I've Been Thinkin' 'Bout the West Coast

So I'm going to mix things up a little and share about the latter part of our day first, because I just can't wait to do it! We went to what I think is one of the most beautiful places in the world--the Cliffs of Moher. The last time I was here (18 years ago, or "20" as Brian likes to say), there were no barricade fences or stairs. That first time, I sat not too close to the edge but there was nothing between me and the drop off but about 20 feet. With two children, let me thank the good people of Ireland for putting up those barricades! Here are just a few of the hundred or so pictures I took from the beautiful Cliffs of Moher...

We hiked around for over an hour just admiring the views from different angles and we even gave a wave to all of you on the East Coast across the Atlantic Ocean... Getting to the cliffs was a beautiful adventure because we drove there ourselves! Amazingly, it wasn't too difficult to adjust to driving on the left side of the road. The harder thing was figuring out the dimensions of the car when turning and parking and also navigating the very narrow country roads when huge tour buses were coming in the opposite direction. It was quite an adventure but a wonderful way to see the countryside. Brian and I picked out about 7 houses that we would buy based on the views. Here are a few pictures from our drive including a pub we ate at along the way in a town with my favorite name in Ireland--Lisdoonvarna...

So that was our afternoon... Our morning was spent wandering around Galway. We had a fabulous breakfast (nutella pancakes/crepes for the boys, an omelette for Brian, and a traditional vegetarian Irish breakfast for me). It was delicious and we then went for a walk along the bay. We found a great park for the boys to run on the greens and then we wandered around the beach because it was low tide. The boys went exploring!

We also walked along the Corrib River and wandered to the Galway Cathedral. This was apparently the last church in Europe that Christopher Columbus prayed at before setting off for North America. The inside was closed for mass so we will probably head back in the coming days to check it out! I will include the pictures from this in tomorrow's entry because the internet here is being a royal pain in the...