Shannon Harbour, Ireland
Sunday, July 29, 2007
We covered a lot of territory today. For our last day in County Clare, we decided to investigate the two well-known natural sites in the area. We headed to the Cliffs of Moher which was an interesting drive (more narrow roads) with only minor difficulties with Colleen (as we have been calling our "Never Lost" voice). Despite Larry's initial reservations about exactly what the cost was going to be and how commercialized the Cliffs had become, he was pleasantly surprised what a good job "they" did. Really? The walk was nice, the scenery spectacular, and the weather cooperated. It was at this point in our day that things began to go sour. Colleen had a difficult time navigating to (and later, from) The Burren. It was quite tense in the car (and quite funny at times) as Larry would follow Colleen's directions and end up going exactly the wrong way. It was raining fairly steadily and Colleen could not account for new roads, detours, and the like. Probably the best "screw up" though was when Larry decided to follow a smaller map and we cut across the Burren on a road that can only be described as one narrow car's width
. We met the occasional bicycle tourist looking soaked though the "road" emptied onto a larger road and a place called Cassidy's. It advertised pizza, seafood, scones, and cappucinos so we decided to stop and try to have some lunch. By far, it was the BEST meal we had in all of Ireland. Larry's adventures in strange meats did not extend to the goat burger that was offered; we all ate well and the scenery was spectacular. We overlooked what is called the "disappearing lake" which I would most likely describe as a seasonal lake. Whatever. Lauren and I ate stuffed potatoes, Larry had soup and salad (omg--real lettuce and real dressing), and Alison also enjoyed a salad with homemade brown bread. We shared our food (Lauren even let us taste her Irish coffee) and Alison and I shared our scones (warm from the oven with homemade peach spread and whipped cream). The cup of tea I had was the best finish. Unfortunately, the high of lunch did not extend to Colleen. She continued her peevish ways and led us down some one-way streets (great for morale in the car)but we did eventually make it to the Harbour Master's House. Of course, once we arrived here, we wished we had time to spend a couple of days. The innkeeper, whom we will not see tomorrow when we jet out at 7:15 to sprint back to Dublin Airport, was incredibly gracious and didn't try as hard as good, old Sheila did. Larry will be so glad to say goodbye to the SUV and Colleen, the idiot. The local entertainment of the night was when a man down the street let a herd of horses loose. The horses came charging down the street and turned left and went over the bridge and came up the other side. It was quite an event! It took two kids, a couple of cars to block traffic, one man and a small, persistent dog to round them up and really kill their fun. Off to bed...up early tomorrow. Our number one job is to find a washateria once we hit London.
