Travel is my love language…along with tacos, but that’s for another day.  I am so thankful to have the time and flexibility (yea for the best husband and grandparents ever) to travel to Ireland with one of my closest friends, Anna!  We had 4 days and 5 nights to explore one of my all-time favorite countries: Ireland!  Since we’ve both been before and had already done certain areas we found that neither of us had made it to the west coast and planned to head straight for Galway after landing in Dublin.  We took a bus (for 10 euro!!) from the Dublin bus station (yea for Bus Eireann….and for anyone wanting to do the same, make sure to take the EXPRESS bus to Galway and not the local. We know from experience, trust me you don’t want 4.5 hours of roundabouts in a bus.) and arrived during a festival celebrating Galway and their excitement over being the designated the European Capital of Culture 2020.   After 3 days, I can see why they were chosen and have fallen in love with Galway!  In another lifetime, I would move there right away, set up shop and become besties with our Airbnb host who just happened to be a dancer IN RIVERDANCE.  That’s right, I tried so hard not to fangirl when we met her and for those who know me, know it was hard not to ask to try on her shoes and perform my ‘routine’.  Seriously though, Riverdance.  She’s living my other dream life 🙂  Gillian, if you’re somehow finding this and you & sweet Michael get married in the near future, call me!!

Anyway….we loved Galway, but also decided to rent a car (yikes!!!) and drive on the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ highway down to the Cliffs of Moher.  After several failed attempts at setting up a photo shoot with a local couple, we decided it would still be an adventure just getting there….and turns out, it was.  Anna expertly and cautiously navigated the impossibly narrow and rock wall-lined roads in the rain, fog and large buses.  For any of you who have attempted to drive in Ireland, bless you and can I get an Amen for the peace of mind the full insurance coverage is?!?!  We made stops in Ballyvaughn and Fanore on the way to the FOG-laden Cliffs of Moher and had a day full of adventure!  Our last two days were spent in Dublin exploring the Temple Bar area, eating more great food, listening to music and buying shorts to beat the heat wave while working on our tans…and also wishing we were back in Galway!

Anna – I love you and adore you and am so thankful for our adventures all over the world together! You are an amazing woman, a loyal friend and I wish someday we can live next to each other (or at least keep traveling the world together!).   I can’t believe we’ve visited each other over the past 15 years in: College Station, Las Vegas, Austin, Orlando, New York City, Washington DC, Anaheim, Phoenix, Munich, Florence Italy and now Ireland! Schmettelinger, Sliante, Craic, Honey Horse Cake and Prost to many more ugly cry airport/trainstation goodbuys in our future! xoxoxo

I made Anna duplicate my selfie photo I have with Eric at the Dublin airport…also so she would make sure to DRIVE ON THE LEFT”!

Our neighborhood in Galway was sooooo cute!

We made it to our Airbnb in Galway and enjoyed learning how to open the trickiest door ever.  

Our first meal in Ireland…fish & chips,a gallon of vinegar, mushy peas and Smithwicks!

Get ready for so many cute door photos!

The Spanish Arch

Cutest name for a tea shop ever.

Live music, friendly locals, a game of Gaelic football, a John Lennon impersonator and a wee bit of irish step dancing from yours truly! Such a fun night out.   I LOVE GALWAY!  Sliante!

Just outside of Galway on our way to the Cliffs the next , we found our first Irish castle! Dunguaire Castle is a 16th century tower house on the southeastern sore of Galway Bay in County Galway, Ireland near Kinvarra.  The name derives from the Dun of King Guaire, the legendary king of Connacht.

Pit stop in Ballyvaughn for FroYo and fresh air!

My favorite door in Ireland.  I made Anna go back so I could take professional photos…

My friend Clare, who I met during my last trip in Castleconnell (Thanks Vig for the introduction!) recommended we go through Fanore for a stop at O’Donohue’s so we grabbed lunch at this great place on our way to the Cliffs!  We went, we ate, we saw – thanks Clare! Now I really have to come back, was so sad to miss saying hello in person!

The fog had started to set in during this part of the drive….oh oh!

Anna doing a magnificent job of not hitting all the rock walls that lined every road that we had to share with buses.  Whoohoo!

When we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher, the booth attendant lady looked at us like we were crazy American tourists.  I’m not sure why!  We’d just driven 2.5 hours and we were sure paying the 6 euro to see the fog, gosh darn it. So here it is. The beautiful Cliffs of Moher on the day they had ZERO visibility.  My good friend Kenny Kim visited the day after us and had beautiful blue skies and sunshine and I’m pretty sure a leprechaun showed up.  Oh well, now I really have to come back!

 

You could hear the Puffin over this side of the cliffs we think.

The cows didn’t seem to mind the fog or the danger signs.

O’Brien’s tower was the only slightly visible thing I could photograph…so yeah, here you go!

Who doesn’t love a good Snapchat filter?!

And the fun drive back to Galway…

Our last morning in Galway called for coffee…so how about the most hipster place possible with pour over and pretty latte’s?

The ironic thing is, I finally bought my wool sweater on the hottest day in Ireland.  Go figure. Can’t wait to wear it in December when Texas finally cools off!

If you made it this far, you’ve earned a giggle from more snapchat filter fun.  What else can we do on a 3 hour bus ride to Dublin??

Ok, so I only took one photo in Dublin. Seriously, fail. And it’s of Temple Bar – how touristy of me!  We also walked around Trinity College, saw a few other old buildings, walked through a beautiful garden, hit up the Dublin Disney Store (yea for irish Mickey shirt for Evan!), ate more great food and enjoyed walking around in shorts and tank tops while getting a tan IN IRELAND!  Sliante!

Flying back to Munich together…stay tuned for Part 2 blog post from Munich! Wrahhh…love and miss you Anna!

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