I was supposed to do this in September but per the norm lately time got the better of me. Brendan and I had a great trip back to Ireland the beginning of the month. My wonderful, generous Mama flew to town to watch the babies and off we went again. The last time we were in Ireland it was for our honeymoon 8 years ago. We stayed with The Agnews again this trip and feel so spoiled that we get to spend the time with them when we have visited. Funny enough Brendan's Aunts Karen and Maureen and Uncle Elliot were also in Ireland at the same time and we all got together. Colm and his family came out to the US for Tommy and Brandy's wedding 4 years ago, at that time Colm made a challenge to all the family to make it to Ireland to claim your official Agnew Guinness mug. We made it just in time and literally between Aunt Karen and us claimed the LAST three. Time for the Agnews to come back to America and make a new challenge!
Last time we were in Ireland we saw a lot of Dublin both on water and land (duckboat, viking cruise) and spent time south in Cork, Kinsale and Waterford. This trip we wanted to see more north and West. The other excitement from this trip was meeting the White side of the family. The first evening we were there we had a really nice dinner and got to meet a lot of Tom's cousins. More family to come visit us in Utah and us visit again in Ireland and London. It was really nice and memorable evening. The newest family member that we fell in love with though was Karen's sweet Willow. I love Karen like a sister and just wished we lived closer together, she is an amazing Mom and Willow is beyond perfection.
One of the cool trips we did in Ireland was a day trip that went North. We left Dublin at 6:45am and took a bus to Belfast, the dark hedges (game of throne site where the trees create a tunnel effect)and on to Giants Causeway. It was interesting hearing the history of Northern Ireland and seeing the different flags of loyalty on route there. Giants Causeway was pretty incredible, we sat on some of the hexagon rocks, watched the ocean and ate our lunch. Definitely a picnic I won't forget. After that we headed to the Rope bridge and saw a few other game of thrones sites including the cave which the shadow baby happens. We ended the day back in Belfast seeing the city hall and getting a pint at a pub there. It was a full day but really incredible tour that hit a lot of sites.
One of the other really special days we did was driving out west to Galway and Cliff of Mohr. The cliffs were extraordinary and we were fortunate enough to get a clear day. It is breathtaking how it goes from grass to straight, sheer drop off to the ocean. The height was dizzying and there were no gates or barriers to keep someone back from falling. It was neat to hike along and see the angry, churning waters below. After we left there we continued on the coast stopping at a few points that had cool rock formations. Ireland is spectacular in the idea of you can drive two hours and the landscape totally changes. After a nice stop at a harbor restaurant for seafood chowder (the best I have ever had) we went on the Galway. Galway was really cool, very old but fun harbor town. We had a great dinner and there was live music everywhere. We saw this incredible band at the end of the night that had the tin whistle, drum and fiddles and were amazing. We even salsa danced in Galway, who would have thought! It was an overnight trip the Agnews treated us to that was a night I won't forget!
We saw some new sights in Dublin such as the Jameson Brewery which was neat with their integration of technology and whiskey brewing, also saw the Book of Kells as well. One of our favorite parts of this trip was the biking, Colm and Triona have gotten into road biking so we were able to make it out on a few bike trips. It was neat seeing more of Dublin that way and getting our heart rates up. Bren even biked to the highest pub in Ireland Johnny Foxs, I made it there too but only after Triona took us on a countryside tour in the car to see Guinness lake. We ended the trip on a high note with champagne (our tradition for our champagne celebration Christmas tree) and dinner at Colm's sister Niamh's house. We even got treated to fireworks and a little excitement in getting locked out but making it back in for dessert. The trip was amazing and we are already planning what we will do the next time we make it over!
PS I will do an additional post with more pics too!
Love
B and A
