My Family Came to Ireland!

This past weekend more members of my family came to Ireland for a perfectly timed visit. As I'm writing this I only have three weeks left in Ireland. The holidays sure do make you miss home. I Surprised Nevi at the airport on Thursday and we headed into Dublin city center to explore and check into our hotel. We had a nice time looking at the lights on Grafton street, fall in love with street performers and having a look at the famous Trinity College library The Book of Kells. 

The next day we met my parents and Henry at the airport. From there we headed north toward Sligo. This town has a Colorado mountain town feel which I love of course. We had a delicious lunch of fish and chips and Henry could not stop falling asleep. As we left Sligo Nevi voiced her sadness for leaving "the town I feel the love of my life is in". No she didn't meet anyone, she just loved Sligo. She slumped away in her impression of our 3 year old nephew. You had to be there. 

Little Hank!

 "Jamie!! it's me! your sister Fiona!"

Alright story time!

My dad put me in charge of finding lodging for Friday night. I hopped on Airbnb immediately and started looking. I was torn between a safe, comfortable option, and an eco hut on a ranch with no electricity or running water. Obviously I chose the eco hut. Throughout the day, I slowly leaked information to the family on the circumstances of our lodging. All of the reviews were raging about Paul the owner and all of his fantastic stories. I was in heaven, I absolutely loved this place. He not only had this eco hut but tipis for the summer.  

I know you're thinking, "oh the inside doesn't look that small!" False. This is the inside of the cook house 500 feet from the hut. As we drove up in the dark I said. Oh yeah this is where the toilets and showers are. Nevi whispers under her breath, "you bitch." Haha we all left the ranch in LOVE with Paul and his ranch. He had lived in Montana for awhile and was obsessed with cowboys and the wild west. Nevi's sadness of leaving Sligo was comforted by her deep love of Paul and his horse riding love. 

From there we headed north toward Donegal and Slieve League. Asa and I came this way as well. This was the mountain we climbed where the photos are just fog. The hike was again foggy but per Paul's suggestion we drove around the mountain to the lookout. Asa and I missed that I guess. The views were incredible. Especially the bus load of Indian men taking their online dating profile pictures. 

See the fog!

The next day we headed south towards Galway where we ate dinner. They were having a Christmas market which was both charming and overwhelming. On our way to none other than Killarny my favorite place in Ireland, we stopped at a wee town with some traditional Irish houses. Henry really loved the moss. It's amazing to travel to these places with new people and see the different things they notice. Constantly Henry would comment on the birds and the lambs, my mom would comment on the plants, my dad fell in the love with the Irish men and Nevi and I would compare notes on people watching. 

We headed to Killarny and the Muckross house for tea. On the side of the house they have this spectacular rock garden we explored a bit before heading to the front of the house for Nevi to film her "Cork Queen" videos. It's a tradition Nevi films videos of me doing whatever she tells me to do and her adding hilarious captions. This is the third year she's done it and the people seem to love it. My ego takes hits but hey it's entertaining. 

The next day involved showing them around Cork and meeting my roommates. I know some of you will read this and I hope you know how much your visit meant. To take off work and school and come explore Ireland through my eyes was such a cool experience. As the second youngest of 5 I'm not used to leading the family and showing them around but I really loved it. Yes I did cry as I walked up my flat stairs as you guys drove away and I do love you all very much.