Allison's Wonderland

I have out done myself this summer. I do not even know how all these events came to be, but you do not hear me complaining one bit! I love adventure and I love to be busy. Two things that should have made themselves clear when reading my blog. That sounds real hoity toity, but I am not meaning it that way. It’s just who I am.

Ireland was amazing. It will go down in history as one of my favorite vacations, but this summer is packed with a number of great trips. Micah, Shaun, and I got back from Ireland on Sunday the 12th. Before Ireland was ever scheduled Shaun and I bought Katy Perry tickets for June 14 in which we had to travel to Raleigh, NC which is about 2.5 hours. My family booked a cruise to Bermuda for the 15th of June in which we had to drive 7 hours to Charleston. You see how crazy life is!?! I had a bad attitude about Katy Perry and did not even really want to go. My room was a mess and I had not yet packed for Bermuda. Laundry wasn’t done, and I was cranky. But, Shaun said he would drive so that made it a little better. We left work early on Tuesday and started our drive. We ate at Cookout Burger again, same as we did on our way to One Republic. I tried to meet up with my brother and sister-in-law, but they’re not too spontaneous so they couldn’t come to dinner. Sad day. After our wonderful dinner of Burgers, fries and peanut-butter shakes we headed to the concert.

Like I said, I had a bad attitude. After paying the guy $10 bucks to park the car, we made our way to the venue. Our seats were kind of in the nose bleed section, but somehow we ended up on the second floor and got past an usher. We find our way to this awesome bar area where the seats are cushy and you have little tables right in front of you. We were like SCORE! We had to lay low so that an usher wouldn’t kick us out. Meanwhile we’re enjoying the opener (which wasn’t that great, btw) and this lady comes up and is like, “I think you guys are in our seats.” And we’re like, “Oh really? What ticket number do you have?” Knowing full well we were in the wrong seats. Whoopsy! Sometimes you just got to play it smooth. So then an usher comes over and is rude and kicks us out. Bummer for us, but whatever. We knew it was a long shot. We find our seats which aren’t too awful, but I’ve got this like 7 year old behind me who is enjoying kicking the snot out of my seat. I was about to bust some heads ( Not really, she was 7. What do you take me for?) but then Katy Perry got on stage and she stood up. Praise the Lawd!

Katy’s concert started out with this weird whacked out video with butcher’s and kitty’s, but it was cool.I will say I liked it. Shaun and I started taking pics and then this usher comes up and YELLS at me and tells me to put it away saying he doesn’t know how I got that in past security. I was like, “Sorry dude, I didn’t know.” So needless to say no more pics the rest of the concert. I was SOO tempted to pull it out, but I didn’t because I told him I would keep in my purse just for him. Worst.

Anyway, I loved her songs so much! And like I said I had a bad attitude before and didn’t even know what I wanted to hear. She played Teenage Dream, California Girls, Circle the Drain, Peacock,Kissed a Girl, etc. Kissed a girl was gross cause she had these female dancers all in gold dancing all sexy who kissed at the end. Yuck. There were little girls everywhere and I was like WHAT KIND OF EXAMPLE IS THAT KATY?!? Anyway, her set was awesome and was a blown up Candy land game board. It was very cool. One of my favorite numbers she did was “Hot n Cold” where the lyrics say, “You change your mind, like a girl changes clothes.” She probably changed her outfit 15 times on stage and it was like magic. Her clothes would just change right after she would walk in behind a curtain and then walk right back out. It was bizarre but so awesome! I also loved Fireworks because they actually shot off legit fireworks at the end of the show. Needless to say it was a good concert and I might even like to see her again.

Woke up this morning in our little Invicta Haven. Sean made us a scrumptious breakfast. I asked him what the black & white pudding was made out of and after hearing the answer I never want to see the stuff again! He said it is pork mixed with oats and pig’s blood. Barf! No wonder I didn’t like it. What girl in her right mind likes to eat blood besides a vampire?

Anyway, enough of the drama, on to our day! We started out at the Gap of Dunloe. Can I just say BEAU. TI. FUL?!? It was a little rainy and yuck out, but the Gap of Dunloe is right between two hills/mountains with a lake and a beautiful stream in between. We took a thousand pics there. The road we had to drive up was curvy and there were hikers everywhere. I started to get a little sick from my own driving! Worst. On our way to the Ring of Kerry (One of the most coveted drives in all of Ireland) we started singing songs from the Sound of Music. I don’t know what it was about this trip. Maybe all the hills and being outdoors in God’s beauty, but “The Hills are Alive” ended up being our theme song. We then started singing, “ I Must’ve Done Something Good” from Sound of Music and all three of us started tearing up. Micah got it on video and we all look like a bunch of idiots, but it’s hilarious.

The Ring of Kerry was beautiful. We stopped at almost every overlook we could because it was breathtaking. We stopped at this one little beach where the sun decided to show its face. As you can tell in the picture, we were pretty stoked. We were able to take off our jackets, play and run around. I also had to pee there and of course Micah had to take a picture of me doing so. After relieving myself we kept driving and came across the two Skellig islands. We weren’t able to actually go to the islands, but taking pictures from far away was just as gorgeous. They look like two little drops of cookie dough covered with greenery. We drove through Caherdaniel, and then we stopped at Waterville to kinda eat, but we didn’t actually eat. The wind was a little brutal today, but we made the best of it. We stopped at this souvenir store in Waterville and I found the coolest pins. This was also a place that Charlie Chaplain visited and I got my picture with him.  We ended up eating at this restaurant in Cahersiveen called The Ferthathat was sort of odd and looked like it came out of a weird ghost town like movie. We each got something to warm up our stomachs since today was a tid bit nipply! After our weird lunch where Shaun ate octopus skin in his soup we headed to this place called Ballycarbery Castle I LOVED THIS CASTLE It was sort of in the middle of a neighborhood, but that’s what made it so interesting. The castle had a long family history and when


Micah started reading the history from our Lonely Planet Ireland book, she said it was a the home of the cup bearer for Queen Elizabeth Eye...EYE?!? Shaun and I went to pieces laughing because in the Lonely Planet Book it says, Queen Elizabeth I, and Micah pronounced it “eye” instead of “the first”. Hilarious! We took pictures and ran around and acted all weird. What’s new? Micah and Shaun made me drive fast so that we could get to Killorglin Library before it closed at five in order to use their free internet access. Micah and her facebook…worst. Made our way back to the Invicta and crashed awhile before getting some food at the Danny Man Pub in Killarney. When we got there, a beautiful rainbow made itself appear over the buildings. Tried to get a picture with it, but they didn’t turn out too well. Danny Man had live music which was pretty cool. So Micah starts filming Shaun and I as we eat and just making a little video for posterity. I look over and this really ugly, mean looking Irish woman is flicking off the camera. I’m just like WHAT? So I tell Micah who originally didn’t notice and sure enough ugly lady is flicking us off for no apparent reason. RUDE!!! I was a little mad. Afterwards we went back to the Invicta and crashed. I could not even keep my eyes open long enough to journal!


The next day was Dingle Day! I loved Dingle Drive. I don't think I've seen anything more beautiful! Well maybe. Between Hawaii, Alaska, and Dingle, I don't know which is prettier. Sean was nice and left out the black and white pudding at this morning's breakfast. I guess he got the hint. Sorry Sean! We packed up our bags, said our Goodbyes to the Invicta and went on our way. Our first stop was Inch Beach. This place was gorgeous. What isn't in Ireland? But seriously just beautiful. We took a bunch of pictures acting stupid and climbing on each other's backs. Shaun tried to flip me on his back but he ended up just really hurting my arms. I felt like he almost pulled them right out of socket. What a weiner. We were actually able to walk on the Dunes in Inch, unlike the States where everything is regulated to death and you can't walk or do anything on the Dunes. We got some cool souvenirs from Inch. Such a cute name too. Moving on to the next wonderful place in Dingle, random field that looked Irish...so we decided to take pics. I couldn’t have gone to Ireland with two better people considering the fact that we are all completely and utterly obsessed with pictures. I think it might be a character flaw. Or we’re just really weird. It could definitely be both. Anyways, we finally made it to the town of Dingle, which is the most precious thing you’ve ever seen. This is the town that Deckland was supposedly from in the movie “Leap Year”. We got our picture with the town dolphin statue. His name is Fungie. We didn’t actually have time to go on a boat tour and see him in person but it was fun to ride him in the town square. Shaun and I are idiots. What can we say?

After our picture taking we set out to explore the Dingle Peninsula, but that’s about when are stomachs started growling. All we did on this trip was take pictures and eat. We ate at this place called StoneHouse Restaurant. Ironically it was a stone house. Go figure. They had two cute little dogs there that Shaun was obsessed with. Right next door were some Irish Famine houses that remained in tacked from the 1800’s Irish Potato Famine. This is where the second flick off occurs. There was a little kiosk next to the house that we didn’t end up seeing, but once we got up there it said that they were charging two Euros to go in. Well we took pics from the outside and really didn’t care to go in, so as a collective group we decided not to go. That’s when the kiosk attendant decided to flick us off. Rude. I was really annoyed at that for sure. We had a scrumptious lunch, and I ended up getting Irish coffee to warm up my bones. For some reason I wasn’t aware that Irish coffee contained Irish Whiskey and Wowzer was it strong. I drank it all right down though. Whoopsy.  The Dingle drive was seriously spectacular. I would’ve loved to spend more time here because I could not stop taking pictures of the rocky green cliffs and the sun was out meaning we got to take our jackets off!

We stopped at almost every overlook we saw, and the last beach that we stopped at we stayed for over an hour. The weather was perfect. I just laid in the grass at one point in time just soaking up the sun and enjoying God’s creation. I always feel the closest to God whenever I’m outside enjoying the works of art he created. Micah and I made a video and danced on the beach like crazy people. We knew we were getting the looks and were thought of as the stupid crazy Americans, but whatever. We enjoyed ourselves. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to our beloved Dingle and we had to take the 6 hour drive to Dublin. Not cool.  But Shaun and I kept ourselves preoccupied with singing and telling stories of Greedy McGloughlin while Micah slept in the back. We saw two rainbows on our way back to Skerries. Skerries. S-Kay-Eh-ARGH-ARGH-EYE-Eh-ESS. SKERRIES. Ha! And also we were victims of a cow crossing just like in Leap Year. We got into our last Bed and Breakfast at around 8:00 and we were starving.

The nice Hostess lady gave us the name of the pub, Man-O-War Pub, and called ahead to tell them we were coming since everywhere in Ireland stops serving food at 9:00pm. Shaun and I had a fight over Ketchup. Kinda funny. Like really funny. It was weird because when we first walked into the Pub side it was all these scary looking men. Kind of like in the movie Tangled where they go to the Ugly Duckling pub and all the Vikings were in there. Pretty similar actually. Then the bar tender informed us that the restaurant was on the other side. We fit in a lot better on that side. HA! We all crashed that night and were ready to get on the Aer Lingus plane for home. GOODBYE IRELAND! You have been wonderful to these three little visitors!! It was sad to leave, but I think all of us were ready for a taste of home. We stayed two nights with Laura and Chris when we got back, and they took us to see some of the New York sites. We went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and to the Pier. The weather was crappy but we were use to it being in Ireland. In the evening they took us to an authentic Arab place of which I’ve never been before. The food was good, but the service was a little crappy. It took us two hours to eat. YIKES! Anyway, that was our Ireland trip in the smallest nutshell I could muster up without leaving too many important things out! Hope you enjoyed and if you read this whole thing, MORE POWER TO YOU! Till the next trip…BERMUDA HERE I COME!

Blarney - flattering or wheedling talk; cajolery.

The three weary little travelers woke up today with pure excitement. We had a lot of exhilarating things on the menu for the day so we woke up early in order to get em done. Brian made us a wonderful breakfast which changed my attitude towards Lanesville. We were then on our way! We started off at Blarney Castle. I ordered our tickets early online so I knew we would be taken care of. We got there before all the big tour buses, which was a good thing because trying to get up the Blarney Castle steps with a ton of other people would have proven itself to be very difficult. It was scary to go through the tunnels of the castle which were used to flee Blarney once the castle was under siege. We met this really annoying lesbianish couple from the States who kept using the “F” word. Micah and I tried to get away but Shaun just kept talking to the nutso people. We finally made our escape to the Castle.

The morning started off absolutely beautiful but as we have learned from being in Ireland, the weather pretty much changes every 30 minutes. It started to get drizzly but that didn’t taint my opinion of Blarney Castle. I LOVED this place. The architecture, the smell, the stone, everything about it was amazing to me. I wish we could’ve spent more time there, but we were on a mission to see as much of the Emerald Isle as we could. As the three of us were discussing the previous night about whether or not we were going to kiss the Blarney Stone, Micah and Shaun decided that they weren’t going to do it. I was appalled. Winston Churchill, Mick Jagger, Milton Hershey, have all gone before us and now the moment to pucker up is here and my friends are not going to do it?!? It was blasphemy to my ears. In order to kiss the Blarney stone you have to make your way up 120 steps to the top. On the way up Micah and Shaun decided to change their little minds. All the locals told us not to do it because supposedly people pee and spit on the stone. But when I asked the nice old man up at the top if people actually did that his answer was a most definite NO. He said the stone is locked up every night along with the castle and the only way up to it would be to scale the castle wall. Needless to say I believed him. So, the next thing to do was to kiss it. Micah went first and she kissed it after some old Man. Ha! Then I kissed it second. I may have kissed it twice ha! And the second one with some tongue. Umm…Kidding KIDDING! That’s totally gross. After we kissed the stone and totally liked it, we made our way to the poison garden. We couldn’t touch anything though because everything growing in it was poisonous.

After our Blarney Castle time we went to Woollen Mills and purchased some souvenirs. Micah and I both bought jackets because Micah DID NOT dress warm enough for this weather and I didn’t bring a good rain jacket, and since it was raining every day, I figured it was something I could put to good use. Shaun found one he liked, but like a lil idiot he didn’t buy it. This little fact will come into play later in the day. We were driving and singing like idiots all the way to Killarney. It was a beautiful drive. The radio in our car didn’t work very well, so we had to make our own music. By this time we were all getting a little hungry. It was rainy and yuck out and all we wanted was a little taste of home. That’s when we happened upon the Golden Arches. If you do not know what that means…then you’re probably not American. I am referring to the golden arches of McDonald’s! Yes, we ate at McDonald’s while in Ireland. It’s cheap and it’s good. What more could you ask for?

After we got done eating our Big Mac’s and fries Shaun complains that he wants a jacket. Not going to lie I was a little miffed because we were just there, plus we needed to bike ride! So we stop at this outlet store for this jacket of his and he ends up getting the same one he saw at Woolen Mills only for 20 Euros more. That’s what you get when you waste people’s time! Ha! We get to the bike rental place and it’s very rainy and very cold. Our jackets came in extremely handy. Brian from Lanesville told us that in Killarney, “It’s either raining, or it’s about to.” Not really the words of encouragement we were looking for. Oh well. I was looking forward to bike riding in Killarney National Park and I wasn’t about to let a little rain stop me. So we get on our bikes and start pedaling toward the park. Not going to lie, it was miserable. It was rainy and cold and it was the sideways rain that hits you in your face. Micah got a little mad and said while we were bike riding, “You know Allison you don’t ALWAYS have to stick to the plan. Plans can change sometimes.” Oh great Micah hates me and she’s mad. But we still kept trucking along. We got to this hotel where we pulled the bike’s over and it was seriously breathtaking. This vista reminded me of Hawaii with the lake and the mountains. We were so excited too because the weather cleared up while we were there.

After our beautiful lake view we got back on the trail and headed into the park. The weather really started picking up bad so we took shelter under a tree right next to Muckross Abbey. After we took pictures, the sun came out and the rest of the day was beautiful. Looks like the Lord heard our prayers! The luck of the Irish,..well in this case non-Irish who are in Ireland, I guess. We biked our little butts to Muckross House and Torc Waterfall. Both extremely breathtaking. They had horse and buggy rides on the path and horse poop spewed all over my pants. Oh well I was loving life. One of my favorite pictures I took was on the way to Torc waterfall which was a picture of the mountains, lake, reeds, and boats. The waterfall was gorgeous, but again we were rushed for time. We had to make it back to the bike rental by 5 otherwise I wouldn’t get my license back. On the way back we flew like little banshees back to the town center of Killarney.

We made it to the rental place by five so praise the Lord I got my license back. After being cold drowned little rats we hopped in the car on our quest to find our new B&B. I loved going to new B&B’s. It was always exciting to see just how cool or uncool they would be. Although we never ran into an uncool host or B&B. Our lodgings were a little outside Killarney right on lake Lough Leane. This place was called the Invicta and I would have to say it was my favorite by far. We were greeted by a little old Irish man named Sean. The first thing he asks us is how we’re related to Shaun. We told him he was our friend and then he proceeds to tell us that he better be sleeping in his own bed and for Micah and I to sleep with a baseball bat beside our bed. After he gave us a lecture about how Shaun is a predator, he gave us tea, coffee, and biscuits. Biscuits in Ireland are cookies just so you know. And they’re amazing. We all got cleaned up and headed up the Gap of Dunloe where we ate dinner at Kate Kearney’s cottage. Now Irish people DO NOT eat late. The kitchen normally closes at 9 so we were cutting it a little close. I have never been a server but I can imagine the annoyance that I would feel when people walk in right at close and demand to be fed. We did not want to be those people. We get there, and our waiter…WHOA. Best looking guy I’ve seen in all of Ireland. My friend Jess dared me before I left to make sure I kissed an Irish guy. Micah and Shaun kept egging me on but I just couldn’t do it. He was very attractive though and had good teeth. That’s a rarity in Ireland. Kate Kearney had a live band that night and I actually ended up talking to them for a while. They have traveled to New York and wanted us to sing something but we just couldn’t come up with any songs that we knew all the way through. Worst. We had a wonderful night and only had one drink just like Sean said. We were good people. I couldn’t reverse again and almost hit a car in Sean’s driveway. Him and his friend thought we were drunk, and we had to have them move the car. We only had one little hard cider though. I felt really bad cause I want Sean to like me! We went to bed after one of my favorite days/nights in Ireland!

Day 3 in the Emerald Isle is working out to be as wonderful as day one and two! We got breakfast at the hotel but it wasn't homemade by two cute Irish people, made with tender love and care. This is our first REAL Irish breakfast at Castlefield. We get our breakfast and Joan and Stewart’s grand kids were there for the weekend and they both have fiery red hair and are cute as can be. I wanted to mush them. When we asked the eldest how old he was he replies with I’m Tree…! So stinkin cute! Like seriously cute as can be!
I decided to be cute too today so I wanted to curl my hair. I used Micah's curling iron and little did I know what I was getting myself into. The curling iron which normally doesn't work that well back home was burning hot here in Ireland. I thought I smelled burnt hair while I was curling but I didn't think anything of it. Then I went and tried to curl a little small piece and the iron burnt the whole piece right off! I was horrified! Although it was all burned up, my hair still looked pretty cute for the rest of the day. You live ya learn After our lovely breakfast we headed into Kilkenny for the sights. We went straight to Kilkenny castle which was beautiful. Everything was closed though because it was Bank Monday. Not sure what kind of a holiday that is, but the Irish were banking something so the shops were closed. After the castle we took pictures at this gorgeous ivy covered house called Butler House. We took a million pictures in front of it and afterwards we moved on to our next destination. Waterford. I was excited for this little town, but Micah and Shaun not so much. Shaun had a weird run in with this beggar woman who looked completely normal at first. She was walking with what looked like a family, caught Shaun’s eye while we were stopped at a stoplight, and walked towards the car. She was smiling at first but then changed to this weird beggar woman face. Shaun locked his door immediately and started saying “I’m sorry” over and over again. Micah and I were laughing which was probably rude, but it was a funny situation! Ha! After the incident, we toured the Waterford Crystal Factory which was really interesting. Sad thing is, the craftsman who work there are dying out. The youngest worker is 43, and they have no new apprentices to fill their spot. The master craftsman cut everything by hand. I was fascinated. They showed how they blew, cut and engraved the crystal on our tour. The most expensive thing we saw was Cinderella’s carriage which was 30,000 Euros. WOWZER! While in Waterford I discovered that I had "stolen" Joan's key to our door. I felt awful! I guess I have a real Irish souvenir to take home!

After the tour we headed south towards Ardmore. On our way there we came across this beautiful overlook that showed vistas of the ocean and hills. It was beautiful so of course we had to take a million pics. Ardmore is just a little cute beach town. It was freezing that day, but we still had fun. We made up a little jig while we were on the beach and sang a little tune we made up called "In the Irish Sea." Go figure. My little rain boots came in so handy! I would never do a trip Ireland without them. We headed down to Cork/Blarney and after driving through Cork we decided we really didn't want to stay too long. It just was kinda ick and industrial. We made it to our B&B in Blarney called Lanesville. This place was just okay in comparison to all the others westayed in. We ate dinner at the Muskerry Arms where we got Bailey's coffee! AHH...so good! We talked to a cute little old couple next to us who we asked about tipping. In Ireland I guess you don't have to tip. They said, "Oh, you either tip if you want, or you don't if you don't. It's nothing like the states!" So true. I hate tipping and the States are terrible for it! We settled into our little B&B and were out cold. Oh and all the hair I burnt off earlier during the day came out in the shower that night and my hair smelled burnt when I went to bed. I made Micah smell it! Soyee!

So after the mishap with the car we were on our way to discover the Emerald Isle with just our suitcases, a good sense of direction, Micah's Dad's GPS, and lots and lots of excitement! We started out at the Guinness Storehouse. Found out some interesting information in regards to the Made in Ireland ONLY stout. Arthur Guinness, founder of Guinness Brewery, signed a 9,000 year lease for the property in Dublin, Ireland in order to produce his beer. Longest lease ever signed in history. The Place was pretty cool and was decked out in all glass. On the 7th floor was the Gravity bar. It had 360 degree views of Dublin, Ireland which were pretty amazing. Guinness on the other hand…not so amazing. It was really kind of gross. We each got a pint while we were in the Gravity bar at the end of our tour and we just couldn’t drink it!

Just plain terrible. After the Storehouse we headed to the Powerscourt Estate where the movie “The Count of Monte Cristo” was filmed. The house was gorgeous although they screwed it up, by having shops inside instead of having it decorated period style. We took pictures and walked around the beautiful gardens. Just breathtaking. They had these Japanese gardens with palm trees in Ireland. I never knew a palm tree could grow there. After taking a bazillion pictures we headed to Glendalough pronounced Gleann Da’ Loch. I was saying it wrong the whole time. Whoopsy! This place was cool. Glendalough is originally a Christian settlement of which me and Micah argued about its origins for awhile. Side note, I’m right she’s wrong…moving on, this place was founded in the 6th century by St. Kevin who was a hermit priest. He just wanted to get away, but then a bunch of people showed up to his hermit settlement. Worst. Anyway, Micah was freezing because she did not bring warm enough clothes and Shaun, well he slipped and almost fell in the creek, and almost busted his camera. Thankfully all he got was a scratched arm, and his camera came out clean.

We were on our way to Kilkenny after our visit to Glendalough. Not knowing what to expect, since tonight meant our first stay in our first Irish Bed and Breakfast. Actually, this was my first stay in a Bed & Breakfast in all my life. The name of the B&B was Castlefield just in case you ever find your way to Kilkenny. I highly recommend! We found the place and on the outside it didn’t not look like anything special. Just a regular little Irish home. We were late getting there and I have never done this before so I was nervous we wouldn’t be able to get in. We ring the doorbell, knock and no one answers. We stand there for a little and still no one comes. Finally after ringing the doorbell several more times and knocking, a little lady cuter than life, answers this door.
This is where the title of my blog comes in. This woman was the cutest little Mrs. Doubtfire you ever did see. She had the cutest Irish accent and was wearing an apron. After she got us settled in our three twin bed room I went to hand her our B&B vouchers and asked her if it was okay if I ripped it using spit. She was like, “Oh Petal. Doesn’t bother me one bit.” She called me Petal! See what I’m saying?!? Cutest little hostess ever. She gave us a recommendation on where to eat because the three little travelers were famished. We head into the town center and Kilkenny is just the cutest little Irish town ever just like Joan. Seriously if you ever get to Ireland you MUST go here. We were there during a comedy festival called the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival and these were the best dressed people I’ve seen in Ireland. We looked way underdressed. We found this restaurant that Joan recommended called Edward Langton’s. It’s locally owned (LOCAL yeah!) and had these beautiful stained glass skylights in the middle. It had the most wonderful atmosphere and it was just lovely. We ended up getting a bottle of wine that was so good…(I forget what it’s called but I’m sure I will remember later). Joan told us we were only allowed one drink, so obeyed. Especially since I was the driving gill. I cannot stress how wonderful this restaurant was. Also, our waitress didn’t charge us for our 23 Euro bottle of wine, but we told the steward and he was so thankful cause we paid for it and were honest! Trying to make a good American impression on the Irish. Anyway, we still wanted to drink some more wine so we stopped at gas station and picked up another bottle to take back to the B&B. This was so funny. We get back and pull out our little chalkboard that we’ve been using and write “Don’t Tell Joan” because we drank more than one drink. We were being so silly! After a most wonderful day, we finally got ourselves into bed after taking the hottest, best pressure, shower ever. More to come on the Irish trip!