Behind Again!

We just returned from our Thanksgiving trip to Michigan.  We had one week between trips before heading out again and I think we stayed pretty close to home recovering from our 6 hour time change, 22 hour return travel time, laundry, etc., then repacking to head out again.

On 11/25 we were up at 4:30 am to make a 7:30 am flight to Detroit.  Things went smoothly despite not having TSA pre-check!  The flight was fine and surprisingly the gate staff and flight attendants were pleasant and helpful.  They offered more drinks and snacks coming and going than either of our Hawaii flights last year.  I am still not over that dreadful experience.

We were met by Pat and Kelly at the airport.  They made a car reservation for us using some points that were about to expire saving us $100 on our rental.  Ted was put on as a second driver so we could keep it all week and drive ourselves to the airport when we left.  From there we all went to Ally’s for lunch and to meet our great granddaughter.  What a sweetheart she is.  And good!  I don’t think we ever heard her cry.  She was good being held by everyone, passed around, lying on a blanket, sitting in her car seat.  Nothing bothered her.

I swear we did nothing but eat all week!  Kara had meatballs and spaghetti ready for our dinner.  Wednesday we went to Kelly’s for dinner.  We spent a good bit of time on Wednesday preparing for Thursday.  Kara made stuffing and sweet potatoes that I peeled, plus two pies - apple and pumpkin.  I made pecan pie and raw cranberry relish.  Kelly was making the mashed potatoes and a cranberry-cherry pie.  She had cut five slits and one bubbled up onto the crust.  We decided it looked like an injured Aztec and from this day forward it will be known as dead Aztec pie.

To be sure we didn’t starve, Kara made onion dip, beer dip, brown bread and shrimp for “snacks.”  It was so nice having everyone there together.

On Friday we started helping with decorations.  Girls inside and boys outside.

Saturday night we treated everyone, including Patrick’s mother, to dinner at Picano’s Italian restaurant.  We all attended 5 pm Mass then went on to the restaurant.  It was quite a group celebrating Kara’s 50th birthday!  However, we forgot to take a photo of the cake!  For Kelly’s 50th we gave her a diamond ring made with my original wedding diamonds and also my mother’s.  Kara had asked for a gold necklace Ted had given me years ago.  I want to see them enjoy these things while I am still here.

Sunday we were back to Kelly’s to celebrate Christmas!  We had another nice meal and then our gift exchange.  We both received umbrellas to replace the ones that were ruined on the Cliffs of Moher, a new paper white Kindle and cover for me with Amazon Kindle gift cards, a dual voltage drying curling brush to use internationally.  I burned one up in Italy and tripped the reset button on my current one in Ireland.  It was fine in our 110 plug when we returned and reset easily!  Ted received gas and Gander Mtn. gift cards to go with his umbrella.

On Monday it was flurrying while Ted took me, Kelly and Kara to Frankenmuth, an alpine village famous for Bronner’s Christmas store and Bavarian Inn and Zender’s chicken dinners.  Across the interstate is Birch Run Outlets.  Ted kept moving the car while we all headed in different directions to shop.

Our first stop was Lenox.  Kara had two chipped bowls she had brought along and was GIVEN replacements!  She bought two more.  I purchased an entertainment set of cutting board, cheese spreaders and coasters for our neighborhood gift exchange plus a spoon and fork set for the baby.  Kelly bought a Christmas tree and an angel. When we went to pay they gave us the percentage advertised for the day, $30 off with another coupon Kara had for spending over $100 and a free snowman ornament for “coming in to the store” coupon that day.  We were being helped by the manager and talked about all the Lenox Kara and I have.  She has a second Christmas tree with only Lenox ornaments plus everyday dishes.  I have a complete set of china, many decorative pieces, the girls’ wedding photos are in Lenox frames, I was given a Lenox lamp at my retirement and a platter with our names written on it congratulating us on our 50th anniversary plus a birthday elephant!  I guess we impressed him as really loyal customers and he put two more snowman ornaments in our huge bag (even though we did not have that “stop in today” Coupon).  He said he didn’t want us fighting over one ornament at lunch!  What a wonderful company to do business with.

We split up after that and Ted stayed in the car.  I got two pairs of slacks and 3 tops for about $100 at Chico’s.  Considering one pair of slacks is normally $70, it was a great bargain.  I love Chico’s!

Kelly and Kara bought what they needed at Polo and Ann Taylor and then we headed to Zender’s for lunch.  The family dinner consists of fruit stollen, cottage cheese, Cole slaw, cranberry relish, chicken, mashed potatoes, noodles, gravy, squash, and a sundae!  We didn’t need dinner!

I had cut off the last of the ham and then cooked the bone in chicken broth in the Instant Pot for one hour.  It worked like a charm.  We pulled the bones and icky things out, put in onions, celery, carrots, navy beans and tomato sauce.  We again put it under pressure for 20 minutes and voila - soup!   Bill had that when he came home from work.

We got our things together Tuesday morning, dressed and eventually left for the airport in a few flurries but nothing to worry about.  Our flight home was as nice as our flight up.  We took the shuttle to our car, drove home and were glad to be back!

Our Final Day

Our final day was spent in Galway.  We traveled to the Connemara Marble Factory to learn about the quarries where the marble is mined for so many important buildings throughout the world including these two in the U.S.

They were making jewelry by hand as we walked through the work area.  Ted bought me a shamrock necklace that have the leaves made of the green marble.

We left there and were dropped off for a walking tour of the medieval section of Galway.  First up was the cathedral built in the mid 60s with the help of Cardinal Cushing and the patrons of Boston ... for less than $1 million!  The Joyce family of Connemara Marble figured extensively in the marble used inside.

Next we went to Eyre Square now known as Kennedy Square.

We did our final shopping and had lunch at the famous King’s Head pub.  Later that evening we had an included farewell dinner at our hotel.  We had to leave at 4:15 AM for our flights home.  We AND my luggage arrived about 6 pm, almost 22 hours of travel time including our London layover. 

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Kylemore Abbey Tour and Connemara Region

We traveled through the Connemara Region which retains its regional heritage and only Irish is spoken.  There are several areas like this in Ireland and the landscape of lakes, mountains and bogs is pure Ireland.

Our destination was the former mansion of Mitchell Henry and is now the home of the Benedictine nuns and is known as Kylemore Abbey.  It was a very interesting place with much still in place in the house.  I saw a Henry Family Tree and the last entry was 2008!

Farewell to Killarney

We left Killarney and traveled by ferry across the River Shannon and drove along the coast of County Clare to the majestic Cliffs of Moher.  This was our worst weather day and we really didn’t know if we would physically be able to brave the uphill walk to take a look.  The rain was coming down in sheets and the wind was gusting about 60-70 mph!

Everyone ran to the building where there was a video and some exhibits along with a cafe, restrooms, and the ever present gift shop.  We took a photo in front of a backdrop just in case this was as close as we were going to get.  We had a warm drink, took our umbrellas and I donned a poncho and out we went.  Our umbrellas immediately turned inside out and all the spokes were bent but we ventured on.  Here is the one shot we got before hustling back to cover.  A lady in our group was thrown against the bus and banged her head but she was just slightly dazed, no cuts or anything.  She recovered in a bit.

Soon we were on our way to drive through the Burren, the stony place.  It is almost a surreal moonscape of huge limestone crags.

The weather improved and the drags once again gave way to bigs and pastures as we drove into Galway.

Our dinner was included at a local restaurant where I had “hake” a popular fish in Ireland.  The people of Ireland are so friendly and stop you to talk everywhere we go.  We found it charming and loved talking to the locals.

Killarney

Our next day was spent discovering the Dingle Peninsula.  Our first stop was at the Tralee Kerry County Museum.  It had a recreated medieval street complete with sound and smells!  The peninsula has some of the most spectacular scenery and movies Ryan’s Daughter, Far and Away, Star Wars and The Last Jedi were filmed here.

We stopped in Dingle to enjoy locally caught fish and chips.

Staying in Cork

In the afternoon after our tour of the waterfront, we were taken on our home hosted lunch.  Maureen was an absolute delight!  She was so funny, easy to talk to and seemed like we had known her forever!  She served a beautiful salad and scones, baked ham, cooked cabbage and boiled potatoes.  For dessert was a Bailey’s torte.  We were so engrossed in conversation that Padraic our bus driver had to ring the doorbell twice!

The next day we went to probably the most popular tourist trap in Ireland, Blarney Castle.  We were there first so the 90 and 60 minute wait signs meant nothing.  The steps to the Stone did not hinder me but the thought of trying to get down to lay on my back then bend over the side backwards to kiss a germ laden stone wasn’t appealing.  So I passed.  The younger ones in our group went and we waited for them but it was a quick trip for them. 

Where you lay down on that grate, bend backwards and kiss the stone behind you!  Had I tried, I may still be there trying to get back up,

We toured some of the grounds before continuing on to our next stop, Killarney. We stopped at a sheep farm to talk with a herder, Hugh, who had about 1000 sheep.  They are marked with what looks like spray paint for various reasons.  Have been sheared, have been bred, etc.  He had two herding dogs Rosie and Nell.  They herded the sheep around but were mostly excited to have visitors to pet them.  

At dinner Peg and Dave were presented with a 50th anniversary cake I had arranged.  They are the fifth of Ted’s family to reach 50 years!

That evening, after our included dinner, we had a local resident talk about Irish farm life in the 50’s.    It was very interesting and time got away and ran over.  

Visiting Cobh (Pronounced Cove)

This was the last port of call for the Titanic before it set sail to the open ocean.  We had an excellent local guide who is a historian and expert in the sinking of the Titanic.  He said the great loss of life was not that there weren’t enough lifeboats but that so many of them were not filled when they pulled away from the ship.  It also was not women and children first but more first and second class.  Very few survivors were from steerage.

There is a statue of Anne Moore who is the first name listed on the immigration rolls on Ellis Island.  She had her two brothers with her.  A photo 30 years later showed the US was good to Anne.  Another monument is dedicated to the fisherman who rescued passengers from the Lusitania that was torpedoed 10 miles off the coast.  It shows their sheer exhaustion!

Moving on to Cork

This was our day at Waterford!  We had all been looking forward to this shopping opportunity.  I can tell you I bought a candy cane ornament with a silver disk saying 2019.  It was for Dave and Peg to mark their 50th anniversary year.  What else has to remain a mystery until we celebrate Christmas during Thanksgiving weekend in Michigan.

The process is mind boggling.  I think you need to have OCD to work there.  Absolute perfection is necessary.  We saw glassblowing, hand etching, machine etching, etc.  There were many specialty items displayed.  Ted found the most beautiful football.  I was in tears looking at the 9/11 creation and dedicated to Fr. Mychal Judge and the 343 FDNY, 37 PAPD and 23 NYPD officers who lost their lives.  It is hard to see but the middle frosted glass is 5 Responders carrying Fr. Judge out.  I cried and our tour director gave me a hug.  There was a beautiful chandelier, mirror and clock in the lobby too.

We stood in front of the seahorse logo and iconic name.  Behind us was a bear and the Irish symbol, the harp.  We aren’t real good at posing!  And these photos are going in wherever they want!  Use your imagination as to where they really should go.