We love Ireland!

We just got back from a week-long vacation in Ireland. We had a wonderful time. The only thing we planned before we went was some key things we'd like to do, the first and last night hotel stay, and we booked a rental car. Other than that we thought we'd take it day by day to see how Caden would do as we traveled across the country. He did great!

Finding a B&B or Farmhouse was easy. Ireland has lots of them! We stayed two nights at a B&B, one night at a Farmhouse, and three nights in a hotel. We had a crib every place we stayed. We also enjoyed a nice Irish breakfast every morning.

Day 1 - Arrived in Dublin

Our plane landed really late in Dublin last Wednesday. Sadly our flight was delayed by 30 minutes and Caden fell asleep for the first 30 minutes on the plane until the guy made an announcement that it was time to take off. He immediately woke up and wouldn't fall asleep again until close to midnight when we were at the hotel. (Collin's note: The rental car company, County Car rentals, picked us up outside the terminal and took us to their office in a nearby hotel. It was nice to have a short and less hectic practice period for driving on the left to help orient me for the long drives ahead. )

Day 2 - The Rock of Cashel and the Blarney Castle

Day one we visited the The Rock of Cashel and saw Cormac's Chapel. (Collin's note: Cormac seems to be the English form of the Gaelic Cormaic. The Mc before many last names means "son of" or "family of". So, I've read that McCormack and McCormick derive from that root name. It was cool looking at all the names in Ireland. What will we find in Scotland?) After lunch we drove to Blarney Castle and saw the Blarney Stone - neither of us kissed it for sanitary reasons. Both castles were quite impressive. My favorite was the Blarney Castle. The grounds were beautiful too and there was a nice grassy area that we were able to let Caden play on.

The Rock of Cashel

Collin & Caden in Cormaic's Chapel

The Blarney Castle

Someone kissing the Blarney Stone - they have to lean upside down and hold onto poles 90 feet above the ground! It looked kind of scary.

Blarney Castle

We stayed the night at a B&B in Kinsale, a cute coastal town in southwest Ireland.

Day 3 - Ring of Kerry and Dingle

The next day we took a scenic drive and drove part of the Ring of Kerry. We ended up in Dingle and spent the night there after visiting the Gallarus Oratory (Collin: a stone church which some think was built between the 6th and 9th century.)

This is how Caden spent the scenic drive, sleeping, thankfully

Gallarus Oratory

Our B&B for the night in Dingle

Day 4 - Dingle Peninsula and Kildare

We drove the Dingle Peninsula (beautiful!) and stopped at the Beehive Huts. (Collin: fascinating to imagine people huddling together during a cold winter with their families.) After spending some time around there and admiring the beautiful coast we continued on. Caden fell asleep so we decided to drive until we woke up and make our way back toward the east coast. We ate lunch at a Pub and spent the night in Kildare at Castle View Farmhouse B&B.

Cliffs along the Dingle Peninsula

More of Ireland to come!