Turn right on the road that further down turns left. By the old ash tree, well, it's not there anymore. It was cut down, but it used to be there. You'll know. Turn right there, then go backwards.

Well, we've arrived in Clare.  At  our cottage.  Its very remote, so our postings are going to be sporadic for the next little bit.  Internet is hard to come by, we are sitting in the lobby of the condo reception, 30 km from our cottage, on a golf course, on an Irish computer (with a funny keyboard) writing this for you. 

We made a video tour of our cottage so you could get an idea of where we are.  Enjoy!
 

We arrived here after a short drive down from Galway.  We drove through the town of Ennis no less than four times, pretty much going in a circle the entire time.  Luckily, we found a friendly bloke and he set us straight on the path to Tulla.  After settling in at the cottage, and a lovely cup of coffee with Ger, we had a plan for the night.  The condo association had a bus (of sorts) that would pick us up and take us to a local pub for traditional Irish music and fare.  We were a bit surprised to find that the owner of the pub was our chaffeuer for the evening.  After a delicious dinner of Guinness Beef Stew and Bangers & Mash, we sat and partook in an enjoyable evening of music and craic.  We made friends with two older gentleman (Seamus and Peter) who enjoyed us so much, they said they wanted to join us on the boat "just for the craic".  Best compliment ever.

Gary, the pub owner, disappeared after a bit and it turns out the bartender was given the end of night task of driving us home.  No bother for us.  We spent the evening talking with the locals about how they remove stones from the fences so the ponies can make it over during the fox hunts, about how they bale their hay, and several rounds of "this is ____, our most eligible bachelor".  My mom was right.  The Irish are full of it.  However, THE NICEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD.  No joke.  They wave to you when you are going the wrong way on the street, and I think every single person we've come across has asked us how our holiday is going.

Armed with maps, we set of for the Cliffs of Moher on Monday. We drove through LaHinch, the Irish surfing town, which looked a bit like any coastal town in California, only much colder.  We were lucky is was a gorgeous day, and not too cold, because the view over the cliffs was absolutely "awre inspiring."  Kalena wanted to hop a fence to peer out over the edge, but wasn't willing to get her shoes muddy.  After some time in the Cliffs of Moher exhibition (we were right...  there WAS a corpse eating eel, we have pictures!), and some native dancing on the virtual reality cliff experience, we were ready to head to Doolin and then off to the high crosses at Kilfenora.  Doolin is known for its traditional music scene, but it seemed pretty quiet, being a Monday, and not late in the day.  We may have to venture back later this week...  Kilfenora offered a somber graveyard set on hill.  The High Crosses were beacons back in the day when Kilfenora was originally founded in 1152. 

Back at the cottage, we made a coal fire, Guinness beef stew and had a low key night.  Driving on the road here is scary enough, neither one of us wants to attempt to traverse them in the dark, let alone after a pint. We hope to go back to the pub, Pepper's, later this week for more music, this time of the dancing variety.  Today we are off to wander Blackhead Loop, search for leprechauns (its magical out today) and see the Burren. 

Kalena & Megan