Welcome To Ireland ~ Its a Wet 'n Wild Place!

CowboyCraic · Guru

Welcome To Ireland ~ Its a Wet 'n Wild Place!

Judy · Guru

Bit,

Enjoyed reading about your first days adventure. I see you have learned as I did on our trip to Ireland, tweens and teens are always hungry and they take long showers.

The house you stayed at sounds grand. Looking forward to hearing more of your adventure.

Judy M.

CowboyCraic · Guru

Day two ~

Rainy morning + Sunny afternoon + day time high around 55 = perfection

Jet lag took a heavy toll on all of us. We slept in to well past my usual waking hour in Ireland. I woke up grumopy, as I hate wasting a moment of daylight whilst in Ireland. However, the smell of bacon cooking chased the grumpies away! FLANO made us all breakfast. Because of the late start, the decision was made to only tackle Blarney, which would allow for a full afternoon to explore all of the Castle offerings. Carl hadn't yet recovered from the flight and the first day's drive so he opted to stay home and rest. Off we set with Ma and the two girls.

As many on the Forum know, I am not a HUGE fan of Blarney Castle, itself. I do however love the grounds, especially the Fern Garden and the Rock Close. FLANO & crew made the "holy grail" hike up to the top of Blarney castle and dutifully kissed the stone. Well, the girls and FLANO kissed it. Ma couldn't safely get close to it so she blew it a kiss. Stone kissed, photos and certificates purchased, off we set to the fern garden and the rock close. I love the carved wooden statues in the fern garden. I do admit to having "Fern Gully" flashbacks whilst there though. Off to the Stable Mews for a quick drink and a snack. Appetites sated and thirsts quenched...for the moment, we headed for the Rock Close. I could spend an entire day in the Close. The waterfall mesmerizes me and I am adept at walking backwards up and down the Wishing Steps with my eyes closed. How long does it take for the wish to work? I am still in Arizona...not in Ireland. We had a great time in the close and explored every nook and cranny. That meant that we were one of the last groups out of Blarney Castle.

We finished off the day with a Carvery dinner at Muskerry Arms. THe food was delicious and our server delightful with a wicked humour! The youngest said she wanted chicken nuggets. The waiter replied "and just where do ya think the nuggets are located on a chicken?" The carvery dinners were excellent and a good value. We ate on the pub side so perhaps that makes the difference. They also have lodging facilities. FLANO expressed an interest in staying there on one of our trips.

As we headed out of Blarney, the Faeries must have whispered in FLANO's ear as we ended up turning left instead of right out of Blarney. The left turn led us deep into the countryside along narrow roads, with "coin-flip" decisions on whether to turn right or left, trying to determine how we had crossed over the M-20 or under it without even trying, as we started east of it and ended up west of it. At a T-intersection, we gave Ma the choice "Left or Right". "Left" says she and so left we went. It wasn't even five minutes later that our cottage materialized from the rainy mist. We asked MA, "Why did you choose left?" She said "In the states, I would have said right. I figured everything is opposite here so I chose left."

We checked on Carl who was still under the weather. He said that he wasn't sure if he could handle any car trips at all. That had us concerned, as we had to head to Clare on Saturday and then to Dublin the following Wednesday. We also found out that he had undertaken this "Bucket List" vacation against his doctor's advice. Not sure what to do, we were discussing options when David popped in to ask if the girls wanted to ride. Of course, the girls were all over that prospect! David asked how Carl was feeling and FLANO said that we need to find out from a Chemist what the most effective over the counter medication would be for car sickness. "leave it to me" says David, "I will have him sussed out tomorrow". Off the girls and I went to the barn for some horse time. FLANO was hunting foxes with his high powered zoom lens

Back from the barns, the eldest girl headed up for her shower. I fixed supper, spaghetti with meat sauce for us and Ice cream for Carl, as that is the only thing he is "supposed to" consume by mouth. All his meals come in liquid form through a stomach tube. He wasn't happy with the ice cream, as it had chocolate shavings and tasted gritty. I believe it was Haagen Daz.

Off to bed as we had a full day ahead the next day chasing family roots in Cork City.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Bit,

Ireland was wet and wild when I was there in May! I think 2011 is a washout. Did you tour Blarney House? It was open fir the first time ever when I was there and I got a tour after 38 years.

You've left us in suspense. Please continue....

Michele

CowboyCraic · Guru

Michele,

I think they've had one or two days of summer. Otherwise, winter seem sto have taken up residence and decided to stay!

We didn't make Blarney House. I will have to make not e of that for another trip.

As to David, were he of shorter stature, I might have thought we had our own leprechaun. He still calls to check in with us on a bi-weekly basis! biggrin

I want to put up some pictures of the first two days ...and the cottage...then I will continue the story... wink

susan · Senior Member

I am enjoying your trip report !

My favorite line has to be-" He wanted it to be special and so he booked us in First Class/Business Class there and back"- I think you have a keeper!

Susan

Michele Erdvig · Host

Bit,

Did you get a blender from Argos in Kilkenny? Or perhaps your self-catering place had one? Sounds like Flano is a keeper! First-class is definitely the way to go. It is lovely to be spoiled.

Michele

Irrover · Veteran Member

Just had to say this since it gave me a laugh. Wasn't sure what a FLANO was. Thought it might have been an acronym like DH (devoted husband) so did a google search and this was waht came up at the top:

Urban Dictionary: large bodied, loud, obnoxious, arrogant breed of Australian alcoholic. should not be confused with bogans/footy heads or yobos.

Just had to laugh!

CowboyCraic · Guru

OMG!!! That is hilarious!

FLANO is my sweetie. His given name is John Flanagan Jr but he earned the handle FLANO in the Air Force and it has stuck. He is far from any of those descriptives in your definition, thankfully! He is Irish and all that it entails, good and bad. Yes, Michele & Susan, he is definitely a keeper!

Michele, we ended up not needing a blender, as the VA sent Carl with more than enough of his liquid nutrients. He even ate real food....as he said he wanted to taste everything one last time... cry

Michele Erdvig · Host

Bit,

I know this was a bittersweet trip for you. But you will always remember it and the memories can never be taken away. We look forward to seeing some photos and more of the story.

Irrover, I agree. That is fall on the floor funny.

Michele

CowboyCraic · Guru

Here are some photos from Our Faerybook Lodgings outside of Mallow

Melissa5 · Guru

CowboyCraic: I have been enjoying skimming through your wonderful trip report, complete with a fairy-tale thatched cottage materializing out of the mist. Love the photos. I admire Carl's spirit, and I love Ma's directions...just go left when you think you should go right because everything is backwards in Ireland! aww Which county is Mallow in?

-- Edited by Melissa5 on Saturday 30th of July 2011 10:33:22 PM

CowboyCraic · Guru

Day Three ~

Late starts will apparently be the norm on this trip...unless I want to hear the disgruntled all of the pre-teen warblers...Lucky for them I am in Ireland and cannot bear to be grumpy biggrin

Today is the day for Castles and Cloud scudded blue skies. Off to Cahir we set, FLANO, the two girls and I. Carl was still not up to traveling and Mom had stubbed her toe on the shower lip the night before. She opted to stay home and keep Carl company.

Cahir was just what the girls needed! They were able to climb and explore, running along the rampart walks and poking in every nook and cranny. I was asked several times, as the girls were posing for yet another picture, what magazine we were doing a shoot for. They are quite photogenic the two of them, to be sure!

We spent two hours exploring Cahir and then set off towards the Swiss Cottage. We never made it, as the youngest decided the walk was too much for her to endure..

Back in the van, we headed for Cashel, still blessed with blue skies and cloud fluff. If I had to do it again, I probably would have skipped Cashel and went to Kilkenny instead.

After Cahir, Cashel, with all of its scaffolding and areas partitioned off, was a disappointment. FLANO and I did enjoy rambling about through the headstones. The eldest girl was none to pleased with walking on dead people no matter how long dead. The last time I was there, Cashel was under "some" scaffolding, which detracted only slightly. I am not sure but I believe this time that there was more scaffolding than the last, which was a huge detraction. We spent all of an hour at Cashel before deciding to head towards home.

We did enjoy Hoare Abbey and FLANO was able to get some great pictures there but over all, the best thing to come out of Cashel were the Wexie Strawberries and even those were small and blander than usual.

Off to home we set once again, jiggity Jig. We passed several cemeteries which whispered "come walk here and explore" but with the eldest on board, I opted to add them to the "next time" list, which was getting longer by the hour.

Back at the cottage, the girls went down to the barn for some horse time and I went to bed with a headache and an elephant on my chest whilst FLANO worked on dinner.

Two hours later, I woke up to the smell of fried porkchops and a hot cuppa tea at my bedside with two of my Jacobs elite teacakes. He is a keeper, indeed! The girls had come in from their horse time and we all settled in to dinner. The girls told Carl & Mom about their Cahir adventure. They didn't spare much time for Cashel though. Mom told us that Carl had ventured out to the barn twice. That was an improvement and made us hopeful that he could do some of the day trips, eventually, if David had found him the proper meds.

After dinner, we had a look at Momma's toe and she had a good blood blister growing. Comedy commenced as we tried to get her to lance the blister both for relief and healing. Finally it came down to "tit for tat". Carl hadn't been "eating" his liquid meals like he was supposed to. Momma said "You eat a whole can of your meal supplement and I will do my toe".

Meal eaten, toe much happier, we sat down to figure out the logistics for the next day. We were heading to Cork City to visit the home where Momma's daddy was born and from where he and the rest of the family left to go to America. Carl once again said he couldn't make it. The girls grumbled as I set a mandatory leave time of 9 o'clock. I wanted enough time to do ork City and Cobh.

The girls headed upstairs to shower, I went upstairs with a cup of lemonsip and a good book. Mom and Carl went in to watch television. FLANO wandered out to photograph foxes in the meadow and have a chat with David.

So another day came to a close...nothing earth shattering happened...but two girls forgot for a time their current situation and were allowed to be kids...It was a grand day, indeed!