"That's a Wrap" Bravis Trip

Although two weeks is a long trip it felt like it went by in a blink of an eye and then it was time to head back to Dublin for early morning flights.

We checked in for our flights and then loaded up the van for one more journey. We planned a couple stops on the way. 

The first stop was Kilbeggan distillery. We didn't do an official tour or tasting since it was still mid day and the kids would not have been very interested but it was a cool building with a long history. 

We then stopped in Mullingar which is a really cute little town that happens to be the hometown of Niall Horan a singer in One Direction and big heart throb for the Brady ladies.

They have a mural in his honor in the town center. 

We stopped in the visitor center of town and they two employees were so thrilled to meet us. I don't think they get many visitors. When I told them the sweet crush is reason that brought us to town they gave the girls a little photo souvenir and some spots around town we could check out. 

We walked along the river in town and enjoyed the scenery and stretching our legs. 

Once we finished touring town we drove back to the Dublin airport area and checked in for the night at one last Premier Inn. We sent the Dads to return the van and then we all went to one final dinner together!

We were up bright and early to get our first flight from Dublin to Heathrow. It all went easy and smooth. Then we had a huge long walk through Heathrow and had to go through security again and get to our gate for our flight to LAX.  There wasn't much time to spare but we made it and ended up getting bulk head seats which was nice to stretch our our legs and not have anyone recline onto us. 

Three people were sad to go home and one couldn't wait to get back to her cozy safe place. 

 

Galway

We drove from our coastal air bnb into Galway for a day of exploring. After finding a parking spot for our generously sized van which was always a struggle in cities we made our way into town. 

 

Gemma posed with the "Galway Girl" statue and then we made to the Galway City Museum. It was a great size to get a little peek into the history of the city within about an hour or so. Even better it was free, and it had restrooms! You know we love a good bathroom break.

There are so many great little shops and pubs up and down the streets of the city. We stopped in nearly every one! One of the bucket list items was to find a claddagh ring. They originated in Galway and several of the jewelry shops have the history of the ring. 

We found the shop that is the originator of the ring and has been making them by hand on site site 1750!

Gemma picked out one that fit her just right. You wear it on a certain hand and in a certain direction to display if your heart is taken or if you are married. 

The Brady girls found rings they liked at a shop as well. It is hard to choose there are so many pretty variations.

There were plenty of street performers and packed pubs and it was sunny and beautiful.

Lily found her happy place in an independent book store. The shelves were full from floor to ceiling!! The only hard part is choosing. She is in a murder mystery genre phase so she picked a book and they had T-shirts with the book store name and design and wording in Gaelic. The perfect souvenir for her!

We had a great pub lunch, trying to squeeze as many in before we have to go home! 

After we scoured every street in the city we headed back to Kinvara for some relaxation. On the way home we swung by another castle.

You can't go inside Dunguaire Castle but it is so picturesque from the outside and it is unique because it is surrounded by the sea on the three sides. 

We parked nearby and dragged everyone out to make a lap around our last castle.

Cliffs of Moher & Kinvara

We made a morning get away after glamping in the Dingle Peninsula. You could hear our tires screeching through the parking lot at our 8AM departure. We survived!! Actually it was fun and unique and we all slept pretty well but nobody braved the shower stalls. 

We had a long day of driving ahead of us. We hopped in the van without any breakfast and after about 45 minutes on the road we found this little pit stop cafe that was train themed.  We got a bite to eat at Barnagh in Limerick then hit the road for another two hours to the Cliffs of Moher.

Around every turn in Ireland there is a castle. We started just shouting out "drive by castle"!

We arrived at the Cliffs by late morning and the parking lot was filling up and the visitors center was packed. It is definitely a popular destination. They have big huge coaches that offer day trips all the way from Dublin. 

When we first arrived the skies were a bit dark and ominous and it was a bit clouded over but as the day progressed it brightened up and got some peeks of sun.

The visitor center has a great video all about the cliffs and the vast eco system that surrounds it. We were all really hoping for a puffin sighting but those little fellas are tiny and the Cliffs are vast. We did get a funny green screen photo!

After touring the visitor center you walk up to the cliffs and can choose the path in either direction. It starts out as paved and the further you travel it becomes a more narrow dirt path.

They have thistle growing along the edge, I guess they borrowed it from Scotland.

The path in the North direction has O'Brien's tower you can queue up to go inside.

It was definitely windy in places and you wouldn't want to stray off the path to close to the edge. They have placed large flat slate stones against the path to keep you safe and back from the edge. 

We walked along the path for quite a way in the South direction so you could see all the way back to the tower we had been at earlier.

Don't stand too close to the edge to get that selfie, it's a tourist fatal move!!!

You could take a million different photos of the beauty of the Cliffs. I think we took several million.

There are "buskers" performing at various points along the path for donations. We convinced Kat and Natalie to perform some dancing to the fiddle player so we could film.

It was a great experience and everyone rated it 10/10!

After leaving the Cliff's visitor center we followed the road North to find a place for some late lunch. We did a drive-by Castle stop of Doonagore Castle.

The sweetest town of Doolin is just North. Honestly I was ready to purchase this Pink thatched roof Woolen shop and move in!

The pubs were all closing up to change over to dinner service so we found a really good wood-fired oven pizza place with a large patio all to ourselves. We had a pizza feast and rested up after our long morning.

It was about another hour drive to our last Air Bnb in Kinvara. It was bright and sunny and gorgeous when we arrived and the house could not be more perfect. 

It had a huge upstairs apartment area with living space and bedrooms and bathrooms. Downstairs was a large living room and sun room that looks out onto the fields and our own personal goats!

It was really hard to leave the house to be honest. 

The kids liked to take walks through the quiet country road and always found a neighbor dog that wander freely to beg petting and loving. 

Bestie travel is the best kind of travel!