent Star Wars franchise. Still nauseated, we skipped lunch and tackled the Ring of Kerry, where highlights included samplings at Skelligs Chocolate Factory and the panoramas at Staigue Fort. We browsed local shops and video-chatted with Westley in Kenmare until dinner at Mulcahy’s, where we learned that the Irish could cook fish but not make sushi. Another 2 hours on the road led us to our yurt in the Galtee Mountains, hosted by an Australian hippie with a cooking oil-run, solar/wind-powered double-decker restaurant bus that he took to music festivals. We made respectable use of the fireplace and car-radio audio system, but found the outdoor shipping-container bathroom inconvenient. We forewent a visit to his chickens in the organic eco-dome garden to truck off next morning for Cahir Castle and the Rock of Cashel on the way to Waterford for lunch and the Waterford Crystal Vistor Center. Here, we learned about the 4-year apprenticeship and one female apprentice before searching their showroom for souvenirs. We reached Kilkenny Castle just before closing, and were fascinated by the investigative work to restore the castle and long portrait hall of the Butler family. Exhausted by pub food, we filled up on Rogan Josh and Saag Paneer at Royal Spice then retired to our stilted treehouse a few blocks away. We awoke before dawn to reach Dublin Airport in time for more hot chocolate from Butler’s and a bite at the airport lounge. Our 6-hour JFK layover was spent in Flushing, where we inhaled cold noodles and potato noodle soup at New World Mall and picked up spicy wontons from White Bear for the flight home. Westley was delighted with our sheep souvenirs and having us back. But with his growing awareness, it will be hard to leave him for this long again.

With this year’s ISER meeting in Belfast, we decided to challenge ourselves with a road trip through Ireland and the U.K. before the impending Brexit. We arrived in Dublin thoroughly jet-lagged but ready to drive on the left side of the road. Despite realizing that I had left my credit card at SMF, requiring constant monitoring on the Chase app, I pulled myself together for our tour of Kilmainham Gaol, which was commemorating the life of Nelson Mandela as a parallel to its history as a political prison. After dining on charcuterie and Cockles and Mussels at the Winding Stair, we crossed Ha’Penny Bridge to check out Temple Bar before heading to Martello Tower Sutton. Built in preparation for a Napoleonic attack that never occurred, the AirBnb featured 10 foot-thick walls with poor cellular reception, but spectacular views of Dublin and the bay. With our Dublin Pass, we set out on a whirlwind tour of the city – chancing an arm at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, getting blocked at Christ Church Cathedral, studying Viking life at Dublinia, photographing State Apartments at Dublin Castle, strolling St. Stephen’s Green, rocking out at the Little Museum of Dublin’s U2 exhibit, and exploring the literary collection at the Chester Beatty Library – all fueled by Butler’s famous hot chocolate and the Shelbourne’s Sunday Roast. After pictures with Molly Malone and some mediocre Korean food, we spent another night in the tower listening to the crashing waves. We awoke next morning to brave the crowds at Trinity College’s Old Library and Book of Kells exhibit. After a full Irish Breakfast at O’Neill’s Pub, we crossed the UK border to Belfast, where we filled on fish and chips from John Long’s. I registered for the conference while Melody settled into our tiny, hip room at the Bullitt Hotel, before reconvening for delicious fare at quirky Made in Belfast. We spent Tuesday driving along the Antrim Coast. Our first stop at Carrickfergus Castle confirmed our preference for non-restored castles, and we wove around the Gobbins visitor centre, various Glens of Antrim, and many sheep before hiking the scenic waterfall trail in Glenariff. Our fish & chips at Morton’s nearly made another appearance when a brisk wind buffeted us on the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge, but settled after some honeycomb ice-cream at Ballintoy Harbor and scenic panoramas at Dunluce Castle. We spent the late afternoon on the surf-washed hexagon towers of the Giant’s Causeway, then stopped for photos along the Dark Hedges of Game of Thrones’ fame before returning for seafood chowder and bouillabaisse at Mourne. On Wednesday, we immersed ourselves at the interactive Titanic Belfast, learning about the city’s history as a ship-building mecca and the events surrounding the ill-fated maiden voyage of the “unsinkable” liner. A disappointing not-all-you-can-eat lunch buffet and city hall visit left us uninspired to explore further that afternoon, but our evening was saved by the inventive tasting menu at Michelin-starred Ox. I gave my talk and received my travel award on our last morning in Belfast before embarking on the second part of our trip. With different hotels and AirBnb’s scheduled each night, we were prepared for a unique experience.

After a day-long investigator meeting in Chicago, and uninspired by Pizano’s deep dish za and Giant’s aggressively-flavored dishes, I returned home ready to spend some time with my family. So I was sad having to attend our resident welcome luncheon alone while Melody and Westley took a journey to Elk Grove for her sister’s birthday. Fortunately, our in-laws made it up by babysitting last weekend to let us watch Crazy Rich Asians in the theater. Hailed as the first Hollywood blockbuster featuring an all-Asian cast since the Joy Luck Club 25 years ago, the movie rode on a wave of lofty expectations, yet still managed to beat the hype as one of the more thoughtful rom-coms I’ve seen in recent years. Meanwhile, we are continuing to explore new restaurants in Sac, including solid dim sum at Ming’s Dynasty, fancy sushi at Kru, cheap poke at Delilah’s Market, and AYCE Korean BBQ at Blue House. The pork belly and brisket were tasty, but the beef belly and intestines were too oily for our palates. Westley continues to keep us on our toes with another fall, this time resulting in bruised gum but no tooth injury according to his dentist. He seemed okay as we took advantage of the final summer weeks of the Davis Farmer’s Market, Dance Daze classes, and Manor Pool. Last weekend, we used an Entertainment coupon to check out the Powerhouse Science Center . Here, we spied a walking stick army, molded topography with play-doh, rubbed plasma balls, blew giant bubbles, and pretended to be astronauts in outer space. Along the same theme, we got a Groupon to visit the California Academy of Sciences on Labor Day Weekend. From rainforest butterflies and leafcutter ants to touch pool starfish and an albino alligator, the visit left Westley plenty excited. He conked out on the drive back after our seaside lunch at the Waterbar, and woke up in time for some luggage shopping in Vacaville. Back home, we finally completed Mario’s Odyssey and another season of MasterChef Junior, as we moved on to new seasons of SYTYCD, Westworld, and Handmaid’s Tale. With our trip to Ireland just a week away, we’ll need to start some serious vacation planning!