John and Bethenie: Ireland

After a quick breakfast at the cottage we all piled in the cars and hit the road. We had decided the night before that we were going to make the trek across Ireland and see the Cliffs of Moher. The day we got to the cottage the owner told us the Cliffs were about 2 to 2 1/2 hours away, so that is what we were planning on. Well here is where good old Garmin decided not to take the fast way. After driving for a little while we turned off onto this small typical Ireland road and kept on going.

Around noon we decided to pull over at the next restaurant we saw so we could all stretch our legs and get some food in us. The first place we came to was this cute little pub in the middle of now where. The guys went in and they weren't open yet, they were getting ready for the big soccer game that afternoon, but they did give us some directions to the next town and told us there would be places open there.

After lunch we hit the road again, not long after we got going we ran back into the main roads that we could have been on the entire time. We finally made it to the Cliffs around 3:45 that afternoon. It ended up, including lunch, taking us right at 6 hours to get there, and this was supposed to be, at the longest, a 2 1/2 hour drive. Needless to say we definitely took the scenic route that day.

Once we got to there it was cold and windy, we did however, luck out a little bit and there was no rain. The pictures are not the clearest due to all the clouds but it was still really cool to see. Even though it took us half the day to get out there I was really glad we made the trip. We walked around for an hour or so looking at the cliffs from the many different angles you could see them, then we headed into the visitor center to look around and warm up.

Once we got back to the cars to head back home we followed Roy and the Kirscher's with their Tom Tom hoping to get home quicker. They also put in the town of Limerick that way it would hopefully keep us on the bigger nicer roads. When we got to Limerick Sequoia and Jaden had already fell asleep so they decided to grab fast food and get back on the road. John and I weren't really feeling fast food so we told them to go ahead and we would see them at the cottage later. We were on O'Connell street in Limerick and it looked like such a fun town. The shops were all closed but they looked that they had some cool shopping and a bunch of different pubs and other restaurants.

John and I ended up eating at this restaurant called Texas Steak Out and I was so excited for a good steak. However, when we got in and looked at the menu I noticed they had Mexican Food too, and anyone who knows me knows I love Mexican food, so that is what I got. That is the one thing besides family that I really miss out here. I can't wait to get home next month and eat as much Mexican food as I can.

Anyways, back to the trip, after dinner we got back in the car and headed back towards the cottage. The Garmin tried to take us down the little roads again but luckily I was watching the signs and saw the sign for the main road, so we went that way. After driving for about 30 min or so, we got a phone call from Roy saying their car broke down and he is pretty sure the clutch went out. He had already called and got everything going with the rental company, but they were wondering if we could stop and pick up Beth and the kids. We ended up getting to them about 20 min later, loaded them up and left Roy and Ben with the car to wait on the tow truck.

Once we got home we all crashed since it had been such a long day, and found out the rest of the guys story the next morning.

Starting off our drive, when we were still on the main road