Moving to Oregon

Things have been a little slow around the blog for the past couple of weeks if you hadn’t noticed.  This is mainly because my time has been taken up interviewing for a new job :-).  Between flying out, interviewing, and deciding whether or not I should take it, I figure I lost at least about a week’s worth of blog-time.

Anyhow, my wife and I decided that I should take the position – so we are moving to Oregon!  Read on to find out more and why I think this will be a great move for me and the fam.  I also discuss some of the potential challenges we think we’ll face as well!

Location, Location, Location

Let’s start with one of the biggest upsides we saw when considering moving to Oregon.  Simply put, Oregon is a beautiful place for folks that like the great outdoors and temperate weather.  With the Oregon Pacific coast, the Cascade mountains, multiple rivers, and all kinds of outdoor activities, it’s a great place for the nature lover.

This is What Might Happen to You if Moving to Oregon – Maybe?

While I’m not a huge outdoor kinda guy, I guess I have always aspired to be.  Living in Oregon will give us all a chance to put down the screens and enjoy more fresh air.  It was difficult to get enough outdoor time in Southern Georgia where 8 months out of the year is feels like it’s sweltering hot.  So, Oregon definitely gets bonus points for increased quality of life.

One other thing I’m really stoked about is that we’ll be just a little over an hour away from Portland.  So, I am sure we’ll take lots of family trips there to hang out and enjoy all this awesome city has to offer.  We can also check out all kinds of sweet vegan bakeries I’ve been hearing so much about!

Making an Industry Switch

Probably the most obvious reason we are considering moving to Oregon in the first place is because of my job opportunity.  With everything going on in my current company, I was going to end up in the chemical industry for the rest of my career.  As a mechanical engineer, this wasn’t necessarily how I wanted things to end up  :-).

The new position I am taking as Director of Manufacturing Operations seems like it is going to be a lot of fun and a real challenge.  It is in an industry that I do not have a lot of experience in (highly precise robotics and electronics), so I am a bit nervous about it.  I love a good challenge to put my brain to work, and I am sure to find it here!  As a nice bonus, the job has a pay increase of 10% vs. what I am making now.  While that isn’t a huge increase, there is a lot of potential upside.

What do I mean with “potential upside?”  Well, I will get the opportunity to obtain a bunch of shares of company stock.  This could eventually be sold for lots of moolah if everything goes well and the company successfully goes public.  If things don’t work out, then at least I’ll know I did my best and won’t regret going for it.

An Investment in Knowledge Pays the Best Interest

I attended some great schools when I was younger, and my good education really helped to shape my success.  I am very thankful that my parents sacrificed so much to ensure my sister and I could get a good education.  So, good schools were very important in our decision as to where we should relocate should an opportunity come up.  Our kids are both smart, and we want to do everything we can to keep them that way.

So, you can imagine my excitement when the excellent job opportunity came up, and the area has some of the best schools in the state!  The schools are all 9/10 r 10/10 according to GreatSchools.org.  There are also several great colleges within an hour or two if we choose to put down roots here.  What’s not to love?

What’s the Catch?

So, with all of these great factors, there has to be a downside, right?  It’s true – it’s not all rose-colored glasses for us as we move to Oregon.  There are a couple pretty big downsides to the whole decision.

First of all, my wife is probably going to be making ~20% less on her hourly income.  We are not sure why the wages are much lower than Southern Georgia.  We are guessing the lower wagers are due to larger supply of Physical Therapists in the area compared to  where we are coming from.

Another downside is that the company has a pretty standard 401(k) with a 3% match.  This is a big difference compared to the 9% match I was getting at my old job.  This will result in nearly $7,500 less in savings per year for our retirement :-(.

Likely the largest downside is that the houses nearby my job are EXPENSIVE!  The houses here are basically 3x the price than we are used to in Southern Georgia.  I guess we can say goodbye to our sub-$900 monthly payment.  Most of the homes here are going to be around $450k with a monthly house payment around $2,400.  That’s a huge change for us!

Throw all those financial downsides together, and it made for a really tough decision from a financial perspective as to whether or not we should go for it.  In the end, we decided that even if it wasn’t the best choice from a financial perspective, we should give it a shot because of all of the positives I mentioned above.

Wish us Luck!

So, I’m off to Oregon to start the new job tomorrow!  We will see what the future holds – we are all nervous yet excited.  Maybe we’ll come up with some creative ways to minimize the impact of some of our anticipated downsides.  Check out the future money reports to see just how everything works out from a financial perspective!

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The Irish tooth fairy has come twice for our little boy, and he leaves Euro!  So he has made 4 Euro this trip.

My 10 year old has lost 2 teeth on this trip. I thought he was done loosing teeth by now?!

Hook Lighthouse in Waterford, Ireland

Our last touring day in Ireland – I woke up early and headed to the gym for a workout followed by a swim with the kids.  When we got back to the room at 10am Derek was STILL sleeping! Once we got everyone (and everything) together, we checked out and headed for the Hook Lighthouse.  We made our stop at Aldi first to grab some snacks and breakfast items spending 16.16 Euro.  The lighthouse is located on the tip of the Hook Peninsula in county Wexford.  It is the world’s oldest intact lighthouse (800 years)!  We decided not to take the tour the lighthouse, but we enjoyed the free exhibits, scenery, and the kids played a game of chess. The weather was beautiful (about 75 degrees Fahrenheit) with a nice breeze off the ocean.  We heard one person make the comment that it was “too humid.”  Haha! They wouldn’t last a day in south Georgia.

The Hook Lighthouse in Wexford, Ireland, the oldest intact lighthouse in the World!

The kids enjoying a game of chess at the Hook Lighthouse in Wexford.

A view of the beautiful Hook Peninsula

Curracloe Beach – Southeast Ireland

After enjoying a coffee, some snacks from our Aldi purchase, and some relaxation we started toward the Curracloe Strand beaches.  The beach is one of County Wexford’s most popular beaches sitting on the Celtic Sea.  Of note, this beach served as the Omaha Beach in Saving Private Ryan.  The sand dunes are huge, and there were children using their boogie boards to slide down the dunes :-).  The water was….COLD!  There were lots of children and adults playing in the water though despite the temperature, and again someone commented about the warm temperature.  Interestingly, at least to me, there were no umbrellas on the beach… just some of these plastic wind shelter things (see the photo).  The kids enjoyed playing in the sand and getting their feet wet while I enjoyed relaxing on the beach in the sun.

The sand dunes were huge and hard to climb over. On the way back to the car we found the boardwalk.

A view of the beach looking down from the sand dune

Yay! We are at the beach…but the water is Freezing!

Selfie!

The kids enjoyed some time at the Curracloe Strand beach in the Celtic Sea.

Driving from Wexford to Dublin

We planned on stopping for lunch as we left the town, but there wasn’t anywhere to stop so we enjoyed more of our already purchased snacks.  The drive to Dublin took about 2 hours and then we were stuck in city traffic trying to get to the hotel.  I was sleeping, no surprise there, but woke up trying to figure out why we were in the city when our hotel is at the airport.  My husband was wondering the same thing, but we presumed it was the fastest or most direct route that the GPS was giving us.  We saw our hotel, after driving in the bus/taxi only area for about 1 mile, but we couldn’t get near it to park or get out.

After driving around sometime we just parked in the closest deck we could find (my daughter had been complaining of needing to use the toilet for about 1 hour by now).  We unloaded the car and walked about 1/2 mile to the hotel…to find out that it was the WRONG hotel :-(.  We used the restroom and lugged all of our luggage back to the car and headed for the correct hotel.  Much to my husband’s relief, it was out of the city and much closer to the airport.  We checked into the hotel and put our stuff down.  We decided that we would return the rental car that night to decrease the stress and time required in the morning (and hopefully get a little refund).  Wow, we are glad we returned the car early as the airport and car rental return were difficult to navigate!  We returned the car, but didn’t get a refund :-(.  After taking the shuttle back to the airport to catch the hotel shuttle, we walked to a local Italian restaurant for dinner.  My husband and I shared salmon with a baked potato with a meatball appetizer, it was so delicious!  The kids had lasagna and spaghetti and a squash drink, and the meal cost us 27.85 Euro.  Our waitress said she came to visit Ireland from Kazakhstan for 1 week and stayed for 7 years!  Hmm, I was tempted.

My daughter enjoying double squash, from what we can tell it’s like a Crystal Light packet added to water.

This poor boy is tired from 2 weeks of touring Ireland and staying up late.

We got back to the room and re-packed our things for airplane travel and charged all our electronic devices before heading to bed.  We need to be at the airport at 8:00am in the morning for our flight, luckily our hotel has a complimentary breakfast.

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So, we decided to sleep in and enjoy the hotel amenities this morning.

The kids fully enjoying relaxing a bot more this morning.

We took a vote this morning between castle and beaches, and the kids chose the castle.  I woke up and went to the gym and did a popsugar fitness workout from my chromebook in the gym. Yay!  I always feel better when I start the day with exercise.  When I finished I went back to the room and made a cup of espresso and enjoyed sipping the delicious drink while updating the blog.  Mmm!  We lazed around the hotel room and checked out around 12noon.  We each grabbed a complimentary apple from the reception desk and these tided us over until we ate brunch.  We made up for the more expensive dinner last night by skipping breakfast this morning.

Touring the Rock of Cashel in Ireland

Our first, and only, stop today was the Rock of Cashel.  The castle has a parking lot, yet it costs 4.50 Euro to park there.  So we found street parking which is free on Sundays :-).  We were starving, so we chose a restaurant near the castle and ate lunch first at Fahy’s.  My husband and I shared a grilled chicken wrap with guess what? Yes, chips!  The kids enjoyed cheeseburgers and chips and the total cost was 20 Euro.  We also got a free family voucher to get into the Rock of Cashel since we ate at a restaurant in town (a neat way to encourage visitors to support the town).

The Rock of Cashel in Cashel, Ireland

Another view of the Rock of Cashel, we are in the graveyard with the cathedral behind us.

The Rock of Cashel is actually included on our Heritage card (a savings of 16 Euro), so we gave the free voucher to another family behind us. The Rock of Cashel is the only castle we have been to that was built for religious purposes.  It is quite possibly the large castle we have seen on our trip to Ireland.

“Nebraska” from the Rock of Cashel: made me think of my good friend in Omaha that encouraged me to do this blog.

No playground here, but that doesn’t stop them from climbing on things and having a good time.

After we finished up at the Rock of Cashel we started our  1 1/2 hour drive to Wexford.-actually New Ross tonight.  Tonight we stayed at the “castle hotel!”

Our “castle hotel” – OK so it’s not really a castle, but its the closet we could get to staying in one to didn’t cost an arm and a leg.

Brandon House Hotel – Ireland

There is an indoor pool and exercise facility attached to the Brandon House Hotel as well.  Our swim hats are required here and children under the age of 16 are not allowed in the Jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, or the hydrotherapy area.  This area has a stone walk, seated warm water jets to massage your feet, a relaxing warm water waterfall to sooth neck and shoulders, and a walking circular jet room.  I really enjoyed this area!  The pool closes at 7pm for kids, so we stayed until closing and then washed for dinner.  We drove into New Ross to eat only to find it mainly abandoned and with few choices.  We had a mediocre Asian meal at Kings Court for 38.60 Euro.  We were the only customers dining in, so it felt very fancy and personal.  My daughter enjoyed yet another meal of chicken nuggets.

My daughter’s gourmet meal of chicken nuggets and fried rice. At least she ate it all.

Tomorrow is our last day to explore Ireland :-(.  We are headed to the coast to see a lighthouse and hopefully enjoy the beach before driving the 3 hours to Dublin to stay the night before our flight.  We also need to do some souvenir shopping!!

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Today is the warmest day we’ve had thus far at 26 degrees Celsius, that’s almost 79 Fahrenheit.

Ross Castle – Kilarney Ireland

We started our day in Killarney at the Ross Castle.  Ross is actually Gaelic for peninsula, so no one named Ross ever lived in the castle.  It was actually inhabited by O’Donoghue and then the Brownes in the 15th century.  The castle is actually a tower castle and therefore wasn’t luxurious but meant for protection.  I learned that the term threshold comes from the extra height in the floor that intended to keep the thresh (straw) in the room.  The castle includes barracks that was used in the early 19th century, and the castle was destroyed as the roof was removed to avoid paying taxes (It has since been beautifully restored.).  We enjoyed our guided tour (the only way to see inside the castle) and saved 16 Euro with our Heritage card.

Ross Castle in Killarney National Park

The kids climbing a tree outside of the Ross Castle

Blarney Castle Ireland – the Blarney Stone

We then headed to Blarney to see the infamous Blarney Castle  and stone.  We enjoyed a picnic lunch, finishing our purchased food from yesterday, on the grounds outside the castle.  So, lunch was basically free for today :-).   Unfortunately the Blarney Castle is not part of the Heritage program so we had to pay 37 Euro for a family admission.

The Blarney Castle near Cork

Another view of the Blarney Castle

My daughter caught in the Blarney Castle dungeon

We headed straight to the castle so we could kiss the Blarney stone, thinking we would avoid some of the lines.  We were wrong, the line from the stone (at the top of the castle) wound down the narrow, tripping, spiral staircase and extended outside the castle.  But we waited in line and almost 45 minutes later we were at the stone.  The worst part was being stuck on a narrow step without light and with people on either side of you – maybe I’m a bit claustrophobic?  The castle is in ruin and so there is not any furniture or tapestries within the castle.  There are some signs in some of the rooms indicating what the room would have been.

I learned that a machicolation is a  floor opening used to throw stones/hot water/etc to help in defense of the castle.  The Blarney stone is one of these machocolation of the castle.  Why do people kiss the Blarney stone?  It is said to grant the kisser with great eloquence.  Because of its location, you must lie on your back and lean over the wall to kiss the stone.  Don’t worry, there is a man there to help you and guide you to the stone (as well as a photographer).  So we all kissed the stone…wonder how long this eloquence takes?

Kissing the Blarney stone, or shortly after, can you tell which one it is? I had to tuck my shirt in because it was so windy.

Our next stop in the castle grounds was the Poison Garden.  Here we saw poisonous plants from around the world, including the Mandrake and Wolfsbane – any Harry Potter fans?  Did you know that the leaves of rhubarb are deadly?  I didn’t until today.  We continued through the castle grounds and found the caves, which my kids really enjoyed!

Outside the caves at the Blarney Castle, we found 3!

Then we walked through the Fern Garden to an area they call Rock Close.  Here we found the “wishing steps,” said to grant your wish within one year if you walk up and down them backwards with your eyes closed.  I’m not sure about the validity, but I’m sure people enjoyed the sight of us trying to do this.  There was also a pretty waterfall and some beautiful flowers .  (We are not really flower people-they are nice to look at and smell but no need to examine each one.)

My daughter making her wish on the wishing steps in the Rock Close at Blarney Castle.

The waterfall in the Rock Close at Blarney Castle

The kids played for a bit on a playground, yes another one, before we got ice cream in the park costing us 7.50 Euro.  We actually had to buy the more expensive ones so we could meet the minimum credit card purchase.

My son working on his strength at the play area at the Blarney Castle.

Enjoying some ice cream – some of us more than others! Yes, that’s ice cream on their faces and my husband’s beard.  Mmm!

Cork International Hotel

Our hotel in Cork was about 40 minutes from Blarney near the Cork airport.  We thought we would check in and then head to town to get dinner, but the airport is a bit further from town than we thought.  Our hotel – Wow!  Our room is the size of 3 rooms and we have 2 queen size beds and a twin bed, 2 showers, and a Espresso machine.  This hotel only cost us $128 for the night. The kids are in love withe the extra space since we have been pretty cramped recently, so we decided to stay at the hotel and eat dinner in the New Yorker restaurant.  It was delicious, although pricey.  I had a cosmopolitan, and after 1/4 of it I was feeling a bit light headed..ha, I don’t drink much.  My husband and I split a 3 course meal and the kids shared a pizza and dessert for a price of 55.50 Euro.  I know that is the most expensive meal, but we haven’t had a fancier meal since we’ve been on vacation, so it was our chance to splurge a bit.

My cosmopolitan, it wasn’t much after this picture I had to add some water since I was feeling a bit tipsy. Lol!

Our dinner at the Cork International Hotel…it was delicious!

We headed back to room and enjoyed some wi-fi time with our tablets, and me writing these posts.  We’re scheduled to go to Wexford tomorrow and seeing a castle and some beaches on the way, but we may sleep in and enjoy the room/hotel.

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We set our alarm and headed to breakfast early this morning.  We parked on the street last night and as overnight parking is free, the morning fee starts at 8:30am.  We finally found a cafe open in Killarney called Jam.  To our surprise most of the cafes accepted cash only (my husband didn’t get enough Euro) or they didn’t open until 9am.  Breakfast was delicious and cost us 17.95 Euro.  We wanted to have a picnic for lunch while hiking so we stopped by Tesco and spent 9.61 Euro on lunch meat and bread.

Torc Waterfall – Ring of Kerry in Killarney

Now, the Ring of Kerry is a popular destination for tourists and I found lots of Pinterest information on the best spots and routes.  I had it all planned out where we would go to all the major towns and see the castles and sights.  My husband on the other hand thought we had decided to hike the mountains and climb the tallest peak.  Since we had seen a lot of castles already, I gave in and went with my husband’s plan.  We started at the Torc Waterfall is South West of Killarney.  It was a half mile hike up to the waterfall and then we hiked up an additional 3/4 mile exploring the Killarney National Park.

Torc Waterfall on the Ring of Kerry

The kids climbing on the rocks while exploring.

One of the views we saw while hiking up very steep steps, looking onto the Muckross Lake.

Gap of Dunloe – Ring of Kerry in Killarney

We didn’t know exactly where the path led, and we had parked our car at the bottom of the waterfall, so we headed back the way we came and drove the car to the next spot.  Derek and I were trying to determine the best way to make it to the next locale we wanted to visit.  I kept telling Derek we should take the marked paths to the Gap of Dunloe, but he was determined that he needed to go another path to the Purple Mountain.  On the path our Garmin took us we came upon an incident where a car had run into the side of the mountain.  We were at a standstill for about 20 minutes.

The famous “Ladies’ View” on the Ring of Kerry, it is beautiful.

So we drove to the place where he thought we could get to the Purple Mountain path and parked near Lord Brandon’s Cottage.  There were lots of horse and buggy waiting to be booked to take people to the Gap of Dunloe  (Where I told my husband we needed to drive in the first place).  My daughter wanted to ride the horse and buggy so bad, but we didn’t have enough Euro.  They were charging anywhere from 40-50 Euro for a family of 4 (we only have 15 left).  So we hiked up the path to the Gap of Dunloe.  The 1-1/2 hour hike was HARD…up a lot of steep hills and was a 568 meters climb (or 1,863 feet).  In addition to the steep climb, we had to deal with cars, sheep, and jaunting cars (those horse and buggy systems).  My daughter had to stop a few times to rest, and our backpack with water bladder really came in handy during this hike. We finally reached the top and stopped to have a picnic lunch.

Our family selfie of our much needed lunch break picnic at the Gap of Dunloe.

Derek was still determined to climb to the top of the Purple Mountain, named so we presume because it looks purple from a distance.  The mountain stands 830 meters (or 2,723 feet) tall.  To make it more scary for me (helicopter mom) my 10 year old son wanted to climb it with him.  So, my husband reassured me that they would re-evaluate as they climbed and would be safe.  The climb and descent took an hour, which isn’t much…but I was scared and the sun had gone behind the mountains…so we were cold waiting for them.  I was so relieved when I saw my husband’s bright green shirt again and they were starting to come down the mountain.

You can’t really appreciate the height of the mountain range from this picture, but my son and husband are up there. Can you spot them?

Trying to relax in the sun waiting on the boys to finish their hike.

We decided to walk back down the path we walked up (as going to the other end would take 3 hours round-trip and then another 1.5 to our car).  My husband was so sore and his knee was bothering him, so it took a long time.  But we finally made it!  We drove back over the path and took the whole Gap of Dunloe route in by car.  We crossed the “wishing bridge.”  Hope our wishes come true!

Driving Tour – Ring of Kerry in Killarney

After we finished our 4 hour hike, we drove more on the Ring of Kerry going counter-clockwise toward Killorglin and passed the ruins of Wynn Castle.  Kells is the next county and we stopped to see the beach, but didn’t get out of the car since it was raining pretty hard.  There were some families in the water…but they were wearing wet-suits.  We continued on to Chersiveen  to see the Ballycarbery Castle and 2 stone forts.  The castle is in ruin, but looks neat as it is overgrown with ivy.

Ballycarberry Castle ruins, yes it’s raining again.

Another view of the Ballycarberry Castle ruins

We were hungry and so stopped at a pub in Cahersiveen and spent 39.50 Euro on dinner.  I decided to have the “exotic curry dish,”  and I was happy I did. The best part was my meal came with chips (french fries)!  How have I not known that french fries come will all the meals here in Ireland?  I should have come here sooner! Once we finally got our very young waitress to finish up our tab it was raining much harder and was getting pretty dark.  We wanted to finish driving on the Ring of Kerry, but decided it was too late and dark so headed back toward Killarney. We needed some rest, my fit bit counted a total of 136 floors climbed and 24,285 steps!!!

Tomorrow we leave for Cork.

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Well, I didn’t sleep well at all!  I woke up so many times being hot and tossing and turning in the bed.  We ate our breakfast we purchased at Aldi and packed up and headed out.  We changed the plans a bit and stopped at King John’s Castle before leaving Limerick.  We had a discount card, or so we thought, from the Bunratty Castle to use.  But, I gave the card to the man at the entrance and he didn’t charge us anything?  That was a neat surprise, but I think it was his mistake!

King John’s Castle in Limerick

The castle tour and exhibition hall is great with a lot of interactive opportunities for the kids (and me too!)  In the castle grounds there were some actors and they sang us a Gregorian chant while in character.  The castle castle took decades to complete, and was started in 1212.  Actually, King John never saw, much less lived in, the castle.  King John’s Castle underwent many sieges (1642, 1651, 1690/1691), yet was still livable , with some restorations, until the end of the 20th century.

King John’s Castle in Limerick

The kids dressed up like Viking and Gaelic soldiers at King John’s Castle

My daughter practicing her fighting skills on this dummy.

King John’s Castle, standing in what used to be the Great Room.

The view from the top of the corner tower of King John’s Castle looking out into the town of Limerick

The kids in the pillory at King John’s Castle. I remember taking so many of these with my sister in Colonial Williamsburg.

Touring the Dingle Peninsula of Ireland

Next we headed to the Maharees beaches on the Dingle Peninsula which took us about 2 hours driving.  We drove on some more narrow roads and once our Garmin told us to turn into the ocean!  (We are convinced the Garmin is trying to kill us at least once per day.)  We found one of the beaches and climbed over some rocks to walk on the sand.  Ok, so the water is FREEZING, and I only put my toes in!  But, the kids enjoyed running in the edge looking for seashells, special rocks, and beach glass. The wind was so strong that I had to put my rain jacket hood on.  The beach was covered with small, clear with 4 purple circles on top, dead jellyfish and seaweed.  We only saw a couple other families walking on the beach and about 15 people learning to kite surf and surf that were wearing wet suits.

The kids are so happy to be at a beach.

Getting our feet wet in the Atlantic Ocean at the Maharees Beaches.

Our family photo at the Dingle Peninsula beach, the wind is so strong!

We ate lunch at a cute place on the beach called Spillane’s Bar and Restaurant.  We shared meals and so only spent 21.40 Euro.  (We had some snacks that we purchased from Aldi while we were traveling.)

A beautiful landscape we drove by, no wonder Ireland is called the Emerald Isle.

Headed onto Killarney

We drove another hour to Killarney and checked into our hotel.  This hotel is in city centre and so we had to figure out overnight street parking.  We walked around a little and then decided to eat dinner at an Italian Restaurant called Salvadores and we enjoyed a nice meal for 23.90 Euro.  We shared again since we weren’t too hungry, those cheap snacks have really come in handy.  Our hotel had a hot tub, that was not patrolled, so the kids wanted to enjoy the opportunity before going to bed.  I used the gym equipment (a rowing machine) while the kids and husband enjoyed the relaxing hot tub.

Tomorrow we are hiking around the Ring of Kerry, so we needed to get in bed a bit earlier tonight.

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This morning we checked out of our hotel after having breakfast and headed to the Cliffs of Moher.   Our path took us on A LOT of  winding and steep roads in the Burren National Park.  My daughter had us stop alongside the road quickly, and she got sick :-(.  Guess she ate too many peaches.  You can park along the narrow, winding road for free and tour the cliffs for free.  We decided to pay the 12 Euro and park in a parking lot and be able to use the bathrooms and see the exhibitions.

The Cliffs of Moher Fun Facts

The Cliffs of Moher rise 214 m (702 feet) and expand for 5 miles over the Atlantic Ocean.  The Cliffs of Moher were formed during the Upper Carboniferous period (320 million years ago) when a river flowed down and dumped sand and mud into this area which settled to form the rock layers.  They are stunning and breathtaking!   I wasn’t scared at these cliffs since there was a railing or some barrier between me and the edge at all times.

Cliffs of Moher

A view from the south side of the Cliffs of Moher looking north towards Obrien’s tower

Cliffs of Moher from the north side looking south

Bunratty Castle in Limerick

After finishing our tour of the Cliffs of Moher we headed to the Bunratty Castle in Limerick.  On the way we found a cute sandwich shop in Baile Stairiuil called Foodie’s korner.  We enjoyed tuna melt sandwiches, soup, an omelet, and a delicious slice of mint pie for 24 Euro.

A cute restaurant we stopped in to have some lunch

We made it to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park just after the castle closed.  So we couldn’t go inside the castle, but we could still tour the folk park and see the outside of the castle.  It was a discounted price of 22.50 Euro for a family. The castle was built in 1425 and the folk park is 26 acres of 19th century Ireland.   During the 16th and 17th centuries it was a stronghold for the O’Brien’s (hey that’s my Granny’s last name!).  The Bunratty Folk Park is a living reconstruction of the homes and environment of Ireland in the 18th and 19th centuries complete with a village street, farmhouse and fisherman’s house.  The door to the castle was still open…so we took our own quick, quiet, self-guided tour of the castle.  To no surprise, the kids found another playground…this one had a zipline!  They had a great time!

The Bunratty Castle

Playing on the cannons outside of the Bunratty Castle

A cool tree chair we found at the fairy village in the Bunratty Folk park, Gavin is trying to take over the Queen’s chair.

My daughter and son having school at the Bunratty school house in the recreated town

My daughter playing on the zip line in the Bunratty Folk park playground

By the time we got into Limerick we were too late to see King John’s Castle, so we headed to the hotel and checked in.  We had dinner at a neat place in town called the Locke Bar where traditional Irish music and dancing is performed nightly.  We had some traditional American food of burgers and chicken tenders that cost us 38 Euro.  The food was mediocre, but the ambiance felt traditional.  Our hotel was next to an Aldi!  (I so wish we had one of these in our home town.) We grabbed some snacks and breakfast goodies for the next day totaling 12.01 Euro.  We went back to the hotel and tried to sleep, but it was pretty difficult to get to sleep since the room was stuffy and Ireland hotels (at least the ones we’ve stayed in) don’t have air conditioners.  We are heading to Killarney tomorrow, but going to Dingle Peninsula first to explore some beaches.

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Galway is a town on the the Galway Bay off the Atlantic Coast that is due west from Dublin.  We are now half way around the country and thus half way done with our trip :-(.  Does anyone else start to get a bit sad as the reach the halfway point of their vacation?  Anyway, we still have a lot of fun sites to see.

Morning in Galway

The hotel has a gym!  So I woke up early and headed to the gym.  Not that I haven’t been getting enough cardio during this trip, with all the climbing and walking my fit bit indicates I am burning over 2,000 calories a day.  I decided to do the elliptical and then lift some weights for my upper body and arms.  I was scared to try and do a heavy leg day as we have a lot of walking today.

We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant’s buffet.  We had paid a discounted price of 26 Euro for the family at check in to enjoy the breakfast.  Buffets always scare me a bit, as I feel like I need to get my money’s worth and end up eating too much and then feeling ill for a bit.  I chose some ham, sausage, eggs, and mini chocolate croissants.  The kids enjoyed pancakes and some peaches.

My selection of goodies from the Connacht hotel breakfast

Wow! That’s a bowl of peaches!

Walking Tour Through Galway

We chose another Pinterest find for the “perfrect Galway stroll.”  We started at the Train station and walked through Eyre Square.  There is a bust of JFK in the middle and the kids enjoyed playing in the Kennedy park.

The kids found another park, this one named after an American president: JFK.

A pretty water feature in the middle of Kennedy Park in Galway.

Look what we found Grandma and Grandad! Maybe we are Irish?!

We walked down Shop Street and did some shopping enjoying the street musicians.  The street was lively with the entertainment.  We saw some singing, a group of young boys playing Irish music, a juggling/trick performer, a man playing the spoons, and a lot more.

Enjoying the street performers along Shop Street in Galway

The kid group we saw, they don’t look very happy? Hope they are just nervous and not child laborers.

The kids’ favorite street performer, he was juggling 5 torches of fire and a sword while on a unicycle.

Don’t you think he looks so cute in this hat? I keep trying to convince him to get one for his souvenir.

We had planned on eating lunch at a restaurant called Pura Vida, so I could finally get some Irish stew.  But we could ‘t find it!  So we continued walking along the River Corrib and under the Spanish arches.

The Spanish arches in the street of Galway, these use to be an extension of the city wall until partially destroyed by a tsunami.

I took a wrong turn, since I was still looking for this elusive restaurant, and we ended up  a bit West of our planned route.  We waled along a bit and found a large church and thought it was the Galway Cathedral.  But it wasn’t, we’re not really sure what church it was but it was pretty.

The Corrib river through Galway, and the kids getting along long enough for a picture.

The church we thought was the Galway Cathedral…still impressive though

We walked around some more and found the Galway Cathedral and then the National University of Ireland.

Okay, so the real Galway Cathedral is much more impressive!

Outside the main entrance of the National University of Ireland

Something Nice to Eat in Galway

By this time we were pretty hungry, despite my large breakfast, and the kids were getting tired.  We found a restaurant in the town called Finnegans, which was built inside the oldest Medival building in Galway, and I finally had Irish lamb stew.  It was delicious!  And look at all those ways to serve potatoes on one plate. I love the Irish!  A great lunch only cost us 20.45 Euro.

Finnegans in Galway

Yay! Finally had some Irish stew with lamb. It was delicious!

Irish Dancing Show – Trod on the Pram

We headed back to the hotel and the kids swam in the pool for a bit before we needed to get ready for our Irish dancing show – Trad on the Prom.  We had pre-booked the show costing us 75 Euro.  We were nervous about getting dinner at a traditional restaurant and making the show on time.  Luckily there was a little cafe in the building where the show was being held.  We had a pannini, sausage roll (more like croissant), a bag of popcorn (my poor daughter and her picky palate), and a scone with a cafe mocha.  All of this cost us 11.50 Euro.

Now we were ready 1 hour before the doors opened, so the kids played some in a little area in the cafe.  The seating at the show is first come first serve, so we got in line and waited to enter at 7:50pm.  We had great seats and the show was absolutely marvelous!  The musicians are so talented playing so many different instruments.  The violinist used to play in Riverdance.  The Irish dancers were all “World Champions” from 3-10 times.  Wow! This has been the best part of our trip thus far, and now my daughter has Irish fever and is dancing everywhere.

Trad on the Prom musicians in Galway, they were simply amazing!

The female Irish dancers at Trad on the Prom, they can move their feet so fast and jump so high.

The show was late so we didn’t get back to the hotel until around 11pm… so we headed to bed.  We are heading to the Cliffs of Moher tomorrow.

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We LOVED our Airbnb in Kesh!  The house was so cozy and affordable with comfortable linens and upscale decorations, it cost us a total of $126 for a one night stay.  The host left us fresh eggs, bread, milk, and juice allowing us to have a nice, relaxed breakfast at the home.

The delicious items left by our airbnb host

Relaxing a Bit in Kesh, Ireland

After our long and late night last night, we decided to sleep in and relax a bit in this wonderful house before heading to our next destination.  I woke up and did a work-out on the smart tv using the Youtube channel and then enjoyed some coffee out on the patio. The kids woke up shortly and we enjoyed some morning snuggles on the couch.

Enjoying some morning snuggles while having a relaxing morning at our Airbnb.

Donegal Castle Self-Guided Tour

We left the house around noon and headed north 30 miles to Donegal to see the castle.  The Donegal castle is located in the city centre of Donegal.  (Before visiting the Donegal castle we had spent 80 Euro in visiting the Heritage sites, so we saved our first 10 Euro on admission).  We had to find parking in the middle of the center, but all the parking lots were “pay and display” lots taking only Euro coins.  So, my husband went to bank and exchanged some of our American dollars for some Euros.  Yay! We finally have some Euros, and going to bank only cost us $1.27 for an exchange fee.  The castle was built in the late 15th century at the bend in the river Eske by O’Donnell.  He was forced to leave the castle and upon doing so destroyed part of the castle.  The Brooke family was given the land and made some renovations and additions in the 17th century.  The castle provided laminated papers with the information and history for a self-guided tour, and cute kid appropriate papers as well including a search and find.

Donegal Castle. The manor house (to the left) and top floor of the tower house were added by Sir Basil Brooke.

Another view of the Donegal castle tower. I love the bay window and the 2 extra tower areas. The kids doing their “coolest poses.”

We found this cool tree chair on the grounds of the Donegal castle.

Quick Bite to Eat in Donegal

After finishing our self-guided tour of the castle we walked around the city of Donegal a bit looking for souvenirs and admiring the cute shops.  We had decided that my son could choose the place for lunch, so we walked around looking at every option, then he decided to choose the first place we passed.  Of course!  But, it was a great choice, The Blueberry Tearoom.  It was absolutely delicious and at a great price.  We paid 39.80 Euro for 2 adult meals, 2 kid meals, a mocha latte, and 2 desserts.  I had a loaded spud, if you know me you know how much I love potatoes!

My loaded spud at the Blueberry Tearoom in Donegal

Drive from Donegal to Galway

We then started the 3.5 hour drive from Donegal to Galway.  We had planned to stop by Ben Bulben (a cliff mountain known as the “Table Mountain”) and go through Connemara National Park.  But since we got a late start on the day, we decided to change up the plan and just head to our lodging.  We are staying at our first hotel while in Ireland.  We choose a hotel because we couldn’t find any reasonably priced Airbnb available for the dates we needed.  The kids are super excited about the hotel as it has a pool!

The stock photo of the Connacht hotel pool. Cameras or phone cameras are not allowed in the pool area. Ugh!

The Connacht Hotel in Galway

I was able to get in about a 1 hour nap during our drive before we arrived at the Connacht Hotel.  We must have received some crazy discount when booking through Hotels.com, because it seems like rooms are normally ~400 euros a night!  We only paid about $150 I believe.

:-(Once we arrived at the hotel we checked in as fast as possible to get ready and head to the pool.  We changed and headed to the Leisure Facility, which a complete gym connected to the hotel.  We were surprised that we had to purchase swim caps as they are mandatory in the pools :-(.  Luckily we could purchase them at the front desk of the pool for 2.50 Euro each.  We felt pretty silly wearing the caps, and my husband kept questioning the reasoning.  As another frustration, kids under 16 are not allowed in the hot tub, which made my kids pretty upset despite all the other fun play areas.  We spoke with some other visitors in the pool area and they informed us that all pools in Ireland require the swim cap.  Hmm, okay when in Ireland…act as the Irish?.

Sporting my new swim cap required here in Ireland!

Awesome Pizza in Galway, Ireland

We finished up at the pool and showered and hurried to my daughter’s choice for dinner: The Dough Bros (cost us 26 Euros).  We enjoyed our brick oven fired pizza while learning the encouraging story of the owners.  They started 3 years ago with a food truck at the Galway Food Festival. It was such a hit that they opened a small store and then 3 months ago they were able to expand to the larger restaurant that we visited.  We got to meet the owners and watch them make and fire the pizza.

Dough Bros was named the #1 pizza place in Galway and one of the top 100 restaurants in Ireland.

Our yummy, wood fired pizza from Dough Bros in Galway

We made it back to the hotel around 11pm and headed to bed.  We are touring Galway tomorrow, and we have reservations for Trad on the Prom for tomorrow evening.

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Today was a LONG day for us.  We woke up early, well I did, around 5am.  I couldn’t fall back asleep so I got ready to leave and waited for everyone else to wake up, which wasn’t until 8am!  Anyway, we left around 9am and decided to eat breakfast on the road.  We stopped at gas station that promoted delicious, hot breakfast sandwich meals.  Unfortunately they do not have these on Sunday :-(. So after some searching around the Spar, we decided on some egg salad sandwiches, coffee, hot chocolate and muffins.  Mine was absolutely disgusting, I think there was enough mayonnaise on the sandwich to make a gallon of egg salad and it wasn’t cheap! Breakfast on the go cost us 11.12 pounds.

Driving Through Ireland – The Coastal Wild Atlantic Way

We decided to take the A2, also called the Coastal Wild Atlantic Way, from Belfast to Ballycastle. This alteration of our route increased our trip by 1 hour, but sights were beautiful and the views breathtaking and well worth the extra time.  (Not if you ask the kids though)

One of the cool sights we saw while driving on the Atlantic Coastal Way

A beautiful view while driving, these were endless. Lots of greenery, sheep, and cattle.

Not the Dark Hedges, but cool nonetheless. It also shows these roller coaster roads we drove on .

Coolest Attraction in Ireland

Our first stop for today was the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge which costs a family of 2 adults and 2 children 17.50 pounds.  Carrick-A-Rede  means the rock in the road and was a sea route for salmon – this makes it an optimal fishing place.  This bridge allowed the fishermen access to catch the migrating salmon. We encountered some fog and rain while crossing the 20 meter long bridge.  There was a 1 km (.62 miles) walk from the ticket booth to the bridge.  This doesn’t seem far, but the terrain was wet, uneven, and hilly.  So by the time we reached the bridge we were getting tired.  Nevertheless the view was amazing and the bridge was fun to cross and not scary considering my fear of heights.  The kids were actually jumping on the bridge, picture kids on a playground, even though we were 30 meters (or 98.4 feet) above the water!

Arriving at the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge, its far off in the distance in the back of the picture.

Selfie pic before crossing the bridge, the landscape is beautiful with steep cliffs.

The kids on the Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge. This is when they were jumping up and down.

After crossing the bridge and standing on the furthermost point

Carrick-A-Rede rope bridge, you can see it behind us on the left side.

Game of Thrones Spoiler Alert

We also explored the Whitestone Quarry that included an Iron Age fort built around 800AD.  The kids had fun exploring the ruins.  Of note, the parking area was used in Game of Thrones in the scene where Renly Barathean set up his camp before he was murdered (hope I didn’t spoil anything for anyone).

Exploring the quarry, can you see them up on top?

As we drove along the A2 to Giant’s Causeway we encountered some heavier rain and were cold and wet from crossing the bridge, so we saw a cute restaurant on the road and decided to stop to eat.  It was perfect and we took a seat right by the wood burning fire.  We had a delicious Irish meal of fish and chips and shepherd’s pie while my daughter had a hamburger and chips (fries).  Lunch 24 pounds, warming up by the fire priceless.

Warming up by the fire and enjoying a traditional Irish meal at the Carrick-A-Rede Restaurant.

Second Coolest Attraction in Ireland

We made it to Giant’s Causeway and it was steadily raining.  It costs a family 26.25 pounds to park, use the facilities, enjoy the exhibits and use a self-guided audio recording.  The causeway is a World Heritage Site in Northern Island made up of more than 40,000 interlocking columns resulting from volcanic activity.  There is a legend that the causeway was built as a bridge for giants (hence the name Giant’s Causeway).  The legend is that Finn MacCool, an Irish giant, was challenged by a Scottish giant to a fight, and so Finn built the causeway so they could cross the water (the North Channel) and fight.  Finn was scared though and so pretended to be a baby when Benandonner, the Scottish giant, came to fight.  When Benandonner saw how big Finn’s “baby” was he was scared to see how big Finn would be, and ran away destroying the causeway.  The kids had a great time climbing on the columns, despite their slippery surface.  As we walked around the red trail the height of the narrow path was higher and steeper and there was no rail!  As I said earlier, I have a real fear of heights…so I started to become very nervous, almost sick especially when the kids would run and slip. Oh my gosh!  But we made it!

Standing on top of some of the hexagonal columns at the Giant’s Causeway

The “Giant’s Boot” at the Giant’s Causeway

Looking up at the “organ” at the Giant’s Causeway. This is where it became a bit scary, at least for me!

Standing at the end of the trail at the Giant’s Causeway.

Checking Out Some Castle Ruins in Ireland

It was getting late, but we wanted to see the ruins of the Dunluce Castle in Antrim, Northern Ireland.  The castle had closed, but we explored the exterior and took some neat pictures while imagining how it would have looked when it was built in the 13th century.  The castle sits perched high on the coast with steep drops all around the castle.  It is said the have inspired Cair Paravel in the Chronicles of Narnia.

The ruins of the Dunluce Castle in Bushmills, County Antrim

One of the passages under the bridge where the horses rode into the castle.

Dunluce Castle ruins, along with some heavy rain.

Ireland GPS Epic Fail

As I mentioned in an earlier post, our borrowed GPS has been great getting us to visitor sites and attractions.  It has NOT been able to give us directions to our AirBnBs though.  We put in the addresses and it tries to take us to the United Kingdom…across the sea!  My information I printed about this AirBnB didn’t have any landmarks noted, so we couldn’t find it at all!, and remember we don’t have working cell phones.   We looked at our free map provided by AAA and identified that we needed to head towards Londonderry.  So we put that in and headed on our way.  We decided to eat dinner at a fast food place, McDonald’s since it offers wifi, and log onto my phone and get directions. We left the castle around 6pm and got to the McDonald’s in Londonderry around 7:30…to find out it was in a mall and therefore closed.  Urgh!  So we found another McDonald’s and spent 20 pounds!  You would think as an American we would know McDonald’s enough to save some money, but the menu was confusing with different options and so many options not even listed.  Signing into the wifi was also difficult since we don’t have cell phone reception to receive the temporary code.  But after some work, we got it to work and got the directions to the AirBnB.

Just being a minion at McDonald’s in Londonderry, Ireland

We finally arrived at the AirBnB at 8:45pm after driving on roads the kids referred to as “roller coaster” roads.  You know the ones you can’t see the other side until you are speeding down them?  Yes, we were all feeling a bit queasy when we reached the house. But, Wow!  It was marvelous and definitely the best we have ever stayed in. The host was there and welcomed us and described all the workings of the house.  He even left us some fresh farm eggs, milk, juice, bread, and coffee and tea for breakfast as well as some adult drinks (the heavy stuff) for a nightcap.  We enjoyed the amenities and rested a bit before heading to bed.  At the end of the day my fitbit indicated that I had taken 16,320 steps and walked 107 floors, where 1 floor equals 10 feet.  That’s climbing up 1,070 feet in one day!  Tomorrow we are heading to Galway by way of Donegal.

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