Update

Since we are off Wednesday for a 6 day run to the Southwest of Ireland, I thought I would give a brief update on what we have done past several days of note.

Jennifer and Sarah were here from Seattle and they kept quite busy travelling with the Carrie, et.al. on the weekend and doing there on thing in Dublin during the week. On Friday, the four of us went to the National Irish Stud Farm, which held no candle to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Nan and I did manage to find the mares and foals. Many had been born on Valentines Day, which was interesting. They were cute.

Sunday, Nan and I headed out to the coast beginning at Balbriggan and working our way towards Dublin. Was mostly a sunny day with only occasional clouds. We were able to wonder the coast most of the way. The towns furthest from Dublin were still quite quaint, but as we got nearer to Dublin, they became much more upper crust. One of the last places we stopped was Howth, which appears to be a pretty big fishing port. One of the restaurants had an article written about it when it opened and they referred to the town being a big Sunday lunch spot.

In every coastal town was a public beach/park area and many people were out in 50 degree weather walking the shore. We stopped at a castle on a hill overlooking the Irish Sea at Skerries. They had installed a huge playground area for kids and had miles of walking trails. Skerries also has an old mill that had water and windmill sources of power when it was operating. Corn, etc. was grown in the area and ground at this mill, which has now been restored. Many sights we visit like this all have tea rooms and craft shops. Was interesting to observe how many locals come to attend the tea rooms.

The "highlight" of the drive was to miss the turnoff north of Dublin to head home and end up driving right through the heart of Dublin. Once again, many frustrations at poor signage. Today I drove Flor to the airport and since it was early, the traffic heading into Dublin was fierce to say the least. I checked the Avis map I had and decided I could go back roads back to Maynooth. WRONG! Lack of good signage derailed me again. I ended up pointing the car West and finally got where I intended to go, but found Ireland's offices of EBay and Bristol Meyers along the way.

Hope all is well with everyone. Will update this with text and pictures when we return.

Later!