Gardens in December, why not?

The arctic weather has descended upon Dublin, though sadly, there hasn't been snow. Well, I take that back, there was a dusting the other morning, not enough to say so, but just enough to throw every single Irish person in this city into a tizzy. Ah, good times.

 This was the only snow we witnessed, just a dusting on the roof out back.

Jon had a couple of days off, and even though I was feeling dreadfully under the weather, we decided to get out of our tiny flat and go on an adventure to the National Botanic Gardens. We hopped on a bus and headed up to the north side for what seems like forever (I swear a trip to the north side seems to be at least an hour long... what is up with that?) and ended up in Glasnevan. Luckily, like many other museums, the Botanical Gardens are free! Because we were a bit drowsy from the bus ride, we, in true Irish fashion, had some tea and gingerbread cookies, before we even began to wander the gardens.

 Because the weather was quite wintery, we decided to stick to exploring the greenhouses. It was just what the doctor ordered. There was one that was full of beautiful red poinsettias - perfect for this time of year. The others were full of plants from all over the world. It was really quite beautiful and warm, pleasantly warm.

I was a little more than excited to be in a warm, slightly tropical climate, even if it was only for a few hours. :)

Jon managed to find bamboo, again...

There was a really lovely rock garden, with this cool waterfall and tree covered walk way.

 Pretty trees among the rock garden, with two pretty/handsome people.

Cotton Hill Hike

We were trying to think of something cool to do for Valentine's Day (I know, we're mushy like that) when a friend suggested we put our new camping gear to the test. We settled on doing a hike, and what a hike it was.

Jon began researching The Long Path, which runs 350+ miles from New Jersey to Altamont, and decided that checking out the Cotton Hill lean to would be an excellent place to start.