Since Vivi loves a bus, we took a bus tour. Bus tour. Not Bus Wars.
Chicky Wicky came along.
Chicky Wicky likes riding a bus. And that's a yo-yo inside Viv's hat. She keeps all sorts of things tucked up in there.
Viv had the selfie stick
Pretty flowers for people at home to see
Vivi and the chicken guard
Don't mess with the chicken or you'll get the beak.
Hanging out. Waiting for the bus.
It felt so demanding.
Then we got back on the motor coach bus for a ride along a gorgeous coastal road that is all twists and turns and, "are you going to throw up?"
"Maybe."
"Here. Throw up into this jacket."
I did some quick mom thinking and figured we could stop at the nearest place, call a cab, take a ride to a train station, and head home.
But! This being Northern Ireland, we didn't have to give up our day of sightseeing because there was a small bus/large van with the same company right behind us. The gentlemanly driver looked at my green girl, asked the other driver to take us, Chicky Wicky popped into the backpack (with her head sticking out, of course), and we boarded onto the other vehicle with Viv strapped into the front seat and her window all the way down.
The driver used to drive a school bus so he was an old hand with sick kids and he saved the day!
On this bus were two really nice groups, both from Indonesia. There was one group of young twenty-something guys at the back and they were really polite and friendly. Sitting up near us were four women; one is studying for a year and a half in England, her sister lives in Australia and came to visit, so their two friends who still live in Indonesia met up for some travel. They were really nice and fun and friendly and have kids so know about motion sickness. You'll see pictures of them later in this post.
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A stop at the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge offered stellar views. Below is Sheep Island, which reminds me of Sheep Meadow, which I call Sheep Mountain, in the Mahoning Valley.
In the 11somethings or before that or after that (sorry for the lack of specificity), the people living on the island were worried about Vikings attacking so they would bring 13 sheep over to sacrifice on this island.
And I thought, how odd the thought process was. It had to be a huge undertaking just to get to that huge rock. Doing it with sheep would have been far more difficult. And while I guess it's better to sacrifice sheep than virgins, I wonder who the first person was who said, "I've got a great idea..."
And then I stood for a while and thought about The Lottery by Shirley Jackson and The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K. LeGuin and it made more sense.
Please let sacrificing end. Please, let us be kind to each other. Please let me give my daughter the world I want her to have.
I digress.
More pretty flowers
I did that mom thing where I waved my hand and called Viv over excitedly and pointed at this and cried out, "look!" And like every kid ever before, she said, "what?" Ah, the circle of life.
Even the steps are awesome.
It's hard to see just how far those rocks are, but that's a looooong way down to the bottom.
"Mom! A map! You love maps!"
Fact.
It's great not having to wear sunglasses all the time. I don't even have to squint.
"I'm on a boat." Please don't teach her the song.
We stopped for lunch at a cute roadside restaurant, then quickly headed to the next stop, Giant's Causeway.
We didn't let her drive no matter how often she said she totally could. Peter, by the way, is fantastic! More on him later.
On to Giant's Causeway!
We're getting closer. 
Keep walking, kid.
Already worth it.
Mountain goat kid (pun intended)
Can you spot Vivi? Pink hat.
These nice girls befriended Vivi and navigated rocks until all of us were together right here. These are lovely American college students studying abroad. They hail from Maine, Indiana, Massachusetts, and one will be working at a summer camp in Maine this summer. What great girls! I hope they seize this opportunity and then realize all their dreams.
Vivi finds good people to make friends with wherever she goes.
So pretty - it makes me endlessly happy
Here are the girls from the bus!
Then...The Dark Hedges.
Vivi running down the road. (No cars!)
The chicken crossing the road.
This may have been my favorite part because I've always been a fan of trees overlapping. What's that road in Connecticut? That highway? Oh, you know the one I'm talking about. If you've ever driven it, you know it. (edit: The Merritt Parkway!)
And that road in Greenwich, Connecticut with all the daffodils! (edit: North Street!)
And Lentz Trail in Pennsylvania before the power company cut them all.
And in Forest Gump - the trees lining the road to his house.
This seems like a bad idea.
I'd rather have Vivi drive.
Earlier in the post I mentioned Peter, the driver who is fantastic. Not only did he know how to make Vivian completely comfortable and help her get rid of her motion sickness, but he also made her laugh. She had a great day and it's because Peter was able to change the trajectory for Viv from "I'm going to throw up because I'm sick" to "I am having the best day!" And I even got her home in time for bed, again thanks to Peter.
I say to all of you out there: get to Northern Ireland because this place is pure magic and the people are some of the best I've ever met.
Earlier in the post I mentioned Peter, the driver who is fantastic. Not only did he know how to make Vivian completely comfortable and help her get rid of her motion sickness, but he also made her laugh. She had a great day and it's because Peter was able to change the trajectory for Viv from "I'm going to throw up because I'm sick" to "I am having the best day!" And I even got her home in time for bed, again thanks to Peter.
I say to all of you out there: get to Northern Ireland because this place is pure magic and the people are some of the best I've ever met.
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