Last Few Days in Ireland

Today the large group was heading out on coaches to see the Cliffs of Moher via the Burrens. We decided to take our rental car and do things at our own pace especially with having Addie along. Turned out that it was a pretty smart decision because on way back home one of the coaches got sideswiped by a car and got delayed 1 1/2 hours and the other coach waited for them so we would have been in a pretty sticky situation. We did have a wonderful day even though it was pretty rainy and windy. We drove through the Burrens which is a pretty rocky landscape but had some really neat things to be seen along the way.

The Cliffs of Moher are always beautiful even in cruddy weather. Kevin and I were so amazed on how things have changed at the Cliffs since we were there. They moved the car park to the other side of the road and hide all the shops and commercial stuff by building them into the side of hill. I guess they are trying to restore the natural beauty of the site. Also a lot more safety walls were built so someone couldn't out close to the edge like before...a pretty smart move.

That night we attended a farewell banquet with a 5 course meal. Needless to say it was hard to truly enjoy our last night with Kevin's family because they didn't get the dinner started until 8:45 PM and by then a 17 month old is not going to sit still even if you bribe her will all the funding for her college education (this is a tactic that Kevin repetitively tries and fails at every time with Addison). We took turns eating and I think I ate three of my courses in three different parts of the hotel in order to keep Addie at ease.

Monday morning Kevin's folks headed out with Mike's sisters who were at the reunion to find the "family farm" in Tipperary and we headed to Bunratty to check out the Blarney Woolen Mills and to eat lunch at Durty Nelly's like we had years before. I keep saying it but things have changed so much in just 6 years. Ireland as a country is much more modern...the roads and the houses and the businesses have all been upgraded and the quaint, old country that I fell in love with is now modern and I feel that England is actually older feeling now. What really topped it off was that there was a little store next to Durty Nelly's called Avoca that Kevin and I took our picture in front of because there was a town close to where he grew up in Iowa called Avoca. That building is now half burnt down...so sad.