The most amazing thing ever — and I forgot to write about it!

I cannot believe I forgot to write about this back in the Kells Bay and Dingle days but I saw the most amazing thing ever. Ever in the history of ever ness. And I said it twice! The first time, it was a jack Russell laying on the back of a donkey. WHAT!! Yes! It was. The second time, it was some kind of sheep dog standing on top of the donkey. And, I got to pet the donkey!

I had no idea you could get a donkey riding dog but now, of course, I need both. Oh, the joy!

Sligo back to the big city

After a wonderful breakfast at the Driftwood, we were ready to blast back across the country to Dublin. This was the only day we had a set time to be somewhere and it is crazy how much that affects everything. Frankly, it sucks. It’s far nicer to travel and arrive when you arrive rather than attempting to schedule everything around trying to be somewhere at 4:45...but that’s where we were.

As we left, Ash decided it was time to take the wheel. It was a bit nerve wracking for us all while she got settled into it. Not that she did a bad job, but, as with all things, when something new happens, there are a few moments of uncertainty, right? Once she got comfy, we all got comfy and we were off to the races! 

We stopped in town briefly to visit the Yeats museum. I would have walked through it but there was a small fee and even though it was a very small fee I decided to skip it. Sara walked through it and said it was well done. The rest of us looked around outside. Sligo is a very cute, clean town.

Next, we wanted to see a Gaelic cemetery just outside of Sligo, so we set off to find it. Apparently, GPS is unaware of it so we made a couple of laps trying to figure it all out. Before long, we were there! It was not what I imagined — I was thinking of our cemetaries and thought perhaps we’d see cool old Gaelic cross headstones and the like. Oh no. This was far more interesting. More like ancient  stone and rock piles over areas where they’d found mass grave sites. We enjoyed walking around through it. Wasn’t a long visit, but an interesting one!

Now we were ready to blow over just north of Dublin to another ancient burial area called Newgrange. I was getting slightly antsy over timing because the Airbnb host we were supposed to meet that night seemed super stressed about the timing and kept asking me to check in. Chill out, dude!! We still needed to get the Newgrange, look around, get to Dublin airport, return the van, get a taxi to the house and check in. Also, lunch. By my calculations, we were going to be about 2 hours late. I ran this by Sara and she thought we could make it. Ok, let’s give it a try!

We got to Newgrange through a series of the tiniest little roads we’d seen yet, only to find out we’d really done it wrong. You are supposed to go into a nearby town, buy a ticket and take a shuttle bus there. Because they didn’t have much parking. Of course, there we were and we parked. But they wouldn’t sell us a ticket. Poop. At this point, we realized we really didn’t have time to go to the city and come back on the shuttle bus. So, we looked around and then just had to bail. Newgrange looked like the world’s largest rice cake from the outside! It was crazy looking!!

So, we set off for the airport to return the van. It felt so weird to return to such a big city after many days enjoying the quiet countryside. We made it to the car return but were unable to text or call our taxi driver. Good grief we tried every which way you can think of, which led to some HILARIOUS quotes while we tried to make one of 2 phones work. So, finally we asked the Enterprise guy to call us a cab. He said he could but it would take 25 minutes and we could just take their free shuttle to terminal one and grab a taxi there. Bam!

So, we went to get on the free shuttle. Which took 25 minutes. LOL. He dropped us off at a taxi stand which then took another 10-15 minutes. Again, we aren’t used to lines of people waiting for cabs. We’re used to lines of cabs waiting for people. So interesting. Anyway, finally underway, and keeping in close contact with my nervous airbnb host, we looked like we might only be a few minutes late.

As we arrived, we waited by the car park sign for the host to meet us and walk us into the complex. Before long, he arrived and showed us around. Nice place! A walk up style townhouse with three stories. 4 bedrooms and 3 baths. Wow! Cool!  We asked him if the pub nearby was good because we were hungry and tired and didn’t need a lot of effort to get dinner;) He said yes so we were off to Beggar’s Bush Pub.

As we walk up, a man was standing by the front door and sees us and says, “Ah, feckin’ Americans!” Mom and I laughed and said, “How did you know?” Apparently (we didn’t see this because we walked on in) he then pretended to shoot the rest of us. Um. Ok. We didn’t see any seats inside so we sat outside. We quickly realized they didn’t have food. Dang it. We had a round of drinks and Sara looked for possible dinner places nearby. It was her last night so we told her to choose what sounded good. She found a place only a block or so away so once we finished our drinks we cruised over to the Chophouse for dinner.

Man - what a great find! Lovely little local place. Great wine list and delicious food. We got California Chardonnay, which tasted like heaven! Everyone really enjoyed the meal. A quick walk home and a little bit of hanging out and talking was all that was left before bed. Sara had to be up and out early for her flight so we hugged goodbye. I didn’t figure I’d be up early enough to see her in the morning. Sad to see the trip fly by so darn fast! 

The night we all needed— the Driftwood Inn, Rosses Point

We realized while driving into Sligo, that we were not, in fact, staying in Sligo. Rather, we were just a few miles outside town, in an adorable little place called Rosses Point, right on the water. As we pulled up in front of the Driftwood Inn, I think the whole van did a collective sigh at its dreaminess. Apparently dreaminess isn’t a word because it keeps trying to autocorrect to dreariness, which is almost the exact opposite of what I mean.

We noticed a crowded patio out front, water facing, and figured it’s must be a cool place to grab a pint after work for locals. We grabbed our rooms keys and went to check out the rooms. ADORABLE. Each room faced the water. Ours had a huge soaking tub right in the middle of the room. Just as cute and well appointed as could be. 

After we got settled, mom, Jason and I went for a walk up the water. We knocked on Sara and Ashley’s door but they weren’t in. Or, they were ignoring us! Anyway, it was a gorgeous albeit breezy walk. We met lots of local dogs and many people were out for a stroll. At the top of the hill, we could see forever and there was a fabulous statue of a woman with her arms open wide, like she was welcoming the ocean in. Loved it.

We made our way back to the hotel and decided to grab a drink at the bar and sit outside on the patio. By this time, the entire patio had cleared and we had the place to ourselves! Bam! We found Sara and Ash at the bar enjoying a snack and a drink. We recommended the walk to them and they later took us up on it. We weren’t that hungry so we just had a couple of drinks and then had a cheese and cracker or two up in the room later. 

This place was the little breath of calm and respite we needed after several days of busyness and moving around. Loved it.

Visiting Kylemore Abbey and on into Sligo

Freshly bapped up, we were ready for a big adventure at Kylemore Abbey. We’d seen some pictures online and it looked to be breathtaking. We arrived mid morning, which is to say, slightly ahead of the tourist busses. Which is to say, perfect timing. 

The place was absolutely stunning. Incredibly beautiful. In a “we don’t make things like this anymore” kind of way. This always gives me pause. Why don’t we? Why don’t we build things this beautiful anymore? Anyway — we decided to go first to the gardens. WOW!! We were so delighted with the crops, herbs, plants, trees, flowers. Jason was gathering lots of ideas for a future farm. Mom and I were saying we sure wished Aunt Linda was there— she would have really enjoyed that. We walked over to the Abbey next. We got to walk through a little bit of it. They’d done a nice job of preserving it. Some rooms operating as a museum and others left with the original decorations and furniture from years ago. We did see one nun. She drove up in a car. For some reason, this really rocked my world. Never think about nuns driving cars. From the abbey, we walked down to an old, insanely cool mini cathedral. It was really lovely. We considered stopping for a scone because apparently this area of Ireland is known for its scones but by then the little cafe was overrun with all the people coming in from the tourist busses. We decided to roll back into the little village and have one there instead.

This was about the time that mom stepped in front of oncoming traffic.

One interesting thing about traveling to other countries is this notion that you just can’t quite get right. All the normal stuff no longer applies. All your preprogrammed scripts don’t work. Since we were babies, we’ve looked left before stepping onto a street. Looking left doesn’t help in Ireland. You look left, step into street, and a cab shows up from the right about to run you over. All those many things we take for granted are suddenly disorienting. 

Anyway, I screamed, “MOM” and she stepped safely back. Whew!

So, we go to buy the scones and end up with...a whole lot of chips.

Now, this is important. The chips here are AMAZING. Why are they so good? The collective fave is the shamrock and sour cream chip. 

We’re ready to cruise up to Sligo now. Home of W.B. Yeats.

Bap, roll or wrap?

So, we had a slow start leaving Galway. We’re at that point in the journey where we’ve been experiencing a lot of togetherness and despite this, somehow failed to talk about what the morning would be like. We’re not solidly planning each day out but we generally have some semblance of what time we’ll be leaving and what not. Today, we did not which meant a few of us were up sitting around waiting and a few slept longer. All fine and good in the long run but we realized it’s more fun for all to agree on a leaving time so everyone knows what’s up and can do their own thing until then. No worries, we’d do better from then on.

So, we get in the car and we’re trying to figure out breakfast. Ireland is a slow rolling start sort of place so there are no options for early breakfast eaters. And by early I mean before 9 am. Suddenly, Sara sees a place and we pull over. Woo!

It’s a cute little place with only outdoor seating. I order a breakfast sandwich called, “the manhattan” for reasons that never were clear. Here’s what happened next:

Me: I’ll have the Manhattan, please.
Her: Bap, roll or wrap?
Me:
Her: Bap, roll or wrap?
Me: uh
Her: walks to bread racks and speaks slowly while pointing: Bap....roll... wrap?
Me, stares at “bap” trying for words:
Her: stares at me
Jason: I’ll have the Manhattan, too, on a bap
Me: yes, bap
Her: ketchup, relish or butter?
Me:
Her:
Jason: yes
Her: which one?
Jason: butter?
Me: no
Her: ketchup, relish or butter?
Me: no. None. Nothing
Her: dry?
Me: I’m sorry, I don’t understand what’s happening.

Seriously. What the hell is a bap and who puts ketchup, relish or butter on an egg sandwich?

My brain died. I can’t speak English. Just want egg. Hungry.

Cliffs of Moher— getting touristy— and Galway

The Cliffs of Moher and The Big City

As we got going in the morning, we were heading towards the Cliffs of Moher — one our only true tourist spots that we planned to hit. Massive 700+ foot cliffs plunging straight into the Atlantic Ocean.

We were there in no time, and glad to get there early before ALL the tourist busses. We parked, paid and started walking up the slopes and steps to get the view. There were already quite a few people out, but it was manageable and easy to walk around. The area around it was well done — there was a small tourist center, public bathrooms with unisex bathrooms — interesting to all go into the same bathroom!!! There were a couple of little shops but it wasn’t overdone. It wasn’t the typical American type tourist spot where there were a gazillion crappy t-shirts, sugary snacks, etc. 

We got separated walking around — with the agreement to just meet back up down the hill later. Mom and I enjoyed walking to the left, and then way up again to the right. She did awesome — walking up all the steps. At the top, there was an old guy playing the accordion. I recorded him playing amazing grace for a bit. Really cool. There was a farm that ran almost to the cliffs — so plenty of sheep around, too.

Unlike the US, there weren’t a lot of solid barricades separating the walking paths from the cliffs. This is both refreshing and great for all the young morons who wander out to take selfies. Before long, the cliffs were full of people who climbed over the rails and were stomping over the likely homes of puffins and other burrowing creatures. Geez. So maddening to watch. A policeman came before long and waved them all back. One brazen girl defied him to fluff her hair and continued taking pictures until he blew his whistle. Then she ran to him — like she knew she was pressing her luck.

We met up with Sara and chatted a bit about how Instagram and other social media sites are really ruining travel to some degree. Gone are the days were people would stand in quiet appreciation and just gaze at the cliffs. Now, we’re scrambling out past the barriers and primping to take the coolest photo so other people will think.... what? We’re cool? On the one hand, whatever. Take your selfies. But on the other hand, not only are you ruining it for yourself — are you really seeing what you came to see, or are you just seeing yourself? But you’re also messing it up for others. I didn’t come to the Cliffs of Moher to gaze out and see the mountain covered with selfie takers. Right? Anyway, blah blah blah, I’m getting old and cranky.

We all met back up and decided to get the heck out of town as all the tourist busses were now pouring in. We were cruising towards Galway — eager and hopeful to hear some live Irish music. 

We got to enjoy a lot of tiny little Irish roads on this portion of the trip. When I say tiny, I mean the roads are meant for two way traffic, but one car’s width scrapes the plants on both sides of the pavement. There are some turnouts as you go — but not often enough for those of us who aren’t Irish. We knew some basic rules — the person going downhill backs up if 2 cars meet. We all sort of held our breath and said a prayer that we wouldn’t encounter a giant bus on one of those roads.

The scenery in Ireland is exactly what you imagine in your mind and hope for when you go. Having been to Iceland, there are certainly similarities. But where Iceland is more raw and untouched beauty, Ireland comes across as pristine, well cared for beauty. As though a master gardener, farmer and shepherd are secretly living in every square mile and personally ensuring everything is impeccable. 

At some point, I saw some tiny signs along the road urging no cutting or mowing so as not to propagate an invasive weed. Fascinating! So the flowers and bushes were growing wild and free and were as lovely as anything you can imagine. 

Speaking of signage, another great thing in Ireland is the lack of billboards and signs. There are some in the large cities, but by US standards, very, very few. It was liberating to not be constantly marketed to. On the other hand, the lack of street signs on every street makes being a tourist without WiFi difficult at times;) Major streets had signs — always posted on the sides of buildings and not out on the street corners or hanging from signal lights. 

We found the Irish to be very calm, chill drivers. Occasionally we heard a honk in the city, but it was never a road rage thing, more of a warning thing. You know, as in when someone uses the horn for its intended purpose! They let people over, generally don’t drive wild and way over the speed limit (but when they do, it’s an Audi). The trucks try to get over so you can pass. I loved it — of course, I wasn’t driving. But, I just found it refreshing. I’m so tired of the constant stress, speeding, anger and rudeness you get in the US when you drive. 

Oh, and get this — their gas stations are AMAZING. Like — fresh, wholesome food. Bakeries with amazing breads and scones. At some gas stations, they had small laundry mats outside. Just pull up, through in a load. Come back later. Wow!!! We often got our coffee from a gas station/convenience store type place. As in Australia, every where you go for coffee, it is made by hand. No stagnant overnight pot of stale drop coffee sitting on a burner. 

Anyway, we rolled into Galway, the second largest city in the west (after Limerick). It’s a super cute city center all wrapped up with rivers and bridges. We parked at a cathedral for 5 euros a day and went to grab some lunch while we waited to meet our host to check into our apartment. 

It was a gorgeous, sunny day and Galway reminded me of San Francisco in that when it is sunny, everyone comes outside, lays in the parks, enjoys being out and soaking up the weather. It was great people watching! 

Mom had looked up some cool pubs to go to so we cruised over to check them out. They were indeed cool — but drinks only. And we needed food! We quickly found a place nearby and went in for lunch. It was a huge place with lots of tvs— something we hadn’t seen a lot of yet. We noticed right away there was a hurling game on and Galway was playing Kilkenny. Hurling... you must be wondering what it is. I know we did.

Turns out, Ireland invented their own sport and they are crazy about it! It’s quite fun to watch, actually, especially when you have no idea what’s happening! So, they have these weird paddle/bats that they can bounce the ball on (like paddle ball). They have to bounce the ball on the bat every x number of steps but other wise they can hold the ball and run or smack it way down the field to a teammate. The goal is sort of like a soccer goal but you get 1 point for over the top and 3 for in the goal...something like that.  Anyway, fun to watch there with the Galway peeps and they ended up winning. 

After lunch, we went back to the cool local pub and had a round of Galway gin and tonics while we finished watching the hurling match. Galway gin not as good as Dingle gin, but still good! We talked to one of the barmen — he told us a lot about hurling but also mentioned they don’t like having TVs because it gets too loud. I love this place!

Speaking of loud — remember I was mentioning this before. Every place we’ve been has a set quiet time and everyone seems to follow it. Dead quiet from 10PM- 8 AM and then still pretty darn quiet after that. it’s SO refreshing! 

We went to check into our apartment— a very nice 3 bedroom place right in the middle of everything. We knew we wanted to do laundry that night so we were pleased to find a washer/dryer combo. The dryers in Ireland are interesting. First, it seems most hang everything to dry, so dryers are uncommon. I don’t mind this in principle, but when you only have one night to do laundry and need to do 4+ loads, you really need a dryer. Well...we had some heartache over this one. First, we couldn’t get the door to open again after it washed. Then we couldn’t get it to start. The buttons are labeled differently than ours would be, so nothing made sense. I finally downloaded the user manual and we figured it out. But, it took 4 hours to dry one load. That was insane. Since it was a washer dryer combo, we couldn’t get through all the laundry we needed to do. Oh well. 

We wandered back in to town for dinner but found many places closed. That meant the rest of the places were crowded. We ended up at a nice place but no live music:( After dinner, Ash, Jason and I walked around trying to find some live music but either it started at 10:30 PM or wasn’t happening that night. Dang!! 

This reminds me — they have an incredible amount of daylight right now. It would be light outside until 11 PM if not longer and would be light again around 4 AM. Really cool!! Although, it did make it harder to fall asleep at night. I enjoyed that we never had to be anywhere out in the dark.

Dingle Time!!

Dingle, It is!

Ok, so we didn’t make it to Dingle yesterday but today is the day! We didn’t want to eat breakfast at the hotel in Kells Bay so we agreed to meet up around 8 and get on over to Dingle for breakfast.

We got right on the road and before long we were in Dingle. We noticed right away there were a lot of cars around and eventually, we found out why. It was the morning of a major adventure race! We came across runners and bicyclists. We thought it was a triathlon — but later found out it was more! They also hiked and kayaked. What a great race. Interestingly, they didn’t close the roads. The poor racers were right there with the car traffic — yikes. So, the tiny town was swamped ... and there we were!

We found an adorable little place for breakfast. We sat on the back patio enjoying our coffees and food. We decided we better leave the car where we parked it since the place was so packed and we set out walking and popping into the cute little shop lined streets. 

I was stoked to make it to the distillery but we pretty much needed to make the loop around town before we got there. We got to walk near the finish line and really enjoyed the buzz of the small own alive with the race. 

We crossed a way too tiny little bridge and made it to the semi famous Dingle Distillery— just in time to learn they were booked up for the day and closing early since it was Sunday. Oh no!!! :( By this time, everyone had gotten their fill from shopping and the crowds and mom wasn’t sure she wanted to work up the hill back to the car so Sara, Jason and Ash set off to get the car and mom and I waited at the roundabout and watched the race continue on. 

Since  we ate breakfast late, no one was hungry for lunch and we decided to power on towards Limerick. In the perfect storm of all things, as we approached Limerick, suddenly, everyone was starving and had to pee. Plus, it was the biggest town we’d seen in days and the traffic was crazy. Our route of travel took us straight into downtown and we couldn’t find a place to park or decide were we wanted to go. It was quickly frustrating trying to navigate it all. 

After about 10 minutes, we decided to just head towards our house for the night. Just before leaving town, we came across a grocery store and decided to pull over to pee and load up on snacks and wine for a dinner at the house in the country.

The grocery store was interesting — a really big store and not one single bathroom. We had to leave the store, walk down the strip center to a small restaurant and use their bathroom. When Ash and Mom got there, they were closing up citing some, “trouble outside.” We never understood what the trouble was but nothing was apparent to us!!

We stocked up on all kinds of delicious cheese and crackers and Dingle gin — the distillery might have been closed but by golly were were going to taste it! Also, some wine. We set off looking for the address we’d been anticipating the whole time — old hurling field! At that time, we had no clue what that meant and didn’t care. It was just a cool sounding name.

We arrived shortly to an adorable house just out in the country. To our delight, they also had 3 dogs who were so excited to see us. The owners were staying on property and came to greet us and then let us be. We spread out — another place with all the bedrooms on one floor (this time the upper floor) and the living space on the ground level. We met up in the kitchen for gin and tonics and OH MY GOSH the Dingle gin was amazing. Everyone was in love. Since we didn’t have lunch, we tore into the cheese and crackers, olives, bread and butter. The dairy products in Ireland are absolutely incredible. The fave of the night was a blue cheese from Cashel — insane!!! 

After dinner, Jason played fetch with the littlest dog for quite some time. We later found him carrying around a brick in his mouth and trying to bury it. He was a jack Russell, so that was quite a feat! 

We had trouble figuring out how to make the dang toilets flush. We’re learning plumbing is interesting here. Finally, Sara had to ping the owner to come show us how to make the toilets flush. (Pump the handle fast 3-4 times and then it goes....sometimes:) ) 

While the setting of the house was lovely outside of town, no one slept well. The beds were really uncomfortable and the pillows were like gravel. Such a bummer. The house also wasn’t as clean as we were used to— I wouldn’t call it dirty, but it was clearly not fresh and clean. We had to wash the dishes we used first, as an example. Pretty odd!

We retired somewhat early — eager to head out the next day and move on towards Galway.