Ireland Arrival 7/8/23

We made it! 🇮🇪 Ryan pointed out to us that every great trip deserves a great acronym, and helped come up with ours. And so we embark on the Celtic Adventure for Pat & Stacey (CAPS)! I’ve shared the wonderful logo Ryan and Sara created on stickers and magnets for us in the photo gallery for this post. The names of some of the places we shall see can be found as you read clockwise in the order we’ll see them. Our first stop for adventure was on the beautiful Atlantic coast as we lunched in Doolin at Gus O’Connors Pub near the Cliffs of Moher. Our plane landed at exactly 12:30 local time in Shannon and I got my first taste of driving on the left side of the road through the gorgeous countryside! Our Opel is also a stick shift. That’s not a problem, as I learned to drive on manual Saabs, but I have to admit shifting with my left hand from the wrong side of the car was a bit tricky. Lunch was fantastic, seafood chowder for both Stacey and me, and a Murphy’s Irish Stout to settle the driving nerves! Gus O’Connor’s is called by some the birthplace of Irish music. We were far too early for any of that, as we just stopped for lunch before checking in to our hotel in nearby Lisdoonvarna for a much needed nap. I went to check in and found the reception desk empty. There was a small note telling me to go into the pub next door and check with the bartender if nobody was at reception. That’s what I did, and sure enough the friendly bartender left her customers to welcome us and get us our key. Stacey and I will be walking around this quaint little town and having dinner here at the Ritz Hotel where we are staying if I can ever wake her up! 😉 Tomorrow is our first full day and starts with a four hour walking tour of the Cliffs of Moher with a reputed local Legend. We can’t wait to soak in that scenery and listen to Pat Sweeney share his perspective with us. I’ll check back in here from Dingle after we drive there tomorrow afternoon for the next stage of CAPS!