Decisions have been made and bookings are complete.
Having received much valued advice from an Irish friend, I've decided to rent a car the day after we finish hiking the Peninsula and drive the 3-4 hours to Westport. I'm sure it'll be more enjoyable. We'll be able to stop when we see a castle or ruin that calls to us and then there are the inevitable pubs....
Doug doesn't arrive from Dublin until 3:30pm or so, which gives me and Lauren all day to make the trip. I'm looking forward to driving the countryside and stopping as we see fit. Can you picture it? Me and Lauren wandering the Irish countryside in a teeny European rental? Will it be another "Vacation" movie in the making? Chevy Chase, where are you?
Having made up my mind, I booked the rental this morning, as well as our train from Castlebar back to Dublin.
Twelve days. Twelve days of daydreaming and anticipation...and Guinness drinking.
Poor me.
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Thirteen Days!
That's right! We're now counting days instead of weeks until we blast out of Miami's hazy sky and touch down on the Emerald Isle. That is enough to make me screech with happiness.
I gave up on the gaitor hunt and bought replacements. They've arrived and look anxious to be put to use. No worries there. Those babies will be all mucked up two weeks from now. All that's missing is the Compeed. It's been ordered, but not delivered. Compeed is a European miracle that I've yet to see in the States. It's like rubber, stretchy covering for blisters that melts into your skin and stays on for days and days, even if you shower - which we do on occasion. Compeed is a godsend on a walk like the one we're about to begin. Once it arrives, we are ready to pack.
I'm still farting around with train schedules and rental cars. I think I've decided on the following plan, but am waiting to hear from an Irish friend regarding the drive.
6/11 - 6/20:
Lauren and I walk the Dingleberry Forest and have a grand adventure (that's the easy part)
6/21:
Doug arrives Dublin and hops a train to Wesport.
Lauren and I get a cab to Kerry Airport from Tralee and drive to Westport OR we train to Westport, cab to Knock Airport, rent a car and hightail it back to Wesport to meet Doug.
(It seems easier just to drive, but then again, it's about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Kerry to Westport. I don't know if the drive will be all crazy highways or slow country roads. I'm waiting to hear from a local before making a final decision. Never having driven on the wrong side of the road, I want to be sure I'm not tackling an overly dangerous thing with my girl in the car.)
Either way, we'll spend the later half of the day wandering Wesport. I plan to spend the evening in Lavelle's Bar, hopefully meeting the famous storyteller Mick Lavelle, if he's still on this side of the grass.
6/22:
Climb Crough Patrick, drive around Clew Bay and around Achill Island, stopping at castles, ruins and pubs as we see fit. Booked at a nice B&B in Mulranny.
6/23:
Venture east to Castlebar, where I've felt drawn for quite some time. Not sure what's waiting there, but something is. Return the car that evening to Knock Airport.
6/24:
Hop a train from Castlebar to Dublin. Arrive around 1pm, which leaves us all afternoon and evening to see some sites and hit some pubs.
6/25:
Regretfully, I have to come back. Doug and Lauren will continue their adventure in England and Switzerland without me.
So, there you have it. Decisions yet to be made, but the bulk of the planning is done. Now it's the execution I'm waiting for!! Bring on the Guinness!
I gave up on the gaitor hunt and bought replacements. They've arrived and look anxious to be put to use. No worries there. Those babies will be all mucked up two weeks from now. All that's missing is the Compeed. It's been ordered, but not delivered. Compeed is a European miracle that I've yet to see in the States. It's like rubber, stretchy covering for blisters that melts into your skin and stays on for days and days, even if you shower - which we do on occasion. Compeed is a godsend on a walk like the one we're about to begin. Once it arrives, we are ready to pack.
I'm still farting around with train schedules and rental cars. I think I've decided on the following plan, but am waiting to hear from an Irish friend regarding the drive.
6/11 - 6/20:
Lauren and I walk the Dingleberry Forest and have a grand adventure (that's the easy part)
6/21:
Doug arrives Dublin and hops a train to Wesport.
Lauren and I get a cab to Kerry Airport from Tralee and drive to Westport OR we train to Westport, cab to Knock Airport, rent a car and hightail it back to Wesport to meet Doug.
(It seems easier just to drive, but then again, it's about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Kerry to Westport. I don't know if the drive will be all crazy highways or slow country roads. I'm waiting to hear from a local before making a final decision. Never having driven on the wrong side of the road, I want to be sure I'm not tackling an overly dangerous thing with my girl in the car.)
Either way, we'll spend the later half of the day wandering Wesport. I plan to spend the evening in Lavelle's Bar, hopefully meeting the famous storyteller Mick Lavelle, if he's still on this side of the grass.
6/22:
Climb Crough Patrick, drive around Clew Bay and around Achill Island, stopping at castles, ruins and pubs as we see fit. Booked at a nice B&B in Mulranny.
6/23:
Venture east to Castlebar, where I've felt drawn for quite some time. Not sure what's waiting there, but something is. Return the car that evening to Knock Airport.
6/24:
Hop a train from Castlebar to Dublin. Arrive around 1pm, which leaves us all afternoon and evening to see some sites and hit some pubs.
6/25:
Regretfully, I have to come back. Doug and Lauren will continue their adventure in England and Switzerland without me.
So, there you have it. Decisions yet to be made, but the bulk of the planning is done. Now it's the execution I'm waiting for!! Bring on the Guinness!
Saturday, May 17, 2014
Three Weeks!
Three weeks. Only three. That's enough to make me giddy. Oh wait, I think I was giddy at four weeks, so I'm not sure what word best describes how I feel about our upcoming adventure.
How about stoked? Stoked works.
We did, in fact, take inventory of our gear last weekend. It brought back all kinds of memories of walking across England. Lauren and I reminisced a bit, but she's just shy of sixteen and thinking too long about the past isn't something she does. Her mind is in the present, where it belongs. Mine wanders between the past, present and future with great regularity, but I've got thirty years more of past than she does to think about.
Last Saturday, Lauren drove us to Homestead. It was the first time she drove that far and her first time on an interstate. She did really well. Turns out, I didn't need the diaper I'd put on under my capris. Better safe than sorry.
We bought new waterproof jackets that were on sale, socks and more leggings. We really don't need much...but while we were on the mainland, we hit up a bunch of stores and bought some cute things for Lauren. Almost sixteen-year-old girls need things. They just do.
The only thing we lack is gaitors. They are a necessity for a walk like this and we both have them (we bought them on the Coast to Coast and wore them every day), but we can't find them. For those who don't know, gaitors protect your lower legs/aankles from getting muddy. They are easy to strap on and hook behind your knees and ankles. When we got home from walking across England, ours were really muddy and gross. I put them somewhere...I remember thinking it was a great place because they wouldn't be in the way.
Well, that sure is true.
They are not in the way. In fact, they're so far out of the way that we can't find the damn things. If I don't find them by the end of next week, I'll have to order replacements. Going without gaitors would be like going without hiking boots. They are an essential piece of equipment we'll wear every day.
I've tried channeling my inner gaitor but with no success. I really did a great job of putting them out of the way.
I think I'll pour a Guinness while I think about where else they could be. A girl has to keep up her strength.
How about stoked? Stoked works.
We did, in fact, take inventory of our gear last weekend. It brought back all kinds of memories of walking across England. Lauren and I reminisced a bit, but she's just shy of sixteen and thinking too long about the past isn't something she does. Her mind is in the present, where it belongs. Mine wanders between the past, present and future with great regularity, but I've got thirty years more of past than she does to think about.
Last Saturday, Lauren drove us to Homestead. It was the first time she drove that far and her first time on an interstate. She did really well. Turns out, I didn't need the diaper I'd put on under my capris. Better safe than sorry.
We bought new waterproof jackets that were on sale, socks and more leggings. We really don't need much...but while we were on the mainland, we hit up a bunch of stores and bought some cute things for Lauren. Almost sixteen-year-old girls need things. They just do.
The only thing we lack is gaitors. They are a necessity for a walk like this and we both have them (we bought them on the Coast to Coast and wore them every day), but we can't find them. For those who don't know, gaitors protect your lower legs/aankles from getting muddy. They are easy to strap on and hook behind your knees and ankles. When we got home from walking across England, ours were really muddy and gross. I put them somewhere...I remember thinking it was a great place because they wouldn't be in the way.
Well, that sure is true.
They are not in the way. In fact, they're so far out of the way that we can't find the damn things. If I don't find them by the end of next week, I'll have to order replacements. Going without gaitors would be like going without hiking boots. They are an essential piece of equipment we'll wear every day.
I've tried channeling my inner gaitor but with no success. I really did a great job of putting them out of the way.
I think I'll pour a Guinness while I think about where else they could be. A girl has to keep up her strength.
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Four Weeks!
We leave in four weeks. Shit's gettin' real.
I sound very gangsta today, yes? I've been practicing...drinking Guinness, that is. I don't practice dumb shit like gangsta. I worry about more important things like beer.
I won't be able to order a Miller Lite in the Dingleberry Forest, so I have to practice my Guinness drinking here in Islamorada. Sipping a pint of the black stuff when its 86 degrees and humid is a very different experience than when one is huddled in a pub, near a fire while the rain pelts the windows. A Guinness is like a meal and in hot, humid weather, it can sit in your belly like a rock.
Fortunately for me, I love rocks.
Having said that, I look forward to downing pints in a drafty pub, huddled close to a crackling fire while local musicians entertain me and my girl. She has no idea what's in store for her, but have no doubt that our Ireland Adventure is going to blow her doors off. She's a huge fan of green and we don't have a lot of it here on our island, aside from palm fronds and she's grown weary of them. She misses great expanses of green grass and "real" trees. She's going to think she died and went to forest heaven.
It actually is beer heaven, but I won't burst her bubble.
While I daydream of pubs and fires and Irish music, I need to actually get some things accomplished. Tomorrow night, we're going to sort through all of our walking gear; backpacks, walking poles, boots, rain gear, emergency supplies, first aid kits, etc.to figure out what needs to be replaced and what else we need. I already know we need more thin, bamboo socks. (We wear two layers of socks to prevent blistering. The under sock is ankle height, very thin and made from bamboo. It absorbs moisture. Over that, we wear a thick, higher sock that does something important. I don't know how it works, but our system kept our piggies blister free during our 200 mile walk across England. You don't mess with a plan that works.)
On Saturday, we trek to the mainland (Lauren is driving the whole thing, both ways!) to buy whatever we need, so that if we can't find it, we have time to order it.
One of these days, I need to do a 10-miler to be sure my boots still fit properly....with only four weeks to go, I should have done that weeks ago. I just haven't found time. I've been busy practicing.
Speaking of which, I think it's time for a Guinness.
I sound very gangsta today, yes? I've been practicing...drinking Guinness, that is. I don't practice dumb shit like gangsta. I worry about more important things like beer.
I won't be able to order a Miller Lite in the Dingleberry Forest, so I have to practice my Guinness drinking here in Islamorada. Sipping a pint of the black stuff when its 86 degrees and humid is a very different experience than when one is huddled in a pub, near a fire while the rain pelts the windows. A Guinness is like a meal and in hot, humid weather, it can sit in your belly like a rock.
Fortunately for me, I love rocks.
Having said that, I look forward to downing pints in a drafty pub, huddled close to a crackling fire while local musicians entertain me and my girl. She has no idea what's in store for her, but have no doubt that our Ireland Adventure is going to blow her doors off. She's a huge fan of green and we don't have a lot of it here on our island, aside from palm fronds and she's grown weary of them. She misses great expanses of green grass and "real" trees. She's going to think she died and went to forest heaven.
It actually is beer heaven, but I won't burst her bubble.
While I daydream of pubs and fires and Irish music, I need to actually get some things accomplished. Tomorrow night, we're going to sort through all of our walking gear; backpacks, walking poles, boots, rain gear, emergency supplies, first aid kits, etc.to figure out what needs to be replaced and what else we need. I already know we need more thin, bamboo socks. (We wear two layers of socks to prevent blistering. The under sock is ankle height, very thin and made from bamboo. It absorbs moisture. Over that, we wear a thick, higher sock that does something important. I don't know how it works, but our system kept our piggies blister free during our 200 mile walk across England. You don't mess with a plan that works.)
On Saturday, we trek to the mainland (Lauren is driving the whole thing, both ways!) to buy whatever we need, so that if we can't find it, we have time to order it.
One of these days, I need to do a 10-miler to be sure my boots still fit properly....with only four weeks to go, I should have done that weeks ago. I just haven't found time. I've been busy practicing.
Speaking of which, I think it's time for a Guinness.
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