Athlone

Okay, you may have noticed we’ve been working to catch up on pictures, but the blog has been lagging. Sorry about that, but gonna get another chunk out now - It’s beautiful, sunny, mid 60’s, I could be in San Diego but the Guinness here is better! So let’s get started….

You’ll notice that the first picture in this section happens to be of my lovely daughter doing what she does best, soaking up the sun! We got this feed as we were landing in Dublin, what a nice way to see our daughter had been having such a lovely day. She wasn’t as excited when I told her she’d have to write her own portion of the blog for her day in Dublin! Hahahahaha! As I was working out how to drive on the wrong side of the road, from the wrong side of the car while shifting the manual stick with the wrong hand… I wondered if we’d make it to them. As Denise was navigating us to the park where the ladies were at, I kept asking her if we could get there only making left turns. It was a right turn that got me in Edinburgh, so trying to avoid those!

We successfully navigated all the obstacles and lo and behold, but the two sunning beauties were waiting right where they dropped the pin. Mom, Dad, and Gins, this eerily reminded me of another picture of two road weary travelers getting picked up on the side of the road in Bath England… I’m amazed we were able to connect with each other back then considering the only pin Gins and I could drop at the time was the one we used to write in our journals! Also, I wonder if the urge to just keep driving was as strong with you in 94 as it was with me in Dublin? Enquiring minds want to know. I can hear Nana now in the back of that van - you better stop Rodney, that’s my grandson!!!

Once we had the ladies, we headed off for Athelon looking for Sean’s Bar, the Guinness Book of record holder for oldest bar in the world. And I was looking for my first Pint! By this time, I was really really thirsty!

The pictures show us walking from our hotel in Athelon headed to find some food, Shalyn was obviously the hungriest as she just kept on walking! If you look closely at the castle pick, you’ll see a little fairy in the background trying to get our attention. Smh, this is going to be a long 4 days! After a yummy Italian meal - don’t ask, but we hadn’t kicked our habits from last summer in Italy (and it was one of the few places open in this small town) - we headed to the bar for my first Pint and was it worth it. Pretty cool seeing a part of the wall that was built some 1000 years ago. Amazing!

Of course, the other thing we learned at Seans’ Bar, was about Harold. You’ll hear that name over and over again, but don’t fret. Harold is very nice, and sweet, and he won’t hurt Denise, Shalyn or me. As for Taylor, well, Dad any worries about carrying around a tapeworm that you’ve named? yes, that’s Taylor eating a piece of Pizza (something you’ll see her doing several times over the next day) as she refuses to let any bit of food go to waste. I worry about her sometimes!

The last picture shows the day coming to a close… around 11:00-11:30 pm. I tried to get Taylor to kick a soccer ball with me to recreate our Norway picture Doc, but she said Harold needed his rest. Late night, but we’ll be up early tomorrow, on our way to Kylemore Castle née Abbey!Read more