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Emerald Isles!!!
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Emerald Isles!!!

Going to find our Pot O’ Gold! Or Pint of Guinness!! Read more
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  • Trip start
    July 7, 2024
    Stalheim AdventuresEmerald Isles!!!Traveler
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    SkyClub with our 1st Class Tickets!

    July 7, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    So, made it to the airport and just saw Shalyn and Taylor heading out! They leave 3 hours before us but get in 9 hours earlier to Dublin. However, we do get lay flat seats to Paris with a yummy meal and then 1st class to Dublin and lounge access. That makes Denise happy and pretty sure that old mantra my Dad told me about - Happy Wife, Happy Life! Has a little something to it! Doesn’t hurt if it makes me happy too. I just hope she remembers it’s back to steerage for the next trip!

    Okay, off we go. I’ll add along the route as I can. Next stop is Paris, then on to Dublin tomorrow around 5 pm local, Noon eastern!    Read more

  • Stalheim AdventuresEmerald Isles!!!Traveler

    This could be trouble…

    July 7, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌩️ 27 °C

    Beware who you give your blog links too. But hey, let’s have some fun!

    Denise can have the gold! I have a feeling I’m going to need that Guinness!

  • Stalheim AdventuresEmerald Isles!!!Traveler

    Nature’s 4th of July show!

    July 7, 2024 in the United States ⋅ 🌩️ 26 °C

    Well, hopefully this passes relatively quickly! Fortunately, the Skymiles lounge stay open late tonight and they have plenty of champagne! 30 minutes to hoarding! Well, I’ve been hoarding for years! So maybe 30 minutes to boarding!Read more

  • Stalheim AdventuresEmerald Isles!!!Traveler

    Ok, this is pretty cool!

    July 8, 2024 in the United States ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    So, finally onboard, about 30 to 45 minutes behind schedule. Hopefully that won’t bite us in the butt in Paris. Always dreamed of filming a OJ commercial in the airport there (if you weren’t born before 1980, you may need to look that up - and no, I’m not talking about Orange Juice!). Anyway, I may have to feed Denise a bunch of drugs when we get back and tell her this was all a dream. I may not get her back to steerage! Of course we all know it will just end up with Denise flying in 1st class and Fed Exing me over “ground”…. Smh.

    I am looking forward to trying to sleep laying down vs folded up on one of these flights though. Should have asked Shalyn for some of the good stuff before they left. Oh well!

    Next stop Paris! Until tomorrow….    Read more

  • Stalheim AdventuresEmerald Isles!!!Traveler

    Dublin (Taylor and Shalyn)

    July 8, 2024 in Ireland ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Taylor here, I’m not NEARLY as articulate as Dad but I’ll try my best (funny as neither of us enjoyed English and writing classes but one of us is definitely better off) . Shalyn and I had a very uneventful DIRECT flight from ATL to Dublin (we got here first nanny nanny boo boo -Shalyn). Made it in, through passport control and customs and off to our bus! Not off the bus for more than a few minutes and granny gang pulls up!! (Dad said he wouldn’t comment on this pic but I have no problems… they see me rolling🕺)

    Started the day with some much needed coffee as it was basically 3am for us and we were running off fumes and a few hours of sleep! I’ve come to the conclusion that I will get my coffee in a mug and sit down as often as I can (I’m convinced the to-go cups are smaller than the massive mugs you can see in the picture… I won’t get cheated out of my coffee that’s for sure). Fueled up (kinda) we set off on the tour bus and started down the route, it was super nice to be able to jump on and off and take note of stops we wanted to come back to. We ultimately made the very difficult decision to go to the Guinness storehouse for our first stop (pints at 11am are acceptable here🤪). We went through the whole process of how Guinness is made and all the rooms had the most delicious smells, it reminded me of Disney *sigh* when will mom and dad take me back :( I was very upset to find out that chocolate isn’t an actual ingredient in mom’s fav beer. I’m of the personal opinion that it tastes nothing like chocolate so this made sense, anyone who thinks it does is a bit delusional. This didn’t stop me from taking advantage of the free pint that was offered at the Gravity Bar at the top of the world’s largest pint shaped area(?) and we ended up making a friend! Theo was from France and we think he was on a summer trip between school, he couldn’t quite comprehend what a PA was and was very interested in field artillery! I can say that I beat Mom and Dad in getting a Guinness in Ireland!!

    After Guinness, we got back on the bus and went back around the loop. We walked through Trinity College and saw a ton of tour groups. Not sure I would want to go to school in a place where so many people are walking through everyday. Being in a place with this much history is incredibly neat though. I do recognize that West Point does have lots of tours and history BUT we were at least able to regulate how many tourists come through AND they weren’t allowed to just wander! We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the town and popping into shops, Shalyn sent out some postcards and found some cute gifts for the fam! I started checking off items on the “Ireland Checklist” that one of my E-5s from work gave me! We got a pic at the “Temple Bar” , one of the oldest / most famous bars in Dublin (at least we think this was the right one… there was about 18 Temple Bars within 400m of each other on the same street, imagine that). I did enjoy finding the street warning for everyone outside the UK… “Look left” and “Look right” were at almost every cross walk with reminders to “Drive on the left side of the road”. Dumb foreigners right? (At least it’s not only us Americans here! Everyone is just always confused!

    Finally, we got back on the bus and made our way to Phoenix Park to get picked up by our valet (they were a little late… 4/5 stars currently. I’ll update as the trip progresses.) Anyway, we made it to a parking lot to make it easier for our Uber to find us and took a break to enjoy the rare Irish sun! Can’t complain so far! I dont want to work next week! Until next time 🫶🏼    Read more

  • Stalheim AdventuresEmerald Isles!!!Traveler

    Nothing like a connection in Paris!

    July 8, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Ok, so been a busy two days, but getting things updated again. The flight over worked out great and yes, Business or First class is not too shabby. If you take a gander at the pictures - first off, I geeked out over the camera view you could get on your video screen of the plane! Love that picture! - you can see that Denise settled in really well. It may be a battle on whether or not we ever travel again as that kind of service can’t be expected without a little lottery help! But for this trip, well, I won’t complain!

    The seats were great, lying flat while flying is pretty sweet, and as for the food - WOW! I mean, the menu was printed and we got the beef. They started us with a smoked Duck breast salad, and while I do like breasts, these Duck breasts were perfect! Then we moved on to the main course. They gave us a little jar of Dijon to eat with the mashed potatoes and beef and wow! It was excellent!

    At this point, I probably should have been asleep, but you know, it’s first class - fly like you own it! So as I reviewed my menu, well, I figured, let’s try the drinks…. So my one picture is of my Medoc red wine, a little Cognac, a Cappuccino and some water just to make sure it all went down AND shocker, it did! Between the balance of the alcohol downer, the caffeine coffee upper and the lay flight seat, the next 3+ hours pretty much didn’t exist for me. It was quite nice. Unfortunately, my seat was way too close to my wife’s overheating menopausal body, and she somehow managed to overheat my seat by about 112 degrees! (Or maybe my own geriatric fat was slowly generating the suffocating heat I woke up too) but either way, i woke up just in time treading water in sweat ready for my egg and spinach breakfast, also quite tasty!

    Besides the camera on the tail, there was also one under the body behind the front tires, watching the plane land in Paris was my second big geek out moment. I got the perfect shot as the front tires went poof! And suddenly we were in France! now for the real fun.

    Once on the ground, thanks to the storm in ATL, we were already 30 minutes late taking off. They made up 15 minutes in the air, and when we landed, we had an hour and 45 minutes to make our connection in Paris. Plenty of time per the Air France AI assistant I kept asking. The only problem, she didn’t know that we were then on the ground for an hour waiting to get to our gate due to a malfunctioning boarding ramp… And after waiting 30 minutes to get to our gate… the ramp broke again and we waiting another 30 minutes to deplane. Now down to just 45 minutes to make our connection, well, the adrenaline kicked in and things got interesting. (If you weren’t aware, when changing concourses in Paris, you may have to take a bus to move between them. The time between concourses is not long, the time to wait on the bus…🤯! Anyway, that picture of Denise and I with one person behind us? Well that was the last person to make our flight to Dublin, we were numbers 2 and 3! Talk about close! Whew!

    Of course, when you just barely make your connection, there are other interesting components, yay, were were on our way to Ireland, the question was, Is that our suitcase on that baggage cart, well, inquiring minds wanted to know and we wouldn’t know for another 2 hours!!!!    Read more

  • Stalheim AdventuresEmerald Isles!!!Traveler

    Dublin!!!

    July 8, 2024 in Ireland ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Ok, finally on our way to Dublin and only showing a 15 minute late arrival. The pictures attached are pretty clear. The first one is our first view of Ireland. I had seen similar views of Ireland flying into London (who am I kidding, that island is always covered by clouds!), but to see it in the sunshine was impressive. It took a minute as we flew over to realize we were looking at Dublin. It looked so small from the plane, but we knew somewhere down there were our traveling companions, who I know were desperately worried we weren’t’ going to make it (we made all the hotel reservations and the rental car is in our name - They would have partied hard in Dublin, but then wanted us on that island, they NEEDED us on that island!!!

    The funny thing is once we got by Dublin (which took 5 seconds), we got to see why it’s called the Emerald Isle! Wow! Just beautiful landscapes. We can’t wait to get moving through the countryside. Although, I’d be happier if they drove on the right side of the road and they didn’t use a stick shifts that required a left hand shift! At least the clutch should be in the right place!

    Once on the ground and safely moving through customs, well one of us breezed through, the other one still sweating from some internal heat source only 50 year old women can explain took a little more time. Out to the baggage and fingers crossed, let’s see what we can find! Well to ruin the shocking surprise, our bags weren’t part of the surprise! yeah, I kind of wish those were our clothes in the card board boxes, but surprisingly, I sprang for slightlier nicer luggage - I’m only partial Murphy after all. We will see what happens, but according to that non Irish guy behind the counter talking to Denise, our bags are either somewhere in the Middle East or will be in Ireland tomorrow, which is kind of like when you ask your kids to do the dishes and three days later they still haven’t been done? That’s the confidence I have in these bags showing up before we leave this tiny green island with the beautiful black liquid gold…. Speaking of which, I need one of those pronto!!!!    Read more

  • Stalheim AdventuresEmerald Isles!!!Traveler

    Hitchhikers in Dublin -> Then Sean’s Bar

    July 8, 2024 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    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

  • Stalheim AdventuresEmerald Isles!!!Traveler
    Taylor with her Irish Castle - Sgt Antsy gave her a list she's supposed to complete... 1 down!
    Apparently the camera was behind me, and we weren't just waving to people passing by on the bridge.Feeding Harold, always feed Harold or Harold will get Angry! don't make Harold Angry!Kylemore Abbeyand the award for the most American tourist goes to.... (Drumroll)Another view of the Abbey (Castle).Lunch from the Abbey's garden! It's a nice garden!I said a bite of my Apple Pie, and it better be a small bite!Double Trouble...smh

    Kylemore Castle nee Abbey!

    July 9, 2024 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    Ok, trying to get back to the story. These late nights and quick mornings have kept us on the move and not every pub is conducive to my Pulitzer Prize style of writing! While I may be sitting at bars that were once occupied by Keats, Joyce, Wilde and Shaw, I don’t feel comfortable allowing my keen wit and sharp tongue to stoop to their level of drivel! To that end, now that I’ve been sober for over 5 minutes, we can get back to the show! So where were we…

    Oh yes, last we left our Handsome roguish Hero, he was deftly warding off the evil spells of three heinous witches! Oh wait, I hope they don’t have access to the new Blog link. Just in case, we are going to go fiction for a bit and just say our sturdy American lad was managing to cart his three sturdy American maidens around the Emerald Isle.

    Waking up in Athelon, bright and early, well, only early enough to make sure the local coffee shop was open, we took another stroll downtown to get some wake up juice and some nourishment for Harold. As you can see in picture 3, Harold had already digested his early morning scone and busily working on finishing that cold pizza from the night before. We had about an hour and a half drive to Kylemore Abbey, our destination for the day.

    We got there a little before 10 am, with partly cloudy skies hanging around, but no rain to be seen. The Abbey, originally Kylemore Castle, was built in the mid 1800s as a wedding gift for a bride (I am glad Denise and I agreed to a $50 limit for our gifts!). The gentleman was not a Lord, but his dad was a local who had built up a huge import/export business after moving to England. His son, after inheriting his father’s wealth (hint hint, cough cough) loved the area so much after honeymooning with his wife at a local hunting lodge, purchased 13K acres and preceded to build the castle. After his wife died unexpectedly, after bearing 9 children (so not too shockingly), the husband stayed mainly at the Castle, building a mausoleum for her and a small cathedral. Then fast forward 20 years and he was broke - things that make you go Hmmm. Fast forward to the 1910’s and a group of nuns from Ypres (who happened to be Irish) offered to buy the dilapidated Castle for pennies on the dollar. The current mortgage holder, having had zero offers over several years, ended up selling for $100K or so pounds which the nuns didn’t have. Being smart and resourceful, they started a school, charged a shit ton for young rich women from around the world to come to, and they paid off their new loan in 13 years… So guys, don’t trust a Nun who says she has enough money to buy your castle, you are getting bamboozled! And don’t send your daughter’s to an expensive private Nun school because again, you are getting bamboozled! (Oh crap, I think this is called a run on paragraph - sorry, got sidetracked!).

    So the short of it is, don’t trust Nuns unless you’ve recruited them to buy you real estate and run your school!

    By the way, we also finally found the rain, which was timed perfect as it started when we sat down to a beautiful Nun inspired meal grown in their garden and the rain was finished shortly before we were finished. That apple pie drowned in warm custard, was Awesome!!! Glad my doctor was traveling with me and gave me the go ahead to eat it! Yummy!    Read more

  • Stalheim AdventuresEmerald Isles!!!Traveler
    Looking up the Lake in front of the Abbey - Nice view!
    Garden path inside the walled GardenStream out of the Lake headed for the OceanSame stream looking the other way, why not.Clouds finally starting to roll inCountryside on the way to GalwayOn the road to GalwayThis is from South Carolina... Just kidding, still on the way to Galway

    Emerald Isle for a reason!

    July 9, 2024 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    I only get 10 pictures per footprint, but felt like I needed to share a little of the scenery around the isle. It’s pretty beautiful! I tried to channel my inner Murph (minus the beer) to get some landscape pictures of the local Lough’s and countryside around Kylemore and on our way to Galway! Hope you enjoy!Read more

  • Stalheim AdventuresEmerald Isles!!!Traveler
    Shopping in Tesco! Look what Tay and Denise found - A Hairy Cou!
    Don't tell anyone, but the NCR Self Checkout had a hiccup.3Packing up our spoils for lunch! Just like my parents taught me.The Cliffs of Moher, very Impressive!The Three Husky Peers! (At least after all this eating we've done - and maybe drinking!)Cliffs looking the other way.We finally found Shalyn! Love that they put up a Shalyn proof wall here.You may recognize these blokes! They are stalking Shalyna & Taylor - May be traffickers!Lunch, just like my parents drew it up - minus buying it from a roadside stand.And Taylor started making friends. No Taylor, you can't take it home!

    Drive to Cliffs of Moher

    July 11, 2024 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
  • Stalheim AdventuresEmerald Isles!!!Traveler

    And Taylor’s version - SMH - Help me!

    July 11, 2024 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    There’s not much to say on this post. The artist that captured these took a self portrait at the end in her favorite hang out. Things started out innocent enough then I think she got into some happy weed or overdosed on sunshine, not sure. All I know is it went downhill quick and we had to take away her phone privileges! Parents, please watch your daughters and do better - I obviously got a couple things right and a lot of things - we’ll just say are questionable. 😳😝Read more

  • Stalheim AdventuresEmerald Isles!!!Traveler
    Notice there are only two of us - someone else is back in the car sleeping - cough cough
    Pretty Falls! Would have been nicer if I had parked at the closer parking lot.Our new friends, and we've made thousands and thousands of them. They're like opossums!Oh, this is so beautiful. Worth the drive - just glad we waited until most of the traffic was gone.Wait, we are going where??? yeah, that's a one lane road, get used to it MartyNope, I quit, I'm out!Don't worry, he'll come back, I have all the drugs - and I've taken quite a few for this drive!1This made the drive worth it!oh yeah, not surprised Brandon is crazy enough to come build a cabin up here.Needs no explanation.

    Tork Falls and the dreaded Gap of Dunloe

    July 12, 2024 in Ireland ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C
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