^^ Entrance to Ashford Castle (it is now a hotel)
We didn’t wake up too late… we had to get Bronte and Trevor today! The hot water runs out after about 4 people so it was a fight for the hot water and who was willing to wake up early enough to grab the first shower…. How rough! We planned to meet Bronte and Trevor at Dooleys Bar in Moycullen, about an hour drive from Headford where the castle is near. They could get a bus there from Limerick where they stayed the night before, and we wanted to go to Moycullen to the visitor center where they sold the famous green Connemara granite anyway, so we set the meeting point and headed out at about 10:45am.
Marian, our caretaker for the castle, mentioned there was a bridge across the water after a town called cong. We are at one side of Lough Corrib, and Moycullen is just on the other side. If you cant go through it, you have to go around it! We thought we could take a bridge across… so the caretaker lady said….
On the way to Cong we ran into Ashford Castle, it was HUGE and majestic! Seriously, look it up! The town that was near was super cute too, a great place for two at a bed and breakfast.
After Ashford we were on the way to Cong, made it through Cong, and ran into a tiny dirt road that would take us up around the north side of Lough Corrib. In a huge van this wasn’t the smartest move. (BTW, dad likes to call himself King Cong now because of it...) We drove back own to Cong, made a pit stop, and asked where the bridge was. Apparently there is no bridge! Sooooo we decided to take the route around the south end of Lough Corrib, a much more traveled route since it was closer to the main city of Galway.
Back on the road again, we made it just a little later than we said we would to pick Bronte and Trevor up. They strategically picked a bar. We found them with Irish coffees and hot chocolate with Baileys in it…. we didn’t need to worry about them!
The group was joined again! We drove the 1 Km to the end of town in Moycullen to the Connemara Marble Visitor Center. They had all sorts of trinkets and jewelry! A few of us picked up some gifts that contained the famous green marble that only comes out of the Connemara region.
We didn’t get our artisan fix in because we proceeded to drive around for another hour looking for a certain pottery maker that mom had found online… no cigar for us! We were getting impatient and hungry! We then drove to Spiddal, a small town along the ocean. At first we went into this hotel restaurant, but left because the menu was not great, the service sucked, and it was freezing in there. Not worth it! We went across the street o a much better place, and the food was amazing! The waiter was wonderful, and the store-owner was hanging Christmas decorations. Talk about cozy, good move on Dads part it was his suggestion! The waiter was spot on, and didn't seemed phased by our sauce obsession and always needing more!
We still didn’t have our craft fix in I guess because we stopped at the Spiddal Craft Village. Some of the small huts with artisans workshops and their work for sale were still open. We popped in and out of each one and picked up a few gifts here as well! It started to get dark and rainy (imagine that) so we piled in the car once more and began the journey home. We had to go through Galway to get back to Headford to get back to the castle, so we stopped in Galway and picked up 2 Dominos pizzas for later that night… We had a 4:00 dinner and knew that by 10:00 we would be starving again. The pizza barely made it in the door of the castle it smelled so good! Tanner especially loved the garlic dipping sauce. He pizza was the vehicle for the sauce on this one!
It was a good evening in the castle, it was the first time Bronte andTrevor saw it so that was fun! We took them to the top of the castle, up the tiny spiral stairwell, into the tower room, and up to the top of the tower on the outside, so enchanted and haunted!
Love you all as usual!
-Payton (on behalf of Bronte, Tanner, Joe, Trevor, Leah, Michael, and Jenay!)
... We only have 15 days left... hard to soak that in!
We didn’t wake up too late… we had to get Bronte and Trevor today! The hot water runs out after about 4 people so it was a fight for the hot water and who was willing to wake up early enough to grab the first shower…. How rough! We planned to meet Bronte and Trevor at Dooleys Bar in Moycullen, about an hour drive from Headford where the castle is near. They could get a bus there from Limerick where they stayed the night before, and we wanted to go to Moycullen to the visitor center where they sold the famous green Connemara granite anyway, so we set the meeting point and headed out at about 10:45am.
Marian, our caretaker for the castle, mentioned there was a bridge across the water after a town called cong. We are at one side of Lough Corrib, and Moycullen is just on the other side. If you cant go through it, you have to go around it! We thought we could take a bridge across… so the caretaker lady said….
On the way to Cong we ran into Ashford Castle, it was HUGE and majestic! Seriously, look it up! The town that was near was super cute too, a great place for two at a bed and breakfast.
After Ashford we were on the way to Cong, made it through Cong, and ran into a tiny dirt road that would take us up around the north side of Lough Corrib. In a huge van this wasn’t the smartest move. (BTW, dad likes to call himself King Cong now because of it...) We drove back own to Cong, made a pit stop, and asked where the bridge was. Apparently there is no bridge! Sooooo we decided to take the route around the south end of Lough Corrib, a much more traveled route since it was closer to the main city of Galway.
Back on the road again, we made it just a little later than we said we would to pick Bronte and Trevor up. They strategically picked a bar. We found them with Irish coffees and hot chocolate with Baileys in it…. we didn’t need to worry about them!
The group was joined again! We drove the 1 Km to the end of town in Moycullen to the Connemara Marble Visitor Center. They had all sorts of trinkets and jewelry! A few of us picked up some gifts that contained the famous green marble that only comes out of the Connemara region.
We didn’t get our artisan fix in because we proceeded to drive around for another hour looking for a certain pottery maker that mom had found online… no cigar for us! We were getting impatient and hungry! We then drove to Spiddal, a small town along the ocean. At first we went into this hotel restaurant, but left because the menu was not great, the service sucked, and it was freezing in there. Not worth it! We went across the street o a much better place, and the food was amazing! The waiter was wonderful, and the store-owner was hanging Christmas decorations. Talk about cozy, good move on Dads part it was his suggestion! The waiter was spot on, and didn't seemed phased by our sauce obsession and always needing more!
We still didn’t have our craft fix in I guess because we stopped at the Spiddal Craft Village. Some of the small huts with artisans workshops and their work for sale were still open. We popped in and out of each one and picked up a few gifts here as well! It started to get dark and rainy (imagine that) so we piled in the car once more and began the journey home. We had to go through Galway to get back to Headford to get back to the castle, so we stopped in Galway and picked up 2 Dominos pizzas for later that night… We had a 4:00 dinner and knew that by 10:00 we would be starving again. The pizza barely made it in the door of the castle it smelled so good! Tanner especially loved the garlic dipping sauce. He pizza was the vehicle for the sauce on this one!
It was a good evening in the castle, it was the first time Bronte andTrevor saw it so that was fun! We took them to the top of the castle, up the tiny spiral stairwell, into the tower room, and up to the top of the tower on the outside, so enchanted and haunted!
Love you all as usual!
-Payton (on behalf of Bronte, Tanner, Joe, Trevor, Leah, Michael, and Jenay!)
... We only have 15 days left... hard to soak that in!