Our trip to Ireland started on Sep 5th (Mimi's birthday), which is
not a bad way to celebrate a birthday. There were 4 of us on this trip
Mimi and I, Ann (Mimi's sister) and her husband Tom (my cousin). We had
travelled together before so we knew this would be a fun trip.
Sitting next to us on the plane was Julio; he was a friendly talkative guy
originally from Puerto Rico but now living in Virginia. Julio was also on
a vacation to Ireland but he was traveling alone. He had worked as a
translator his whole career for the US government. The plane ride was
bumpy but it seemed to go fast since we spent much of our time talking with our
new found friend Julio.
Arriving in Shannon Ireland on time we left the plane with Ann
& Tom and bid Julio farewell wishing him a safe and fun trip. Customs
was a breeze, so we immediately went to get our rental car (Ford). We
were driving from Shannon around the southern route to Dublin. Our 1st
hotel (Oakwood Arms) was fairly close and since I was the only one to ever have
driven on the opposite side of the rode, I took the wheel and drove to the
hotel with out issues. Tom and I would be the drivers on this trip, Mimi
& Ann were not interested.
After checking in at the hotel, we ventured out to get a snack but
staying close because we were still getting used to driving on the left.
As with any international trip it's important to stay up until the
evening on the first day (jet lag), we knew Bunratty Castle and Folk Park was
nearby, so we headed over to visit our first Irish castle. That night we
ate in the hotel restaurant, the food and beer were good and the Irish people
we met were friendly and fun.
We woke up the next morning (Sep 7th - my birthday) and headed out
to LaHinch, which was known as a surfers town but also with a nice golf course.
It was cold and rainy, we wore coats hats & gloves, not what I would
call surfing or golfing weather, but despite what we might think the beach and
golf course were filled with people enjoying the day. After watching the
surfers we decide to go see the Cliffs of Mohr, Tom and I were now switching
off driving responsibilities and Tom picked it up quickly. We were
co-drivers in that when one was driving and the other would be navigating
especially through the many round-abouts. The rainy overcast weather
prevented any view of the Cliffs of Mohr, we could barely see 10 feet in front
of us but Mimi found a 4-leaf clove, Awesome! Once leaving the cliffs we
drove to The Burren National Park, which is a huge field of rocks, almost
looking like pavement (160 sq km). This rock field used to be under a
tropical sea 360 million years ago; all I can say is Wow!
Next in our travels was the town of Liscannor where we stumbled
into the Irish funeral of "Big Jack". It was just as I
imagined, his friends gathered around the grave covered with flowers spelling
out "Big Jack" toasting his life with whiskey and beer taken from a
wooden crate brought to the occasion. Vaughns Restaurant was next door to
the cemetery and it was around lunch so we went in to have lunch and the place
was packed with people (mourners) celebrating Jack's life. We had a great
lunch and experienced a great way to celebrate a friend’s life the Irish way. Sitting at the table next to us were the grave diggers being treated to hardy lunch by the friends and family. On the way back to the hotel we stopped at couple of fishing villages,
and ate dinner at Gallagher & JP Clarkes then back to the hotel bar for
a Guinness. What a great way to spend a birthday!
The next day was our last in Shannon and the weather was good so we
decided to head back to the Cliffs of Mohr, good choice, it was awesome
beautiful views. The Cliffs are something not to be missed. If we had been on a bus you we would not have had a second chance to see the Cliffs. Our
next stop today would be Adare which had beautiful cottages with thatched
roofs, picture perfect but we ran into a little trouble on the way when I ran
into a curb a blew a tire in the town of LaHinch. Talk about deflating
experience not just the tire but also my ego. I walked down to a service
station to see if they had the right size tire, thankfully they did so Tom and
I put the donut on the car and drove to the station. 100 euros later we
were back on the road, Tom was now driving. The day in Adare was great,
really neat town and friendly people; even saw a wedding party in town. A
friendly waitress at a Sean Collins & Sons bar told us about a secret
garden that hardly anyone sees because it's down the alley behind the bar in someone’s
backyard, off the beaten path. Not that we normally roam around in alleys
when we're in foreign countries but this pretty cool. We stopped at a
fancy golf club and went to the Manor House just to look around, too expensive
for us but impressive place.
After a full day we drove back to the hotel bar to play cards, have some dessert and listen to the Irish band. When Mimi was ordering dessert from the bar she told him we were seated in the back playing cards, he had this look of surprise and said "Cards, Oh! that's not allowed". Mimi said "I'm sorry, We didn't know" then he responded "Nah! Just Kidding". Great start of a fun adventure with the friendly people in Ireland.
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