Exploring Ireland with Mom!

This past week has been GREAT! Mom arrived on Tuesday and I was so excited to see her. I got a call around 12:30 from this man who wanted me to go on national television (remind me to tell you the whole story later), but the real reason he called was to tell me that Mom had gotten a flat tire, jeez what a way to start off her trip. Luckily everything got better after that! I got her to her B&B where she got settled and took a little nap. Then we went out to eat and I was just so excited she was there. We planned everything that night!
On Wednesday we set off to Blarney to kiss the Blarney Stone! The weather was wonderful and we had a great time walking up about a million stairs to the top, haha. But it was truly beautiful. We all (my friend Erin, my mom and myself) kissed the stone, so now we all have the gift of gab. Then we went for a nice walk around the grounds and Rock Close. After all the scenery was taken in we of course went shopping!!! The Blarney Woolen Mills was having a sale, it was great!




Later that day we were even able to Killarney and see Muckross House and the Torc Waterfall. Unfortunately we miss the last tour out Muckross House but we did take a jaunty ride out to the waterfall. It was a little dark but some of the pictures really came out nice.

Thursday was another busy day! We decided to do the Ring of Kerry and we drove it ourselves. This was very nice because we got to choose where were wanted to stop and how long we wanted to stop for. I really enjoyed it but I sort of felt bad from Mom, the roads were a bit narrow at points and she could enjoy the scenery. But she told me she had a wonderful time. The weather again was wonderful so we really got some amazing pictures. At the end of the day we were all a bit tired.

Because we were so tired from Thursday it was nice to have a relaxing Friday. Mom and I went into town on Friday morning, so I showed her all around Listowel. We stopped by Lawler's Confectionery and St. Mary's Church. Friday was All Souls Day so we stopped in St. Mary's and lit a couple candles in memory of Dad. I really felt like he was with us!

After a tour around town we headed up to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. I had been here before the last time I was in Ireland and thought that Mom and Erin would really enjoy it. Bunratty Castle is beautiful but I forgot how many stairs there are! I remember going through the Folk Park but we had a lot less time so I saw a lot more of the park, which was very interesting. We got to see many different historic homes and lifestyles from all over Ireland in one location.

Later that night we picked up Erin's grandmother from the Airport. She is now going to be here for 2 weeks.

On Saturday we had to get an early start from the B&B because we needed to get up to the Aran Islands. I was very excited about this because I had been to the smallest island, Inisheer, and spent the night. But this time we were going to the biggest island, Inishmore, and we were spending the whole day. We took a ferry over to the islands, which was so much fun and we got to see some gorgeous sights! Right when we got off the ferry we were greeted by many tour guides wanting to take us on a tour of the island. We got on one, he took us all over and it was beautiful. The major attraction was Dun Aonghasa, a stone fort up against the Atlantic Ocean. It was a good walk up to it, on rocky paths and uphill, but it was all worth it. There were breath taking cliffs on both sides. I even lyed down and crawled to the edge and looked down, it was a bit scary! We finished off the tour by taking the coast road back to Kilronan. Then we did some more shopping! I now have my very own hand knit Aran sweater, it is wonderful! We had a wonderful day on the Island, it was just beautiful!

That night we went out to eat in Galway. We were looking for a good place the had a burger (yeah we went all the way to Ireland to have a burger), and we found one, The Cellar. Erin and I ordered a burger, when it came out we were in shock!
That is what my burger looked like when I got it and then once I was finished, it was HUGE!!!! Dad would have LOVED it!
On Sunday we got up early again because we wanted to get more sights in. We left Galway and headed for the Cliffs of Moher on the coast road. I, again, had already seen the cliffs but they are a sight that you always can go back to see again and again! They are simply breath taking, pictures do not do them justice. They have done a lot of remodeling around the cliffs, it has much more information and better paths than I remember. It all made it even better to enjoy the gorgeous view!












On our way back to Listowel we took a ferry to get from County Clare to County Kerry. I really enjoyed myself. The Shannon River is beautiful and I really think they should have a regatta on it!










Last night (Sunday) was the last night I had with Mom :( so we wanted to go out to eat together. While Mom packed her bags I looked online for a place to go, I found O'Sullivan's Thatch Restaurant and Bar. So we went to town in seach of it... but it was not there. We were about to settle for another restaurant but Mom asked someone if they had ever heard of this place. She knew of it and gave us directions to it. Let me just say I am so glad that we did not settle for the other place. O'Sullivan's was AMAZING!!! The food was excellent and I was glad that was Mom and my last meal in Ireland.
It was hard to say goodbye to Mom, I really wanted her to stay, but we had an amazing time discovering Ireland! She did a wonderful job driving on the crazy roads and it was great to spend time with her. My holiday was jam packed and I had TONS of fun, now it is back to the real world (well sort of, I am still in Ireland) and work.