Just recently my Mom joined us for a trip back to Ireland for 4th of July. If anyone is Irish, I would bet it's my Mom. She looks like a leprechaun! Red hair and all!
Any way, we did a 10 day road trip around Ireland. And boy will that take a lot out of a car! This was our itinerary...
Day 1 - Drive to ferry in Wales - 6 hours in the car - over night ferry ride. Arrive in Dublin at 6am
Day 2 - Drive to the Rock of Cashel in Cashel. See where St. Patrick baptized the heathen Pegan King (insert funny story where St. Patrick accidentally stabs King with his staff and King says nothing thinking that is the pain of being Catholic- hahahaha) - Continue drive to Cobh - last port of call for the Titanic and family genealogy research (insert - no real findings... boo hoo) - Continue drive to Kinsale - Culinary Capital of Ireland. (insert delicious pub food and beer!)
Day 3 - Drive to Dingle - Enjoy the country side. Stop at random Castle ruins (thanks a lot Cromwell - jerk) and explore Dingle. (insert more beer and Irish music)
Day 4 - Drive the Dingle Peninsula - See famine houses and fields. Make Grandma hike almost vertical hill to see amazing view of Skelling Island and Dingle! (note - next time remember wind gear)
Day 5 - Drive to Doolin - Make Grandma hike difficult level trail to the Cliffs of Moher (insert - oops! but hell of a view) - Get a coffee at visitor center and take the bus back. It's not nice to make Grandma hike 2 days in a row - Finish the day with Beer and music!
Day 6 - Drive the Connemera National Park - enjoy the scenery! See the famine trail, famine ship and enjoy the weather (note: Ireland may have super HOT or super COLD weather). Stop off to visit the only family that mines Connemera marble. Buy stuff at their gift shop! Finish in Galway and collapse!
Day 7 - Tour Galway in the morning! See the Latin Quarter, the church, the claddagh ring maker, the crazy people down by the river. (Check that box!) Then drive to Laurencetown to visit Grandma's family town. (Insert - Car almost breaking down, no part places in site and no tools - DAMN! That's what we get for driving a 1999 van around the EU) High tail it pass Laurencetown to Dublin (stop at every part store on the way!). Check into Dublin and relax!
Day 8 - Let Man on road trip fix car! (sexist but S&%t he knows how to fix it). Women go tour Dublin. Visit St. Patrick's Cathedral, The Chester Beatty Library, The Dublin Castle, Walk the tourist trap area, shop!
Day 9 - Drink Guinness and tour more Dublin - get on ferry (filled with truckers) headed for Liverpool. Eat amazing trucker ferry dinner and have some beers (your among truckers - have a little fun)
Day 10 - Arrive at 6am in Liverpool! Drive around to Paul McCartney and John Lennons house (stalking them quietly as it's a residential area), Stop by Penny lane while people are trying to get their morning coffee (hahaha, they must get that all the time). Wait for Beatles Story to open then take the tour (insert - Amazing!), See other sites and finish it all off with a 5 hour drive back to Ely.
I could practically run a touring company with a schedule like that! Hell of a trip and apart from missing the most important site on Grandma's list of places to go.. I think we did a pretty decent job of showing her the real Ireland.
As for missing Laurencetown (the place where they think our family comes from), I'm going to say that I'm fairly certain that it was not meant to be. Our car has never broken down in a foreign country before and it hasn't since (knock on wood). I wonder if those skeletons in the closest got the word that we were on the way and they had God intervene and break our vehicle. Just a thought...
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