day 16

5 countries 

5 languages 

4 currencies

8 flights 

2 trains 

1 bus 

1 wrong airport

$30 a day for soda pop 

way to much rain 

driving on the left 

a few near death experiences

brexit 

some amazing memories 

PRICELESS !!!

day 15

saying goodbye to the tollers

we had a late start today because we said goodbye to the tollers who headed to Dublin for the night due to an early departure back to utah. we are so glad they came, the trip wouldn't have been nearly as fun without them. 

today we drove to a little town called lahnich. on our way we got into a pickle. once again going head on with another car. dads immediate reaction was to stay right as we all yell "stay left!!!" both cars were able to stop in time, thankfully. since the roads are so small here the car backed up into a pull off and we were able to pass. I dunno how they do it around here. 

first stop was another castle, they all the the same around here. then to the lanhanic golf course, it was pretty. so many people lined up for their tee time! we spend some time in the golf shop and looked around for a little bit. also watched some of the golfers as they were preparing to play. 

from there we headed into lahnich for lunch and shopping. it is kinda a beach town, there is a surf school in town so we watched them for a minute. then we shopped, we found some cute stuff and had fun looking around. 

we ended up back at mcgann's for dinner. this was our 3rd time to this pub. it was by far our favorite. it's everyone is Ireland's favorite, any local you talked to told you to go there. after going 3 times we tried about every dishes and each one was wonderful! 

we got desert there and after disagreeing with my dad saying we need two desert cause one isn't enough. our nice waiter brought out two and said this one is on the house. my parents say "that's what you get from bringing two blonde girls." I just like the Irish and think they are nice. 

after each long day I sit down to blog and dad sits down to Facebook. it always a struggle with the elderly and social media. it turns into me just answering constant questions. dad finished his last post and was feeling quite relieved. 5 minutes later we get a text from britt that says "dad tagged a random guy named joe on his post." I literally die laughing! dad about gave up on the posts, we quickly deleted and had a redo. sorry joe.

we enjoyed our stay in Ireland but look forward to be back home. we will head to the airport in the morning for a noon departure. I will blog one last time tomorrow! 

day 14

quote of the day: "happy bir-day" - Irishmen 

it's kristens birthday!! happy happy birthday to kristen in the Ireland! people here don't say there t's and it's hysterical, hence the quote. 

we headed to a town called kilkee, it is suppose to be as pretty as cliffs of moher. we headed down the coast just to get lost like always, there are always multiple pull offs and kristen or Kirt run to the window to discuss directions. 

after a few wrong turns we arrived in kilkee, here we stopped for lunch at hickies. kristen thought it was dickies, after an hour of eating at dickies we realized it was really hickies. after lunch Kirt stood up and said "I lost my coin purse." he frantically looked everywhere for it. he bought this coin purse in Scotland to carry all his change and suddenly he's a coin guy, can't go anywhere without it. we are all laughing at his worried look but luckily he found it when we got back to the car.

we headed to the cliff walk. it was beautiful, it was better than the cliffs of moher probably just because it wasn't as crowded and it was a sunny day. the waters were so blue and the waves came crashing in! 

afterwards we headed to get ice cream for kristens birthday at the dairy. the ice cream here is delicious so much better than the ice cream at home I don't know why. next stop was trump international golf course. we thought we'd check it out, buy a few things in the gift shop and look around. it was really nice, kristen and I are thinking trump international might be out next vacation spot.

tonight we had reservations at the local pub for lobster. when we arrived there the owner informed us that there is no fresh lobster. sorry kristen no lobster for your birthday, but she was happy about it! we had steak while the boys had seafood. it was a good way to spend our last night with the tollers. they are headed to Dublin tomorrow since they fly out early Saturday morning. 

the pub gave kristen apple crumble for her bir-day to celebrate. we are sad to see virg and kristen leave cause it won't be nearly as entertaining without them. 

tomorrow we will go to a nearby town to shop and watch the surfers. 

day 13

a day at sea 

every morning I wake up to this...

with the comment "I have a headache, do you think we could delay departure?" kristen is sharing a room with me due to Kirt and virgs excessive snoring upstairs. 

we woke up early and headed to doolin for a boat trip to the island of inis oirr and then to the cliffs of moher to see them from below. what sounded like a great idea right. 

seas were rough, but we made it to the island safety and everyone feeling well! the island was beautiful we jumped on a horse carriage for a tour of the island.

but our tour was to big (overweight) so at the hills a few would have to get out and walk. guess who walked?

virg and Kirt enjoyed a nice ride up the hill while the girls walked. the tour was really cool, I sat co captain with the guide. I would tell you his name but I can pronounce it so therefore I can't spell it. he did ask if I'd like to get married and move to the island....hard pass. 

kristen has been curious about the rock walls all week. we found out they are used to divide property. each wall is hand built and the walls are just loose rocks which amazes me that the rocks don't blow off of fall over. our guide explained that the little holes between rocks are breathing holes therefore the wind goes through the wall and does not knock it over. 

as we were loading the boat we saw a dolphin it was so cute! we think it might be a pet dolphin of some sort because it was so close to the shore and some kid said he touched it. but still way cool. 

we got back on the boat for a hour and half ride to see the cliffs of moher and back to the car! the cliffs were amazing but I still think they were better from above. there were birds all over the cliffs which made it stink so bad as we went by. 

the boat ride started to get iffy, virg started stretching in his stretchy jeans and kristen was thinking her mushroom soup was coming back up! the sea was rough, overall I think it was worth it but I don't think I wanna do it again!

after a rough boat ride kristen needed a moment or two so we headed back to the house to relax! Doreen and I headed to the beach. it was very pretty. it was only like 55 or 60 degrees and windy, people were swimming I couldn't believe it. people were riding horses on the beach and through the water, one guy and his horse fell down in the water that was kinda scary but no one was hurt! Doreen really loves horses so we had to take a picture with it. 

after that we all headed into a small town for dinner. the girls went to a yummy Italian place and the boys went to the pub to watch Ireland soccer game! I guess it was a fun game to watch in a pub and everyone got really into the game. Ireland won 1-0. we headed back to the house to enjoy our last evening with Doreen! 

tomorrow we will head to a small town called kilkee about an hour away to go on a cliff walk. stay tuned! 

day 12

quote of the day: "I was born to drive in Ireland" -kristen 

after an early start we are headed to dingle aka the ring of Kerry. let's just say we didn't quite make it there. virg started feeling ill about 30 minutes into the drive! kristen and I start hearing all sorts of weird sounds coming from him. next thing you know he's talking about how sweaty he is, his feet are feeling clammy, and he's sticking his head out the window for air. if you know kristen and I neither of us have much sympathy so we are dying laughing with every sounds and comment!

we ended up 2 hours short of dingle in a town called limerick. what a beautiful town! it seemed to be one of the older towns in Ireland. we visited pretty cathedral with a cemetery surrounding it. 

next we went to King johns castle it was pretty cool. there was a visitors center that everyone looked in for what seemed like 4 hours. Caro and I would go to the next film and sit there until everyone was done with that level then move to the next film. so boring. finally we toured the castle and it was pretty. the view from up top was the best part. 

now we are headed to the cliffs of moher!! this is what I have been waiting for all trip! on our way dad accidentally opted out on the Irish traffic rules and started driving on the right side of the road. I was not in his vehicle I was with kristen and virg behind him. virg pulled out and followed him to the right side we quickly realized wrong side. kristen says "stay left" as we are laughing hysterically we notice Kirt is still on he right. kristen throws up her arms and starts gesturing move over, I'm screaming stay left, and virg is flashing his brights. of course they can't hear or see us. as they continue to drive on the right a car is coming the opposite way straight towards them. a last minute swerve to the left and everyone is okay!! kristen and I have never laughed so hard in our lives !!!

it only go worse for dad after that. as we are driving dad pulls over so we do also. dad gets out of his car and comes running back as we notice his crotch is soaking wet, he says I peed! sadly we believed him lol but really he spilled his Diet Coke on his lap. so dad has wet crotch while we toured the cliffs of moher. 

we arrived at the cliffs of moher and they were absolutely amazing. probably the prettiest thing I have ever seen! one side is was what seemed like a national park so there was walls to be sure no one fell off! however the other side was fair game you could walk all the way to the edge. of course Kirt and I walked right to the edge while Jan is having a heart attack! it was unbelievable how high but it was so pretty !!! pictures don't do justice. 

afterwards we went to a local pub for a great dinner and to watch the Germans beat Northern Ireland in the euro cup. Doreen and caro take the euro cup very seriously. after dinner kristen and I wanted to attempt driving so she drive one car home and I drove the other car home. we made a pit stop along the way to go down to the ocean as kristen gets out of the car she says "I was born to drive in Ireland" after watching her hit many weeds and panic at the tour bus driving towards her I beg to differ! 

we walked down to the ocean at sunset, it was so pretty! although the Ireland doesn't have the best weather it is so gorgeous here I can't get enough of it!! 

tomorrow we will go on a boat tour to an island and then down around the cliffs of moher.