The Allisons

The Rest of Ireland

After Blarney, we traveled north to Limerick. These are some castle ruins and a random church we saw along the way. Since Mike couldn't really pull off at a moment's notice, Mom and I continually played a game of "photograph that church". If you've ever tried to take a picture from a moving car, you know what a challenge that can be. You never know what sign or building will suddenly obstruct your view. We had to take like 5 or 6 pictures every time to get 1 semi-decent shot. It was funny. When we got to Limerick and the River Shannon, we saw King John's Castle. Again, because we had spent so long at Blarney, we just got some pictures. Also , as we drove along the Shannon we saw several groups of swans. A little girl was feeding these at a ramp. They were so huge and their necks were really bendy. This is another picture of roadside ruins.

Between Limerick and Shannon was Bunratty Castle.

This next picture was a graveyard and some ruins on a hill overlooking the town. We thought it was enchanting, but it was hard to get a good picture of it.

This cross was in another graveyard we stopped at right on the coast near the Cliffs of Moher.

These are the beautiful Cliffs of Moher. It is a 5 mile stretch of dramatic cliffs that meet the ocean in a roar of waves. I think I had seen a picture of them in a calendar or something once and I was completely taken with their beauty. It was the one thing I had to see in Ireland. I wasn't disappointed. Moher is the Gaelic word for ruins. As you can see there are several ruins. But, we couldn't walk over there for a closer look. It was really windy, so they had people out there making sure tourists didn't get too close to the edge. I'm sure you can tell by the chaos of our hair (well, Mom's and mine anyway) how windy it was.

I used to think if I was a cow, I'd like to live in Brenham, but after seeing how green and lush it is here, I might have to reconsider. However, I don't think these cows will be used to make ice cream... (Yes, I took a picture of cows on my Ireland vacation.)

This castle/watchtower was a little further down the coast.

When we finally made it to Connemara and arrived safely at our B&B, we got out of the car and looked up to see a beautiful double rainbow. What could be more perfect than seeing a rainbow over the coast in Ireland? We could only assume that leprechauns were playing with a pot of gold at the end. It was magical.

When the magic was over, we went inside to check in and inquire about a place to get some supper. On our way out of the driveway, Mike (who had, up to this point, done an excellent job driving on the passenger side, the left side of the road, and shifting with his left hand) ran over a stone "fence" about a foot high. It scratched the bottom of the car, ripped off some of the plastic mudflap thing, and punctured the tire. Thank goodness everything was in working order and we just had to use the spare tire.

This was the view from the dining room at the B&B. Lovely.

Some other random, roadside churches.

Then we returned the car to Dublin and hopped on our flight back to London.

Good stuff huh?