I managed to finagle some time off from work between semesters took a seven day trip back to the motherland at the beginning of January. It’s nice to get away from the aggravation that work, school and daily life provide, and get to visit some of my cousins, like Angela, who I see rarely see since they live so far. Speaking of cousins, once again my cousin, Christine, was nice enough to let us stay at her apartment, while she was lounging in the warm Florida sunshine. Without her kindness, we wouldn’t be able to travel to Ireland as much as we do. Someday I will have my own place there, and maybe I can pay it forward, but until school works out I’ll keep focused on my goals.

Thanks to Boeing being a terrible company and cob-jobbing the 737 Max, resulting in two crashes, a global grounding of all 737 max’s, carrier (Norwegian, Southwest, etc.) route cuts, lawsuits from crash victims and airlines alike, we could no longer fly out of the relatively close Stewart airport. Boston’s Logan Airport was our next best option, and after a drive to the Massport in Framingham, we hopped on a shuttle to the airport and were up in the air. Our Aer Lingus flight brought us and our carry-on’s, right into Shannon Airport in Limerick with no issues, and we even arrived 45 minutes ahead of schedule. Being that we were taking our trip in the winter, the airport was pretty quiet and we were able to grab our rental from Budget and head into Shannon for a 2 hour nap in the Skycourt Shopping Centre parking lot.

After our brief respite we grabbed some breakfast rolls and coffee from inside the mall and then drove off to Bunratty Castle for some pictures. Unfortunately, by the time we got to Bunratty, the skies had opened up and although we managed a few pictures, the rain put a real damper (pardon the pun) on our picture taking session. Back in the car we went, up the M18, to the N17, past Knock and then onto Enniscrone to meet my cousin Angela, who had the keys to the apartment. We hung out with her for a bit, visiting and playing with her dogs, before making our way into Crossmolina for a nap before grabbing dinner at the Dolphin Hotel. After dinner I caught up with a friend for a well deserved session. We put a few away before I called it a night.

Sunday had us up fairly early for a quick breakfast before we got on the road to pick up Angie. Today we were taking a spin out to Achill Island, in Western County Mayo. The drive was only 1.5 hours and was fairly easy and very scenic. We drove up through The Windy Gap, with stunning views of Nephin mountain and Croaghmoyle mountain before ending up in Newport and along the coast. After a quick break in Mallaranny for some pictures and to stretch our legs, we made it to the Michael Davitt Bridge which spans Achill sound. Finally we arrived at Achill Island, one of the most westerly and beautiful parts of Ireland.

Our first main stop of the day was Keel Strand. This was a gorgeous, long strip of sand and shells, backed by dunes and low slung wetlands, that looked out onto the Atlantic ocean. At this point looking around at the beach and the view, it was fair to say that Keel was one of the most beautiful beaches I’d seen in Ireland. We got out for some exploring and a walk down the beach, crunching shells beneath our feet and snapping pictures as we went. Angela had decided to remain behind (strangely we thought) in the car. However as soon as we got out of the car, we realized why she was staying put…a chilly breeze from the Atlantic was making landfall onto the exposed coast. Looking back at Angie, warm and sheltered in the car, we couldn’t help but laugh when we saw her grin as she gave us a wave. A true pro, she had experienced her fair share of Irish winter and was content for a laugh and pics from the car while we were chilled to the bone stumbling about in the wind.

After our walk and pictures, it was back in the car and onto the next stop which was just down the road a bit. The road itself was steep and narrow, and hugged the side of a mountain. And although the road had some spectacular views of the ocean, a spot of rain came in which forced me to really keep my eyes focused on the drive. Conveniently though, there were a few pull-offs which allowed us to get some pictures and gave me a few minutes to really appreciate the view without worrying about driving off the cliff or running over any sheep that meandered across the road.

As it usually happens, what goes up, must come down, and so the road brought us down to Keem Beach, just in time for the rain to stop and skies to clear up. Keem beach is a horseshoe shaped, sandy beach, sheltered by mountains on two sides and looks out into Keem Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. And sheltered it was, the wind which chilled us on Keel Strand was cut in half thanks to the mountains. We walked about exploring and taking pictures of the beach, mountains, and some old ruins. In the summer months, the bay is visited by Basking sharks which are attracted to the warm waters from the Gulf stream. Although Keel had a great view and was amazing, to me Keem Beach was equally if not more amazing and took the title hands down. Either looking out over the blue ocean waters, or at the sheltering mountains that had stood watch over the beach for hundreds of years, no view was a bad one, I imagined how the place must look in the summer.

After a bit, the clouds started to roll in and you could see the rain moving toward the shore. It was time to head back to Crossmolina and Enniscrone, another adventure in the books.