Rain Day

On the Sunday night before we left for our trip, I woke up in the middle of the night panicked about boots. I was planning to pack as lightly as possible and in doing so was only planning on taking trail running-type shoes plus flats for the girls for their competitions. But at the top of every packing list for Ireland is Waterproof Shoes or Boots.

So I woke at 6 A.M. on Monday and ordered waterproof shoes/boots for us and decided we’d wear them on the plane and each take one other pair of shoes that don’t take up much space.

Up until today I thought I had panicked for no reason because we’d had pleasant weather. But today it Rained. It wasn’t the pretty, light, misty stuff we’d encountered a bit of. . .and wasn’t the monsoon that everyone back home has been having. . .but it was a steady, soaking rain.

I think we all needed a quiet morning anyway so we just sort of kept putting off leaving for anywhere

and then finally around 11 we decided that a lunch out would be fun. I’ve had several conversations with Eimear and she has made wonderful recommendations and I wrote down to

“Have a meal at Monk’s in Ballyvaughan . .best chowder in Ireland.”

So I called and made a reservation and we headed out into the sogginess. . .and had one of the best meals of our lives. Everyone enjoyed their dishes from Chapin’s fish and chips to Dad’s Guinness beef stew to Mom and my chowder. I will have dreams about that chowder for years to come. . .maybe forever. It was the most perfect dish for a rainy day by the sea.

When we were leaving Monk’s we noticed that the hotel a few doors down had a sign up that they were closed because they were hosting Ukrainian refugees. This really touched all of us because it was the first time we had seen this in our time in Europe.

Deciding heck with the rain, we made the plan to drive out through the Burren to the Poulnabrone Dolmen. The Poulnabrone Dolmen is an unusually large dolmen or portal tomb that is believed to have been in use for 600 years between 5,200 and 5,800 years ago.

I thought it would be bigger.

So did Chapin and Dad.

It was still impressive and and the girls had a blast running around on all the rocks and playing in the rain. I imagine if I hadn’t been so chilly and wet that I would have found it a much more magical place. Jay could have stayed all day despite the damp.

We then went to the Rock Shop and a Woolen Mill to do a little shopping and to try to find some yarn for Gwen. It was fun looking around but we didn’t find much and figured that most of our shopping would be from street vendors next week at the Fleadh.

An evening at home packing up and laughing at all the shenanigans of the animals on the farm was exactly what most of us needed. Jay was up for another adventure and made a solo trip out to Loch Gur, a spot that a street vendor on Inis Oirr recommended.

We’re going to bed early and hoping to get out of our house early tomorrow since the weather is forecast to clear