Playgrounds are designed for tiny bodies with a thousand ounces of energy that never stop moving, ever. But just because we’ve grown, it doesn’t mean the world isn’t ours to explore. Giant’s Causeway is a big kids playground – you can jump from basalt column to basalt column and never have the same view twice.

Giant’s Causeway wasn’t a #1 destination on my Northern Ireland list, but luckily I got talked into the bus trip that took us from Belfast to Giant’s Causeway, Carrick-A-Rede (a crazy awesome rope bridge leading to an island) and the Bushmills Distillery. Whenever I return to Northern Ireland, I hope to make the trek up to Giant’s Causeway.

It’s pure awesomeness.

A Little Science For Ya:

Giant’s Causeway, located in county Antrim, Northern Ireland, is made up of a bunch of these basalt columns that were formed after a volcanic eruption 50-60 million years ago.

Now, to the part that I don’t actually understand, but maybe you will: basically what happened was the basalt was molten and meshed with chalk beds (yeah, I don’t know). As the lava cooled, the basalt dried similarly to how mud dries, leaving pillar-like columns…

Okay, that’s enough science for now…

Finn McCool – The Badass Behind The Making of Giant’s Causeway

Anyway, onto the part I actually wanted to tell you about – the legend behind Giant’s Causeway: Finn McCool was an Irish giant who lived in County Antrim. He was just chlilin’ one day, minding his own business, when Fingal, a Scottish giant, started yelling insults at him from across the channel.

As Finn decides to start throwing rocks across, he hears Fingal yell, “You’re lucky I’m not a good swimmer, otherwise I’d come over there and make sure you could never fight again.”

To encourage the Scottish giant to come face to face with him, Finn started throwing chunks of the earth into the water. Soon enough, an entire bridge made it’s way across the channel, inviting Fingal to come face to face with Finn.

Since Finn hadn’t slept in a week, he disguised himself as a baby. When Fingal showed up to challenge him, his wife said he wasn’t around, but if he wanted to meet the baby, he could… Fingal realized if the baby was that big, how big was Finn? In an attempt to never face Finn, Fingal tore up the bridge as he ran home.

Pretty crazy, huh? One of the things I loved most about Ireland was the many fables and tales they had about all different types of things – and when you get a really good story teller, it’s almost as if they aren’t fables – they’re part of the legit history! Who knows.

Hell, maybe they are…

Have you ever gone to Giant’s Causeway? What did you think of it? If you haven’t gone, would you make the trek up to see it? Sound off below!