WELL, AREN’T YOU A SIGHT TO SEE?

 

 

WE ARE NOW IN OUR FOURTH HOUSE AND OUR FOURTH AND FIFTH WEEKS IN IRELAND. After this week we will begin the process of closing the book on Ireland and begin to get our thoughts on heading home.

For the first three weeks we were tourists and tour guides. We were blessed to have our “Alaskan Cousins” with us. They had never been here before and we wanted them to see the parts of this island that has brought us back time and time again. We may have run them a bit ragged, but with us they saw more than those tourists who saw the country from inside a rolling tour bus.

Before we left Terre Haute (That’s French for, “Guinness does go well with chocolate.”) our itinerary would have had us on the go about 36 hours a day. We’ve done it before and we thought we could do it again. Reality threw a pie in our faces on that idea. The first time I came here I was 60 years old and Dawn was…a mere yute. This trip has defied my experiments with time travel and tore too many pages off our Calendar. When we all landed in Dublin the age range of our group went from 73 years down to 62. We were not being mistaken for Hostelling Students on Holiday.

That 36 hours a day agenda took on some severe rewriting before we had our baggage. None of us had the energy, muscular power, or non-arthritic knees that we used to have back in our youth. The Spirits were indeed willing, but the bodies were, not necessarily weak, but with a limited battery life and a longer time to recharge.

“Your mileage may vary”

Even though we had to allow for more recharge time we still did see some of the island’s truly wonderful cultural and historical treasures. We went to Newgrange to see one of the Wonders of Ancient Ireland. We had to walk a bit, but we were rewarded with hot coffee and tea to cut through the wind and rain.

We went to see “The Rock of Cashel” – an 11^th Century castle perched high on a rocky perch, visible and intimidating for miles. We did go to see it and we did, but we opted out of the steep hillside climb that would put us inside the castle itself. As an alternative we had a nice lunch at Granny’s Kitchen across from our parking space. I think it was a wise choice.

Just a few days before our Cousins headed home we drove down to the southwestern coastline to see Ireland’s number one, most visited sight – The Cliffs of Moher. That was the day that having me along truly made me worth my weight in Disabled Parking placards. The facilities there are new and wonderful, but the regular parking lots are a hefty walk away from the Cliffs.

When the Parking Lot attendants saw my Disabled Parking Permit from Indiana (I never leave home without it) they redirected our car to another lot that, if it was any closer to everything, would have been inside the Gift Shop.

We did have a short, five minute easy uphill walk, to view the 700 ft. cliffs overlooking the stormy North Atlantic Ocean. It was not a foggy day so we all got amazing views and good pictures. The walk back from the cliffs was downhill and led us right into the café where lunch was being served.

Do we know how to plan these things or what?

I think that maybe, just maybe, we should open a travel service for people our age.

“Geezer Tours – History, Culture, and a Nice Hot Lunch.”

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