Hooked Already

Well, I’m hooked on Ireland. I wouldn’t be surprised if we come back here over and over throughout the course of our lifetime. In fact, I might insist on it.

Our flights here were easy. Our plane from SF to Iceland was HUGE! Ken could stand it in no problem. We slept occasionally and read a lot. From Iceland, we flew into Dublin on a slightly smaller plane. 

We’ve been here just over 24 hours, and already all our plans have changed. Originally, we planned to drive the whole coast of Ireland, starting in Dublin and heading south and clockwise until we ended up back in Dublin.

Now, we’ve still started in Dublin, and still plan to head south and counterclockwise. But we don’t expect to make it around the whole of the country. We’ve decided that the pace matters more to use than the destinations, and we’d like the pace to be slow. Thus, the new lifelong project. We’ll return in years to come, and pick up the island-circumnavigation wherever we leave off this trip. And continue our moseying. Ireland isn’t for rushing.

Like I said, we’ve been here just over 24 hours, but it’s been a delightful 24-ish hours. We arrived yesterday in late morning and went to pick up or car rental. We had to upgrade our car a bit in order to get one that fit Ken, so we’re in a car that is much nicer than the ones we have back home – which is a bit of fun. Ken has done a great job at driving in the flip-sidded car on the left side of the road. I’m so thankful that he’s taken on the driving responsibility!!

From the airport, we (eventually) made it to downtown Dublin to see the Guinness Storehouse. Note: We opted out of GPS on our car rental, so I’m brushing up on my navigation/map reading skills. I think I’m doing a pretty good job! We got where we needed to. J The Guinness Storehouse was very cool. As you might expect, it’s the Guinness museum. We started the experience with lunch – a steak pie and a Guinness. The perfect way to kick-off our Irish experience. 

We then toured the storehouse, which was super interesting. It’s a well though-tout . . . I almost hate to use the word “museum” because it’s so much more exciting/interactive than that. “Experience” is more like it. You walk through a room representing each of the steps of Guinness creation: ingredients, roasting, samples, etc. Really well done, and really enjoyable.

From the storehouse, we drove down to Newcastle about an hour (??) south of Dublin to visit my cousins. We found the house much more easily than I expected, and arrived way earlier than we planned (we had budgeted a lot of time to get lost). But my cousin Jeanne and her husband Brian (both of whom I had never met) welcomed us with open arms! We spent the evening relaxing, talking, eating, laughing, and learning about our family history. We met their kids, and their kids’ kids, all of whom I will call “cousins” because adding the “removed” or “second” or “third” gets much too confusion. You’re family? You’re a cousin.

When Kim (the cousin closest to my age) and her family were leaving, we walked home with them. Ken helped administer medicine to their chicken. I wish I had my camera. J I know it’s not much to you, but I’m writing it here so that I’ll remember it for the years to come, because it was quite the scene with Amon (Kim’s husband) holding the bird, Ken opening the beak, and Kim squirting the medicine down the mouth. Meanwhile, Daisy (5) and Sam (3) ran around to pet the chickens. So fun.

Ken and I went to sleep early, and 13 luxurious hours later, we woke up around 10am this morning, having kicked our jet-lag.

This morning, we had a nice breakfast and then drove to the Kilmacuragh Garden to have a walk around. Beautiful! It was so relaxing just to mosey around, taking in the scenery. The ranunculus were huge and in full bloom, towers and walls of red and pink.   

We took detours on the way home. First a street stand where we picked up some potatoes for dinner, then down to the Wicklow harbor where we met Sammy the seal and bought some fish.  Next up to the old jail where we took a really quite well done guided tour, and then had coffee with a scone after. Then we drove home.

Now we’re sitting in the sun room. The weather is gray and cozy. The outside is bright green with spots of bright flowers - tulips mostly. Jeanne and Ken are reading. I’m taking a small break from reading to jot these thoughts down.

I love it here. I’m confident I’ll be back to Ireland many times over my lifetime. I’ve been here just over a full day and I’m already hooked.

I’m not sure how much I’ll be writing in the future, so I thought I might as well take advantage of this moment of wi-fi.

Thanks for following along! J

Kenny's Thoughts: I love it here. It's stunningly beautiful, and I love the pace of things. It's been a really cozy life the last day.