Ireland Trip Rules

Rule No. 1 ~ Do not lick the bottom of your shoes.
From our plane ride from Seattle to Chicago ~ the lavatory floor was a mess.

Rule No. 2 ~ No picking up sheep ~ absolutely no sheep that have been in the rain.  It is Ireland and you have to have a rule involving sheep.

Rule No. 3 ~ No peeing in the car even if you are laughing at the visions of dancing mitre wearing Bishops and the singing Granny's. The drive between Sligo and Galway.

Rule No. 4 ~ Don't lock your bunk mate in the room on your way out to supper! Galway lodging we discovered just how the doors lock in Ireland work and just how easy it is to lock someone in a room.

Rule No. 5 ~ Don't fool around on the steps! You will get hurt! Walking around Galway in the heat.

Rule No. 6 ~ Don't talk to horse bandits. On the way to the Muckross house near Killarney.

Rule No. 7 ~ Thou shall not squeeze the puffins! Skellig Michael

Rule No. 8 ~ Sadly ~ Don't pee on your fellow travelers unless they ask for your help with a jelly fish sting. Inch Strand

Rule No. 9 ~ Don't tip for bad service. Last night in Dublin at the restaurant in the Bewley's Hotel.

Rule No. 10 ~ Come back to Ireland as soon as you can!

Bonus Rule No. 11 ~ When in doubt deodorant goes under your arms! Seattle airport we were trying to freshen up and we were so tired we could not remember what we were suppose to do with the stick of deodorant!

Long Flight Home

We arrived back in Chicago at 12:05 PM Sunday June 3rd after an eight hour and five minute flight.  We walked around a while to stretch our legs, enjoyed our last drinks together at Chiles and said our farewells to Ed ~ it was hard to do ~ see you laters are never easy especially after such a grand trip together it was even tougher.

Emily, Josh and I still had a few miles yet to travel.  A four hour 20 minute flight to Seattle and then a four hour flight to Fairbanks.  With a three hour layover in Seattle.  We did not arrive home until 12:09 AM Monday morning.  All told it took us 27 hours to get home but the trip was well worth every minute.

Last Great Meal & Athy

Lamb Stew

We had our last good meal in Ireland in the village of Roscrea and a side trip to Athy!  We got stuck in Athy as they were having a fest ~ Family Fun Day ~ and all the main roads in and around the village were full of people.  We finally made it out of town only to take a wrong turn that took us on some back roads and then ended up back in Athy.  It was like the village was not going to let us free. There were plenty of  bad horror movie jokes from all of us and a few good laughs that I was the one who just had to visit Athy and now we would be stuck here forever.

We were not sure how but we were set free and were able to head back out of the village and a main road that would lead us to the M7 and Dublin.

Something You Don't See Every Day

Now there is something that you don't see everyday and it is true what they say about farmers in Ireland ~ crazy lot the whole of them ~ herding your cows from one place to the other down the road while riding your bicycle! 

This scene made our trip to Ireland complete ~ we somehow felt better about having to go home in the wee hours of the morning the next day.

Connor Pass ~ Dingle Peninsula

Connor Pass on the Dingle Peninsula is a narrow stretch of  road that is on rural road R569 in Knochmoylemore.  There are a couple of mountains here that are about 650 meters high and the pass, like all passes in the world, is the quicker route somewhere.  This one is a quicker route to Brandon Bay.  This was our last full day in Ireland and when we woke up sure enough it was raining.  The first day of rain we have seen since we arrived two weeks ago.  There were cloudy days before but not rain.  Driving through Connor Pass in the rain added to the foggy you can't see that far ahead of you mystery that is the pass.

We added an addendum to Rule No. 2 which is ~ No picking up sheep ~ addendum ~ absolutely no sheep that have been in the rain!

Out of The Blue ~ Out of this World

Early in the day we had found the Out of the Blue restaurant and made reservations for supper.  Actually Emily had read a review from one of her travel books and was on the look out for it as we were walking about town.   

Out of the Blue is closed after a storm ~ no one goes out fishing and so they do not have anything to put on the menu.  The menu each night changes with what was caught by the fisherman that day.  All seafood is freshly caught, nothing frozen and sometimes still alive! Raw fresh oysters!

Langoustines ~ also known as Norway Lobster or Dublin Bay Prawn

Wow is right!  Feast for Kings and Queens!

Thank you Emily for the fabulous choice for supper!

Inch Strand ~ Dingle Peninsula

After we spent the day exploring the Dingle Peninsula it was time to find a nice place where we could play in the ocean waves and the Inch Strand was just that perfect place.  We had passed it by the day before but did not have time to stop and explore so we back tracked a few kilometers and were rewarded with an afternoon well spent.

It was hard to leave.  I think that we all could have stayed at Inch well into the night but it was supper time and we had reservations at Out of The Blue restaurant in Dingle.  And we had to change into dry unsalty clothes.

Dingle Town

Dingle town ~ not to be confused with Gingle town or any thing involving St. Nicolas.  Dingle is a cute busy port town and the main town on the peninsula.  We were able to explore just a bit that first day and even did a bit of shopping at the tourist spots as this is a great place to purchase Irish woolen wears.

Kilmalkedar Church ~ Dingle Peninsula

According to the information that I found about Kilmalkedar Church, it is the most important church site on the Dingle Peninsula. The site is traditionally associated with St. Brendan, but was reputedly founded by St. Maolcethair, whose death is recorded in the Martyrology of Donegal under the year 636. There are no remains of the early monastery except possibly for the Ogham stone with the inscription of "Anm Maile Inbir Maci Brocann". 

Sun dial 

It was a serene church and cemetery with headstones so old that the names and dates were no longer visible along with some that were only 30 years old which offered a wider view of our lives as a whole and how they might all be interconnected throughout history.