Ireland - Day 1

Friday, Sept. 17th, the day after John's pinning we packed up and headed out of town. We planned a trip with the Kirscher Family and Roy, back in July early August, to head to Ireland for a few days. When the trip was booked we had no idea if John was going to make Chief or not, so when results came out we were very happy we had the trip booked. The one down fall of booking the trip was we missed John's very first Khaki Ball. However, we were both very excited about the trip despite that, because it gave us both a much needed break from stress and never getting to see each other. It was a much needed, much deserved vacation, and it was spent with some awesome friends.

We had to leave super early (5:45am) so we could drive to Rome to catch our plane. We got some really cheap flights but they airline only flies out of the smaller Rome airport, and that is a 2 hour drive. We picked the earlier flight that way we would have time to find our cottage, get a little settled and grab some dinner all before it was bed time.

Everything was smooth sailing on the way to Ireland, the flight was a little late taking off, but we still managed to land on time, then find our rental car and head out on the journey to our hotel.

At the rental car place, John went ahead and paid for a Garmin GPS, so that both vehicles would have one in case we went separate ways one day. So, John and I were in the lead on the way to the cottage, and about half way there Garmin went crazy and told us to turn the wrong way. Then Roy, in the other car with TomTom, decided to lead for a little while and we drove for a while and it ended taking us to some little nice neighborhood, and we were supposed to be in a farm cottage.

After we stopped where it told us to, John got on the phone and called the cottage and got directions the "old fashioned" way, writing them down turn by turn, and we headed off again. This time Garmin decided not to go crazy and got us there just fine, but we followed the hand written directions also.

Once we got to the cottage, the owner showed us around, and showed us how everything worked then he took off. We all unloaded our luggage, decided who got what room and then sat down to relax for a minute. We then decided what we were going to do for dinner.

Since all three guys, John, Ben and Roy were all going on little or no sleep we decided on the shopping center right down the road about 10 min. When we got there the guys found starbucks while Beth and I went shopping. After some great finds in one store we headed down to the food court area to grab dinner. We had a nice dinner at TGI Fridays, then headed back to the cottage so everyone could get some sleep and get ready for our first full day in Ireland.

The view from the front yard of our cottage

Our cottage was the one on the right with the blue door

All the doors in Ireland are all painted in different bright colors

The room John and I stayed in

The living room and fireplace in the cottage

Sequoia enjoying the stone bench behind the cottage

The gate and drive way from the cottage

Close up of our door

Our whole cottage, it was so nice

View of Dublin from the front yard

John was trying on Rydon's hat and Sequoia's shall

Close up of the fireplace

Another view of Dublin while driving down from the cottage