Started with a miracle: We forgot to book train tickets to get us to the airport on Tuesday. The day before we were supposed to leave, I called Rolston and before I could ask him to drive us, he said “You must be doing something right. Tomorrow is my day off so yes to whatever you need.” What an amazing friend and brother.
The flight was easy, and with very little hassle we arrived in Dublin to pick up our rental car… which did not have satnav/GPS. Also, our phones wouldn’t work. So, we took pictures of a detailed road map hanging on the wall in the car rental shop, then used a silly tourist map to navigate the streets of Dublin. HA! I now have HUGE respect for all parents and grandparents who took trips before GPS was invented!
Dublin:
• St. Patrick’s Cathedral-LOVELY! Rachel and I made little copper/bronze rubbings and admired the winding stairs to the organ loft. Paul and Alice loved the gardens and the park next door.
• Drove across the city in rush hour to Kilmainham Gaol which was closed. Bummer. We did stop to buy some sandwich supplies along the way, and we got wifi by standing next to a closed café. Then we hatched the rest of our plan.
• Drove over to Trinity College where we wandered and ran to find the old library. (It was closed for an event! Boo!) We went into the newer library and smashed Rachel’s little fingers in the big heavy wooden doors. Ouch! It was so sad! Broke my heart. She was so tough. Her two fingers immediately turned black, and we thought we might have to go to the hospital, but she was able to move them without added pain, so we pressed on. (We also gave her chocolate.)
• After some frustrating driving and navigating, we finally found Alysse and Cody Allen at a cute little burrito place! They. Were. Awesome. Sooooo fun to meet Cody and see Alysse after all these years!! They are such a friendly, happy couple. Put us right at ease after a long day of craziness. Honestly, spending time with them was the highlight of the whole trip for me!
• We all went to the park to eat burritos picnic style, and Rachel was so excited to play on the AMAZING playground… but a police officer came and closed the park because it was 8 pm. AH!!! I was crushed. Rachel was so sad, she didn’t even cry. She just looked longingly at the promised park. It broke my heart! So we made it up to her by getting gelato. She picked her favorite flavor: “pink!” And Cody somehow managed to pay for ours without us noticing. Jerk!
• After gelato and walking a bit downtown, we said goodbye and drove around like lost puppies until we found the Travelodge and crashed for the night!
Day Two: Newgrange, Galway, Cliffs of Moher
• We all enjoyed the nice full Irish breakfast at the hotel before booking it up to Newgrange! The girls LOVED the visitors center and throwing rocks in the river. We had to wait a while for our tour, but I was so glad we decided to do the full experience. The cute bus driver, Lorna, became our buddy and helped us feel welcome in Ireland. She told us funny stories about her daughters and put us in touch with the women at the desk who gave us directions to a good park stop on our next journey.
• Newgrange (Bru Na Broinne) is a VERY old burial tomb that allows the sun to peek in perfectly for 17 minutes on the winter solstice. The girls really loved playing in the gravel outside, but when we went in the tomb, we were VERY crammed. I was SO impressed at how well-behaved they were! They didn’t make a fuss when the lights went out or anything!
• We stopped once at Trim Castle to take some fun pictures. There were literally castles and old ruins EVERYWHERE, but this one time we couldn't resist. Took some car naps and drove all the way across the country to GALWAY where we stopped to hit the park.
• We wanted to find dinner, but we weren’t quite hungry and thought we ought to get out before the traffic hit. Big mistake. We ended up being stuck in traffic for a bit, and by the time we were hungry, NOTHING was open. There was a tiny shop in Kinvara where we bought some sandwich meat for our second sandwiches of the day. The girls wouldn’t eat anything, but they loved reading the little books for sale. Ha!
• Jumped out of the car at the Cliffs of Moher, and RAN to the edge! The storm broke on us just after we finished taking some pictures. DRENCHED!
• We all enjoyed an easy lovely drive to Limerick where we stayed in a 4*hotel! The whole day, little castles and ruins would pop up on both sides of the road. Beautiful Ireland!
Day Three: Limerick, Tralee, Dingle, Killarney
• After that full day of driving, we decided to take it easy and go swimming at the hotel in Limerick! We all had to wear silly blue swimming hats. HA! (I conveniently forgot to take a picture.) Rachel and Alice loved jumping in to Daddy, and we all used some really tingly bath soap.
• Took a nice stroll around King John’s castle and across the River Shannon, through some shopping, saw a fight break out, and when the church bells chimed, we RACED back to the car for sandwiches on the way down to Tralee
• The Park in Tralee was fun… probably mostly for mom and dad. HA! Mom loved the zipline and Dad swung round the spinny thing like a monkey.
• Went through the Kerry Museum where we did an archeology dig and dressed up to walk through medieval Kerry!
• Dingle was ADORABLE! I wish we could have spent a full day exploring, but we sure loved the little streets and eating amazing food at Fenton’s! Best food I’ve had in the UK by far.
• Alice, however, did not enjoy Dingle very much. She and Rachel wreaked havoc on the food and the stairs at the restaurant and we hurried out as soon as possible.
• One hour to the hotel in Killarney and we were DONE. Paul and I stayed out on the couch in the hall for a while to let the girls fall asleep.
Day Four: Killarney, Ring of Kerry
• Slept in till 8:30? Alice woke up and never recovered. :)
• Rachel and I got dressed in the dark and decided to do breakfast at the hotel. It was a lame buffet, but we left happy.
• The drive to Valentia Island was GORGEOUS!! We wanted to stop about a million times, but we knew we REALLY wanted to see the Skellig Islands where Star Wars The Force Awakens was filmed.
• We hiked about 2 miles to the tower view. Paul pushed the buggy the whole way and I took turns walking with one girl or the other. We sang Pocahontas songs and made up funny stories about wolves and bugs and hiding in bushes.
• The lookout was fantastic, and Paul let me run out to the very edge to take a picture and get a good view of the world. Rachel wanted to follow me and got in big trouble with Daddy. It was a memorable experience for her.
• After the hike, stopped by an Aldi and found another park. I think we tried every park in Ireland. We drove the Gap of Dunloe and turned around because horses and crazy ladies kept shoving us off the road. Ha!
• Alice was sleeping, so Rachel and I went to get a Strawberry 99 with a flake. We loved it!
• Explored Muckross Manor in the rain and Rachel stood on a bench to take a picture of me and Daddy by the lake. We were so proud of her for figuring that out!
• Alice was delirious after wandering around, splashing and playing with sticks, so we called it quits and ordered Thai Takeaway.
• The hotel room got a little stinky, but we had full tummies and happy babies. Rachel actually loved sleeping in a cot like Alice. And they didn’t go to bed for a while because they kept laughing and talking to each other. Silly girls!
Day 5:
• I bought pancakes, peanut butter, and bananas. We all shared a fork for breakfast in the hotel.
• Drove to Blarney Castle and LOVED IT! People had warned us not to go, but we had the nicest weather, nobody there, and the loveliest afternoon spent hiking up the castle steps. I kissed the Blarney Stone! And the grounds included Blarney Manor, waterfalls, and an amazing fairy garden! We loved exploring the flowers, magic rocks, and fairy cottages until we came to Witch Rock. Daddy accidentally scared Rachel who was already feeling nervous with the idea of witches. She burst into tears and ran to me in a panic, and now she tells that story to everyone who asks about Ireland. HA!
• Next stop was Rock of Cashel where we met a funny old Irish lady who warned us not to vote for Donald Trump. We took an awesome video of us by the sheep and the ruins where I had the hiccups.
• Finished off with a drive to Dublin, no luck finding my boots (those Celtic Fairies must have nicked ‘em!), and enjoyed a nice Irish meal at… TGI Fridays. HA! It was the only eating place we could find at the time.
• A nice lady at the airport thought Rachel was cute, so she let her go press some buttons to check the bags in. Rolston picked us up after the nice flight home, and we were a happy lot to be sleeping in our own beds again!
If we were to go back, we would definitely want to spend more time in Dingle, Portmagee, Macroom, and the Ring of Kerry/Killarney National Park areas. But all things considered, we had a heavenly five day dream in Ireland.
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