Here is the first of a few catch-up posts from the past three and a half weeks.
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On Monday (June 13), Mom (Joy Minion) and I decided we would have a quiet day so that she could completely catch up on the remaining bits of jetlag she had and I could catch up on some work. My good friend Yvonne stopped by for coffee in the afternoon and she and Mom quickly hit it off. That evening, after picking up cheeseburgers at Supermacs, we set off for a circle drive into Connemara, driving up to Headford and over to Cong before circling around through Maam, Maam Cross, Oughterard, and back to Galway. Along the way, Mom had fun with her new Granny F-P project. We drove into the stunning Ashford Castle grounds (video) and spent some time wandering through the ruins in the village of Cong, around which much of the John Wayne/Maureen O’Hara movie The Quiet Man was filmed.
The light was again wonderful, which made a beautiful drive around the lakes and mountains magical. We had packed a picnic lunch and stopped in Maam to enjoy it as the low clouds rolled in, covering the tops of the mountains. On our way back we stopped at the bridge made famous by The Quiet Man, and after some photos and a quick exploration of the road beyond that bridge, we made our way back to Galway to close the circle with another stop at Supermacs, this time for ice cream cones.
Tuesday morning we picked up my cousin Katie Minion from the Galway bus station and headed to one of our favorite places in Galway, the Gourmet Tart. Both Mom and Katie experienced their first full Irish breakfast, minus the black pudding. Then began a series of errands we completed with varying degrees of success: a haircut for Mom (success!), an attempt at getting an Irish sim card for Mom’s phone (no success), and a few other things.
That evening I took my two Minions (!) on a circle drive into Connemara. We drove to Moycullen and took two of my favorite roads, first to Knockferry and the pier, then on to Glann Road out of Oughterard and back, then to Barna and back home. The light was beautiful and we all enjoyed the drive almost as much as the conversation! Upon return, we watched The Quiet Man movie online, which I found not at all enjoyable.
That evening we decided that the next day would signal the start of a 2-night trip to counties Kerry and Cork, after which we would drop Katie at the Cork airport for her return flight to Paris.
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