This morning, our crew (Mark, Marie, Jeanine, and I) joined a guided walking tour of Belfast focused on “The Troubles.” It was highly educational but not exactly visually stimulating. The opposite can be said of the Giant’s Causeway, which is a photographer’s dream. I separated from the group that joined a tour, so I could explore on my own. I racked up 7 miles and hundreds of photos. The Giant’s Causeway was formed about 50 to 60 million years ago when intense volcanic activity caused molten basalt to pour through fissures in the Earth’s surface. As the lava pools cooled slowly and evenly, they contracted, leading to extensive cracking that produced around 40,000 polygonal basalt columns—most famously hexagonal in shape. The distinctive appearance of the columns is the result of this regular fracturing during the cooling process.