I had some time to kill between semesters and managed to wrangle a few days off from work. The question arose, “Do I stay or Do I go to Ireland?” Ultimately, going to Ireland won out, why not go right? I had points on my card that I could use, so the ticket wouldn’t cost me anything. I talked to my cousin Christine who has an apartment there to see if I could stay in it, then I booked a flight and car through Norwegian Air and off I went. My main plan was to pop over without telling anyone aside from Christine, and surprise my cousin Angela. My secondary plan was to visit with some other family members and just relax for a bit without worrying about work or school or anything else…and that’s exactly what I did.

Angela had no idea I was there until I pulled alongside her while she was out walking her dog. From the look on her face, she was a bit surprised to see me, and with a laugh I drove up to her house to wait for her return from the walk. Once she got back, I chatted with her and my cousin Patrick over some tea while I showered her Rottweiler, Moddie, with nonstop patting and belly-rubs. We made plans to take a spin in the country tomorrow before I headed off to the apartment (with a quick stop in the local Centra so I could grab something for breakfast). The rest of the night saw me head out to a local pub, O’Malley’s for dinner and pints. The owner, Morgan, is a nice guy and runs a class establishment which is worth checking out if you’re in the area.

Next morning, I hopped in the car and went to pick up Angela and Patrick. Our plan was to head up to Gleniff in North Sligo to check out the Gleniff Horseshoe. Here we wanted to find the ruins of an old school house nestled in the mountains. The ride took about an hour and a half to get there, but it was well worth it. Once we arrived, you found yourself on a narrow road that tucked in behind the mountains which surrounded you and the road on three sides (hence the horseshoe name I’m guessing). The scenery was pretty phenomenal, with sheep dotting the mountainsides, and wandering on the road. The clouds hung low on sections of the mountains, almost swaddling parts of them. We drove along for a bit, passing the ruins of an old farmhouse, and seeing only one of two cars before arriving at our destination. The school house was a large stone building, which we all thought a bit odd since the area seemed very isolated and quiet.. As we were there the clouds dropped lower, making an eerie sight and they hid the mountains and seemed as if they would cover us and the schoolhouse. We snapped a few pics before making our way through the mountains back to the main road and to our next destination.

Originally we planned on heading right home but since we were in the area we decided to make a quick stop at the Gleniff Barytes Millsite which was not far from the Gleniff Horseshoe itself. The place was an old mill and seemed like it was pretty large at one point. With two converging streams, it made sense to build a mill there. We looked around at the old buildings and ruins and then took a walk on a nature trail that ran through a section of the property before heading towards home.

The next day was a bit quieter mainly because of the weather. A blanket of fog came in and literally hid everything. No lie, I’ve never seen anything close to fog like this. Angela and I started out with a car ride toward Céide Fields, an archaeological monument/site in Mayo, but the fog was so thick we gave up about halfway there. Rather then waste a day, we went back toward Killala where we checked out the town’s round tower and then met up with her nephew, Chris, for a bit before heading home and going our separate ways for the night. The fog hadn’t even let up at this point turning a 25 minute drive home into a 45 minute drive.

My second to last day in Ireland had me meeting up with some family that I only knew through stories shared by my Father, Aunts, Uncle and older cousins. Most recently however thanks to Facebook group texts I was getting to know them a bit myself (isn’t technology great?!). We spent the afternoon swapping stories and asking each other questions about who remembers who and where so and so moved to. Looking back, this was probably my favourite part of my trip…reminiscing, and learning. When the talk turned to my grandmother (their cousin/great aunt) I had a tear in my eye. I’m sure any of my cousins here in the US would have had the same thing occur.

On the last day of my trip Angela was helping Patrick with his driving lessons so I planned a nice quiet day for myself. I decided to take a drive to Aughris Head and Dunmoran Strand in Sligo which was about 45 minutes from where I was. It was a gorgeous day, sunny, warm, with a few clouds in the sky…aka a perfect day for a walk. I spent about an hour walking the beach before hoping in the car and heading to Sligo town for lunch in a cafe next to the Garavogue river.

For my last night it was time for a session...I started off at the Thatch, watching rugby and drinking Carlsbergs before heading over to Lynotts, a pub around the corner, where I met up with my friend Brian whom I knew from a prior trip, and some of his friends. We sat here for I don’t know how long and it was all pints and the craic. When Lynotts closed we were off to O’Malley’s for another one before finishing the night back at the Thatch. Needless to say, my drive back to the airport wasn’t much fun, but somehow I managed to sleep most of flight home. I finally woke up when we landed, still tired but really glad I made the decision to take the trip.