Sundayafternoon

[Martin Milner]

Anyone been to the Cliffs of Moher AND the Grand Canyon?

Which one gives the bigger feeling of vertigo?

[gonzo914]

I see these pictures and I feel ambivalent, torn, pulled two directions, on the horns of a dilemma, etc.

On the one hand, those cliffs are a very high place, and I do not like very high places. I firmly believe there are much better places for me to be than at the edge of a very high place. And even if I approached it on my belly like in the picture, I'd end up hyperventilating into a sack by the time I got there. Heights are not nice.

On the other hand, I'd really like to spit off of them.

[Denny]

perhaps you should cultivate a fear of updrafts...

[Cynth]

Anyone been to the Cliffs of Moher AND the Grand Canyon?

Which one gives the bigger feeling of vertigo?

I don't remember having a fear of heights problem at the Grand Canyon. That could just be because of the places I went though which were right on the top. But I don't remember such sharp drop offs or feeling that I was missing out on something because I didn't dare get close enough. You can't see to the bottom from the top really, it is sort of two-tiered if I remember correctly. I have heard riding down the trail on a donkey is hard for people that have fear of heights though and possibly even on foot could be scary. I could see that the trail was rather narrow and there were uncomfortable looking steep slopes. You have to be in really good physical condition to go even half way down.

That is the one place I've been so far (and I haven't been to that many places) that all the photographs in the world could not prepare me for. Even now I remember the hairs on my arms just standing on end when the fog finally cleared away and I took in how immense and beautiful that place is.

[susnfx]

Anyone been to the Cliffs of Moher AND the Grand Canyon?

Which one gives the bigger feeling of vertigo?

Although the Grand Canyon is thousands of feet deep, there aren't too many places where you're looking directly down to the Colorado River (upstream there are many places like that, though--hard to get to either from above or below). Because the Grand Canyon itself is so far across, from many places you can't even see the river, just cliffs and mesas and incredible space. So most of the overlooks are at places where you aren't looking straight down a particular cliff. The places where most people fall (usually one or two people a year) are the overlooks--places where there are low fences and other barriers to getting out on the edge but idiots do it anyway to have their picture taken as far out as they can get. You could bounce and roll for a few thousand feet before coming to rest somewhere below.

Susan

[Cayden]

Anyone been to the Cliffs of Moher AND the Grand Canyon?

Which one gives the bigger feeling of vertigo?

On the Cliffs of Moher it depends where you are, only when you get off the beaten track you may get a sense of vertigo, several spots when walking to either Hag's Head or walk the edge north of the Tower towards Doolin have some interesting places where you skirt the edges (bring a running and bouncing 11 year old for your peace of mind). Only if you really lean over the edge you get a sense of the ocean below.






I have been right at the foot of them in a little boat, now that's a different thing altogether.

If you take the Cliffwalk in Kilkee however , the presence of the ocean and the sense of height is far more acute, even if the cliffs there at their highest are maybe half the height of Moher




Moher is a mess by the way, they've torn open the hillside and are going to build a huge bunker inside the crater they've created to have an all weather visitors centre. So the tourists who come to the Cliffs of Moher can watch a video and really experience the place, but without the wind, rain or steps to climb.

[djm]

Peter, that last pic is the best of them all - such excellent colours!

djm

[dfernandez77]

On the other hand, I'd really like to spit off of them.

I SO love it - I get all misty eyed - when you get ethereal and poetic.

*sniff*

[dfernandez77]

there aren't too many places where you're looking directly down to the Colorado River

That's why Canyon de Chelle just blows the Grand Canyon away. At least in my opinion.

The Navajo don't bother putting up fences, tourist nonsense, and so forth. You can stumble right up to the edge of the canyon, with a sheer drop of 500 meters or more at your feet.

It would be spit heaven for Gonzo.

[Cayden]

Peter, that last pic is the best of them all - such excellent colours!

djm

That was the day we had summer

[fyffer]

Yet another brilliant warning (with a little help from MS Paint):




(BTW - those signs are everywhere in the Burren; I took them to mean: "Here's where you go to drive your car off the quays")

[Montana]

Ah, yes, the Ugly American. Or as emm points out, a more accurate description would be the Ugly Tourist. A person who has little or no sensitivity for or knowledge of the area he/she is traveling through, and rather than observing and learning, they apply their own skewed centric view to wherever they are.
I worked in Yellowstone Park for a while and we called them "Tourons" - part tourist, part moron. Needless to say, it's a little harsh. But after the umpteenth time you see some mother dragging her child up to a buffalo so she can take a picture, you get a little jaded (for those of you not aware, that's not something you should do with a buffalo).
But I must say that something more moronic than that are the kinds of things that they're doing to Ireland in the name of tourism. They don't understand that they're ruining it for many of us. They're actually making amenities for the Ugly Tourist, the touron. Those of us who are actually interested in the country, its culture and its history would rather wander and find many things on our own (e.g. the secluded little previously-unmarked ringfort) without the intrusion of the kinds of people Peter ran into. Ireland doesn't need to become another Disneyland.

Anyone who wants to see any of the old Ireland that remains better do it soon.
Thanks for all the pics, Peter. I'm noting some of the locations for my trip there in the last part of May. And I'll be doing my best to play down the touron image...

[Cynth]

I wonder when we will find out what those people are doing on the grass under the tower?

[dow]

Thanks, Peter, for the great pictures and comentary. Sorry about the American idiot. If it's any consolation, we have them over here, too. I'm not sure, but I think that maybe the practice at home first, and then when they get really obnoxious, they go overseas.

Back to your photos, I'd love to go to Ireland sometime, and your photos have given me a little to nibble on while I save.

Thanks again,

dow

[Cynth]

What about this? What do you think they were at?

I'm still waiting for the answer! Please, put me out of my misery .