Ireland Part 3 - Galway to Antrim Coast

06/02



There was no plan for this day and that was nice. Two days to get to the Antrim Coast through Donegal. The morning was spent walking around Galway's street markets and sweater shops. We decided the rental car needed some CDs for the player, so we found a sale and bought:

The Annie Lennox Collection
Tom Jones compilation
an 80's hits compilation
We were going to split the cost, but Laura said she didn't like Annie Lennox, at which point I nearly disowned her but decided to give her another chance and bought it myself. The other two turned out to be crappy live recordings. Boo. Besides all that, the cds regularly got stuck in the rental car's cd player, so I learned to give the "Fonzie-and-the-jukebox" move to remove cds. Mostly we left Annie in and switched to the radio when necessary.

We spent the night in Killybegs since no reasonable lodging was to be found for under €100 in Donegal. It was only 15 minutes away and all we really wanted to do was eat more fish and chips and relax, which is exactly what we did--at the Tara Hotel. We had a view of the water and a semi-fancy room with breakfast included for €38 total. Score.

The next morning we drove into Donegal to do some souvenir shopping and check out Donegal Castle. I look like a real tour guide here, don't I?

While we were wandering around in the castle and hamming it up in the otherwise empty dining room, my camera died and has not recovered. It still takes pictures, and the screen shows pictures that were taken just fine before the "incident" but the screen has gone black and no further pics werwe allowed. The rest are from Laura's camera.

Although we just got hot chocolate and tea here on this day, this pub across from the castle made me a mind-alteringly good tuna sandwich in 2001 which has not been topped, duplicated, or forgotten. I considered a 10:30am lunch just to savor it again, but alas, those Irish breakfasts are just so big that I couldn't the courage.

ON TO BALLYMONEY

In the afternoon, it was on toward the Antrim coast and Ballymoney specifically. We took our time getting there and arrived in time for dinner at the Loughridge's house. Trevor and Emma along with the two children they've had since I saw them last (Angus & Emily) welcomed us with a home-cooked meal. In a moment of wonderful synchronicity, Duke Special's "Freewheel" came on the radio as we neared Coleraine and the coast of Northern Ireland.

08/02

Sunday on the Giant's Causeway--nothing could be better! Laura and I had great weather and took a long time to climb to the top of the stones, do the Shepherd's Walk and generally take in the greatest place on earth.

Afterwards, we took the obligatory trip to Bushmills Distillery where Laura could not be coaxed into drinking the whiskey straight, but she was a sucker for the whiskey cheesecake. I myself splurged on a wee dram of one of the more expensive varieties of whiskey, but just had the one since after all, I was driving (and on a budget).

We still had time to do one more thing--the rope bridge or Dunluce Castle. We opted for the castle and were not disappointed. It's a beautiful ruin right on a cliff that has views to Scotland on a clear day.

After this PERFECT day, we drove to Belfast and checked in at the Stormont Hotel, where we found another great deal for £44 per night. We decided to stay for two nights! We sunk down into our comfy beds and watched Dirty Dancing on tv.

Ireland Part 2

05/02/2010

Earlyish the next day, we ate scones and drank tea in the room, and checked out of the Travelodge to make our way to Galway.

Hotel Review: It really wasn't bad for 19 euro per night. It wasn't fancy and gets very mixed reviews, but for the price, I have zero complaints. The trick was booking early when Travelodge ran their specials. Someone checking in ahead of me paid 75.00 euro for the night. There's no way it was worth that, but if all you need is sleep, you could do worse.

Galway was even more fantastic than I remember. We made our way from the east side to the west side of Ireland via the new motorway. The M6 stretch from Dublin to Galway had recently opened ahead of schedule. This in combination with the fact that our GPS had not been updated in a while resulted in "Jane" thinking we were driving through a field and repeatedly saying "Turn around when possible." We just had to turn it off but not before Laura did her best vintage SNL "Jane, you ignorant slut." We couldn't stop laughing.

After a quick stop at the tourist info center for directions, we made our way to the Cliffs of Moher.

The Cliffs of Moher have long been a must-see attraction, but there had been some changes since I had been there years ago, and I wasn't a fan of the changes. A "mall" built into the side of the hill with Irish souvenirs and some kind of "experience" on offer for 5.00 Euro per person. Parking seemed further away and free parking was no longer available. Instead we got to pay 8.00 euro for the privilege. Still, it's a gorgeous view, even in the cold misty rain:

Laura and I checked into a twin room with pink walls at the Sunrise B&B early, and our hosts were so nice and maybe even overly attentive. They helped me to pay the toll for driving on the motorway (There are few indications of the toll and no booths in places. Signs exist, but I nearly missed one which left me wondering just how many tolls I drove right through. Tolls are paid online, but the website makes you tell it how much you owe, and I wasn't sure how many I'd driven past since most signage is just painted on the highway. Our hosts knew just how many and how much between Dublin & Galway and let me use their computer to take care of business.)

The Sunrise was only about 10 minutes walk from city centre and Galway is a fantastic town to spend an evening in. We found a great pub (Tig Coili) with live music and the moment our American accents were heard, people just started talking to us. One whistle player from London talked our ears off, then I met an American fiddle player who told me she lives in Galway part time. Every time I turned around to talk to someone else, I lost Laura to some old man trying to pull her on to his lap or give her a hug. We met two young men who were "in a band" at the pub. Their set at another bar didn't start til 10:00pm so we decided to see them play after a late dinner.

We stayed at Monroe's for a set from Steven and the-guy-we-call-Brett-because-we-can't-remember-his-name-and-he-looked-like-that-guy-from-Flight of the Conchords and band before making our way back to the B&B, which turned out to be a 30 minute walk home since we got lost and found ourselves strolling along Galway Bay at midnight. Eventually, we found our way back for a great night's sleep and woke to a huge breakfast and best of hospitality.

Ireland Part 1

4/2/10

First tasks of the day: Pick up Laura from the airport, return rental car, and send Randy off. My sister arrived ready for Irish fall in her awesome new reversible raincoat.

After breakfast together at the airport and a trip back to the hotel where Laura & Randy napped and I caught up on emails, we made our way back to the airport where Randy's flight was leaving for home. It was a little sad to say goodbye to Randy for two weeks, but having never taken a "sister trip" with Laura, I couldn't wait to show her Ireland!

Luckily, she was up for an adventure right away. My first full day of driving in Ireland! Randy & I had just finished the series Ballykissangel which I found out was filmed about an hour outside of Dublin in the small village of Avoca, so Laura & I drove down there for a pint at Fitzgerald's pub, one of the main filming locations.

The church is the other central location in the fictional village of Ballykissangel.

Even though the series ended about 10 years ago, the pub has remained the same for the most part...

We had lunch at the pub and walked around the village a little bit in the rain. I felt kind of shy there because I was so obviously an American tourist who came to the Ballykissangel party a bit late.

Avoca is also the home of one of the oldest woolen weavers so we took time to visit that. The stuff they make is beautiful but expensive, so we stuck to looking--other than a postcard or two and a pair of socks that say Avoca for Randy.

We drove back to Dublin and I missed a turn which resulted in a downtown drive in rush hour. Awesome for a newbie to left hand driving on narrow roads! We saw lots of those brightly painted Dublin doors. Later, we went out to grab some groceries and fish and chips in Malahide, the Edge's hometown. This is the pub where his mom supposedly drinks:

Day 1 - No wrecks, Ballykissangel, woolen mills, good memories, fish & chips, and Dublin doors. Not a bad start!

Before leaving the next day, we made time to stop by Christchurch Cathedral in Dublin, a beautiful church where Handel's Messiah had its debut and several people are buried in the basement crypt, along with some pretty cool church artifacts.

31/1 - 3/2 Scotland

31/01/10

After the goodbyes at the Gathering, we went on to Darvel, a small vilage outside Glasgow--about a 4 hour and arrived at Gowanbank just in time to get ready and go to church at Darvel Gospel Hall. It was great to be reunited with our friends and our "Scottish family" the Smiths there. We got a great surprise when Jimmy & Janet Milne showed up at church, having driven in from Ayr to have dinner afterwards at Gowanbank.

01/02/10

After a lazy day around the fire catching up with the Smiths, we drove the rental into Glasgow to meet up with my friend Anne. I met Anne at a car show in North Carolina a few years ago and when I heard her Glasgwegian accent, we talked about her hometown a bit. Kind of random, huh? Anyway, we've kept in touch and she has since moved back to Scotland. We met up at the Universal where I pigged out on this creamy pasta with lots of bacon and Randy had a few pints. It was gloomy and rainy just like you'd expect from Glasgow and we were happy to see that we hadn't lost our downtown Glasgow sense of direction. In fact, I think I might do better than here in Denver sometimes.

When we got back to Darvel, I got a headache and Randy went to the next village of Newmilns to reconnect with our friend Mathew Smith (not related to the Smiths of Gowanbank). Since we last saw Mathew, he has gotten married and become a father. For his honeymoon, he and his wife went to see U2. He's pretty fanatical about U2 and we can't wait to take him to Red Rocks. They are saving up to get here.

02/02

Another great laid back day at Gowanbank. Randy went back to see Mathew and he discovered that our rental car had a dent on the driver's side--something that might have happened while we were parked in the busy Glasgow streets the day prior? We were not happy as we did not have the full coverage and worried that it would cost us a small fortune despite it being very hard to see.

In the evening, we went over to Chris & Elaine Smith's (the oldest Smith son) home for dinner with the "kids." Chris & Elaine have continued to have kids since we left, and the house is now full of laughter and toys. Callum and his wife Zara have gotten married and taken a year to travel the world since we were last here, and we gave them endless grief for driving through Utah rather than Colorado. They didn't really know their geography enough to realize how close they were to us. :( Lorraine has also married since we were last in Scotland. She & her husband Al (who we knew before) were also at dinner playing aunt & uncle to the little ones. It was so fun to see how time has marched on in such good directions for all of them.

03/02

The last remaining Smith child at home is Kellianne and we got more time to see her at the house since we were staying there. She has started working at a cafe in Kilmarnock (15 minutes away) and we got to stop in and see her the next day on our way out of town.

We woke up to a bit of snow and the reality that our rental car was being turned in and we'd have to see what the damages came to. Those of you who know me know that I am a fastidious budgeter so going over budget on vacation was not in my plan and I didn't like it at all.

When we got to Prestwick Airport, I grabbed the paperwork to turn the car in and noticed that there was a pen mark right where the damage was! Maybe it wasn't us after all... The agent informed us after an inspection that the damage had indeed been there prior to our posession of the teeny weeny rental car, and we were in the clear. Hooray.

We left the airport and spent the afternoon in Ayr with Jimmy & Janet Milne who stuffed us with a great meal and good Scotch. Janet gave me a lesson on how to cook salmon and helped Randy to rearrange his carry-on situation to comply with the strict Ryanair regulations. Jimmy dropped us at the airport and we took the late night flight to Dublin. For some reason, we failed to take a picture of them. Here is a "stock photo" of Jimmy & Janet from a previous trip.

Before catching the flight, we spotted our favorite beer at the airport bar. It was more like a convenience store with restaurant seating just around the corner, and we were charged €3 extra to "sit in" despite there really being no other option. Still, worth it. Innis & Gunn is fantastic.

Our first Ryanair experience was just fine thanks to our studious reading of the fine print. I know people have had nightmares on the airline so I just want to say we had an ontime flight and managed to avoid the extra fees. I was not happy with all the advertising on the plane--scratch and win tickets, overpriced food, and more were peddled to us while we sat there trapped and helpless thousands of feet above the ground (or sea).

We picked up a rental car in Dublin, which I spent extra on to spring for TOTAL coverage and an automatic transmission. Randy heartily approved of this budget deviation since I would be doing all the driving for the next week. After nearly getting hit by a semi for driving on the wrong side of the road (there's my investment paying off!) I got the hang of the thing, and got us safely to the Travelodge where we booked two nights at €19 a night.

30/1/2010 Gathering Day 2

The rest of the Gathering is a blur of music and guitars and friendship. Randy's inner Alarm fan was released and everything worked out great because he met people he enjoyed and even tried on one of the Alarm guitars on display at the Alarm guitar show. Most people were thrilled to hold the guitar used for this or that video or tour, but Randy just went to the one he thought was best.

Due to his bad knee, picked a good spot to enjoy the shows from while I went right up front. This freed him up to take some photos...

On night 2, The Alarm played for about 3 hours! I never got tired of it, which is really saying something now that I am (ahem) 40, and tend to hang out in the back where I can lean against something these days.

And after that...they put on goofy costumes and played as Children of the Revolution lots of glam rock covers like Bowie & T-Rex til about 1:30am. Of course, they were a little hoarse by then but that didn't take anything away from the fun.

(Music starts about 0:58)

There were good times in the pub getting to know new people, great chill time in our little apartment--naps even! It was also great just to be off the road for a few days and not have to drive through crazy hedgerows down very narrow roads.

Sunday morning, there was a beach walk with Mike Peters, but we had to take off before they began the hike so we could get to Darvel (outside Glasgow) by the time meetings started at Darvel Gospel Hall, where Randy attended church during his stay there in 2004.

We made time to get to the meet and greet so we could thank Mike & Jules for a great weekend and snap a photo or two (of course).

And thus ends my brief notes on the Gathering. Well worth the trip!

My next entry will be a quick summary of several days because it's April already and lots has happened since I got back! I need to "get with the now" so to speak.

29/1/2010 The Gathering

The Gathering...

I don't know what to say about the Gathering. It was fantastic, but honestly I feel sort of geeky talking about it. It WAS like a Trekkie convention for Alarm fans. There were trivia quizzes about the Alarm about things as crazy as what song started the set three years ago or who joined Mike onstage in 1994 at this club in this town -- things I didn't have a clue about. Should I have known these things? Am I a bad Alarm fan? Nah, I didn't feel that way at all.

I was HAPPY to be there! On the first night, Mike Peters played solo on a small round stage. Since the Gathering is limited to 1000 people from all over the world this night, it is easy to crowd in and join the party. Everyone gathers in a circle around the stage and Mike blazes through acoustic versions of the hits and fan favorites. I know every word and am singing at the top of my lungs, but that is what we all do. He lets us sing a lot of it for him.

I think this is the part that makes me happiest. I watched a youtube video from this acoustic singalong at Gathering 17 and I'm going to come clean--it made me cry. It was then that I knew I had to go to the Gathering. It took until Gathering 19 to get me here but we had been planning and saving all along.

So... of course, I bought a hat.

From 1989-2002 we went to nearly every Cornerstone Festival in Bushnell, Illinois. It gave us a way to mark our year and see our Cornerstone friends and gave me a real sense of belonging. It has been 6 years since we decided to stop going and while I don't regret that, I miss having that yearly marker, good musical kindred spirits, and a sense of belonging to something. The Gathering felt like it could be my grown-up Cornerstone.

In addition to the goofy quizzes, the pub next door was a great place to meet up with friends, the time with our good Glaswegian friends Doug & Kerstin was food for the soul. Doug really helped to motivate me to go to the Gathering in the first place, and has to be Mr. Popularity at the Gathering. He has gone to a few and knows absolutely everyone. Doug made sure we got apartments next door to each other in the upgraded section too. ;)

It also woke me up to a great cause staring me in the face:

Mike Peters of the Alarm is a leukemia survivor living with it now after beating cancer twice, and looking for a bone marrow donor to essentially save his life. I knew he had done some charity work for the cause but was completely unaware that Love Hope Strength, the foundation he co-founded to provide cancer care and treatment facilities in places of need as well as organizing bone marrow drives to build the registries internationally, is based in DENVER! Duh. I learned about how easy it is to become a bone marrow donor and really felt kind of sad that I had been asleep at the switch all this time. I determined to come home and volunteer for LHS as well as become a donor. I have since signed up to be a volunteer and am anxiously awaiting my first assignment at the Mile High Music Festival (unless something else comes up earlier).

Here are some of the people we met that I mentioned in the blog entry prior to this one:

Warren & Lisa

Kelly & brother Mitch

Mitch & Jeannette

Doug & Kerstin