Ireland 1

First off, let's just get this out of the way...

Things we DID NOT see in Ireland

And things we did...

(just kidding)

July 10, 2013

So Julia and Scott started the trip in Dublin. 12 hours on planes, no sleep, lugging suitcases, semi-delirious. A good time to rent a car and try driving on the wrong side of the road through Dublin. As evidenced by this page, we made it.

We never heard of this model of Nissan before. We just called it the Quahog. Smile added by yours truly.

Dublin public art

From Dublin we drove west until we had to stop and sleep. We ended up in the town of Nenagh for a lovely rest and our first castle and a beautiful cathedral.

We then made our way to Shannon to meet Scott's parents and some distant relatives.

For the back story on the relatives, see the "Burke Family" page

Upon arrival in Shannon, we went to meet John and Teresa Cleary. Teresa is Scott's 5th cousin whom we only recently discovered due to John's diligent work tracking down the family tree.

We had a wonderful dinner and discussed family and Ireland and all things large and small.

The next morning John and Teresa picked up Joe and Darlene at the airport.

Meanwhile Scott and Julia took a little drive through the country and then met up with everyone for our drive north to the coastal town of Clifden, where Scott's Great Great Grandmother's family lived and where some still call home.

We had a grand family reunion over the weekend (well, not sure about the "re" part, at least for us) and met a slew of really nice folks.

We took a drive along "Sky Drive" above Clifden to take in some of the inspiring views of the Irish coastal countryside.

We drove out to Kylemore Abbey and Walled Garden. Apparently a summer home for a typical Irish family a long time ago.

Lotsa flowers...

This is a little roadside grotto we spied along the way. Just tucked on a hill alongside the road, it was built on a spot where the Virgin Mary appeared to a local man and did some healing and such.

We talked to the groundskeeper. Quirky serendipitous find.

Then back to Clifden for more family get togethers and poking around my great great grandparent's old stompin grounds.

This is the original home of Scott's Great Great Grandmother, currently a shop.

One of the 2 Cathedrals in Clifden

The following day we drove into the countryside where the we visited Alcock and Brown Memorial marks the crash landing of the first non-stop transatlantic flight in 1919. We also walked through Marconi Station, where a huge early radio outpost served the first transatlantic communication link via radio.

Rams wandering the countryside and piles of peat gathered and stacked for fuel.

Imitation rams not wandering anywhere

We stopped by the little town of Cleggan, which was the home of an Aunt Rita with whom Darlene corresponded when first married.

That Monday we hopped on a ferry (or a faerie, depending on who you ask- inside joke) to Inishmor in the Aran Islands. That was like a journey back in time, where the people still speak Gaelic and stone walls enclose pastures of sheep and cattle.

Patrick drove the buggy tour of the Island, sharing his experiences of rural Irish life.

At the center of the Island is

Dún Aonghasa, a huge prehistoric fort built on the edge of the 300' cliffs on the west coast of the Island. This amazing structure was the home of a powerful kingdom a long long time ago.