I am sitting on the back patio of our house, Bun An Tsruthain (Irish for "end of the river"), looking out over Dingle Harbor with a Guinness in my hand (not so bad, right?), pondering what I should write about in the first update of trip. You may ask, "Why has it taken so long to update the web site?" To be honest, we have been too busy having fun to take the time out to do so. But, in the greater interest of keeping all of you up-to-date on our adventure, here goes....

We arrived at Shannon airport in the west of Ireland on Thursday, August 3 after an uneventful flight (the best kind). Aside from everyone driving on the left side of the road and the steering wheels being on the right, it soon became clear we were not in California anymore. First, we learned about a road project being stopped and the route for the new road being changed because a "fairy tree" was growing on the original route. (More about this later.) Second, the semifinal game in Irish football (a.k.a. Gaelic football) between Kerry and Armagh in Dublin last Sunday ended in a tie. So they will replay the game in two weeks. No overtime, no sudden death. Imagine the Steelers and Raiders in the AFC Championship game ending regulation play tied, shaking hands, going home and planning to meet again the next Sunday and you have the idea. Finally, when we tell someone our name is Cusack, we never have to spell it, pronounce it again, or say it does not start with "Q." (They do keep trying to spell Carries name "O'Lee-Cusack," however.)

We spent our first three nights in Ballyvaughn in County Clare, just south of Galway. We got acclimated to the time change and explored an interesting part of Ireland known as "the Burren." The Burren (The Burren.jpg) is a geologic phenomenon covering about 100 sq. mi. where the stone (mostly limestone) has been pushed up to the surface with grass and plants finding places to grow in between the stones. It looks a bit like a moonscape with grass. The area is crisscrossed with "dry" stone walls (no mortar) marking the property lines. These walls have been standing for hundreds of years in many cases. The plant life in the Burrren is remarkable. Apparently, 75% of the plant species in all of Ireland are found here. They say in the spring when the wildflowers bloom, it is just spectacular (think fall colors in New England). There is even a perfumery which makes its products from the flowers native to the region.

On Sunday, August 6, we headed for Galway to begin our Butterfield & Robinson family bike trip. We hooked up with 5 other families and the group of 12 adults, 15 kids ages 4-13, and three guides headed out. Our first stop was to take the 1-hour ferry to Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands outside Galway Bay. After riding to the guest house, we had an Irish archaeologist, Michael Gibbons, take us on a walk up to the 1300-year-old stone fort, Don Aengus, on the cliff overlooking the sea. He gave us a fascinating history of what life was like as the various family clans fought for control and prominence over the centuries.

The highlight of the trip to Inishmore was the international soccer match between the kids on the B&R trip and the local kids from the village of Kilmurvey where we were staying. In true fashion, the U.S. kids played hard, but were not quite up to the skills of the local kids, and lost, 5-1. After the game, Christopher remarked that the Irish kids played a bit rougher than he was used to. Not quite playing to the AYSO code of conduct, I guess.

Now, about those fairies. As I said above, the driver told us that a road project had to be rerouted after being well underway because of a fairy tree that happened to be on the original route. Sure enough, there in the middle of acres of torn-up ground, was a tree, probably 12 feet tall and just as wide, standing all by itself. The driver said that this tree was sacred to the local people because it was both a fairy burial ground as well as a resting place for fairies making the long trip from Limerick up to Galway.

Now, Carrie and I have traveled a lot in our life times, and have heard stories just for the tourists in many countries. However, while on Inishmore, the archaeologist pointed out a "fairy mound" of bright green grass in the middle of a number of fields, which was untouched by the local farmers. He said they believed that this was a special place for the fairies and they would not use that land for pastures. There really is some special stuff over here on the Emerald Isle. We keep looking for fairies, but haven't seen any yet......

We returned to the mainland on the ferry the next morning and spent the next five days riding through the Connemara region in Co. Galway, north and east of Galway City. The basic schedule was for the families to ride together in the morning and then the kids would be taken for some afternoon activities while the adults could ride further in the afternoon and meet up with the kids back at the hotel before dinner. The kids would average 12-20 miles in the mornings and we would go another 20-30 miles in the afternoon. It really worked out well. On the first day back from Inishmore, however, Christopher decided to ride with us in the afternoon and covered 33.5 miles that day!!! We spent our next three nights at Ballynahinch Castle , a wonderful hotel in the countryside north of Galway.

Our rides covered a variety of interesting places, through forested areas with streams and rivers ideal for fly-fishing, across bog lands where "turf" had been cut and was stacked to dry before being loaded onto carts for the trip home or to the market, and through villages with the requisite pub for every 10 inhabitants (or so it seemed). We saw bohdrans, the traditional Irish drum, being made in Roundstone, the kids rode horses on the beach outside Clifden, and we visited Kylemore Abbey (all of us did 20 miles in the rain that morning), the home of the Benedictine nuns in a fabulous 1850's castle overlooking a lake. (We have threatened to send Brennan to the nuns' school for girls here if she ever misbehaves during the trip!) After great weather on Inishmore, the weather for the most part was cloudy with intermittent rain showers ("just a wee mist").

After three days at Ballynahinch, we rode east to Cong in County Mayo, to stay at Ashford Castle which was built around 1228 and sits on Lough Corrib, the second-largest lough in Ireland. This one really looks like a castle with a river in front that looks like a moat and turrets and spires all around. It is a spectacular setting with lots to do, but a little more impersonal than Ballynahinch. (By the way, Cong's claim to fame is that the film, "The Quiet Man," with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara was filmed there. They show the movie at 5pm every evening on the hotel television. A classic.)

At Ashford Castle, the kids had a wonderful time. They went fishing on the lake (though with not much to show for it), went on a treasure hunt, visited a haunted room, and got to try their hand at falconry. Carrie and I went along on this last adventure. Each of the kids learned about the various birds (mostly Harris hawks from Texas) and got to try their hand at holding the birds, sending them off to their perch and enticing them back to their hands with a piece of meat. (Christopher Feeding the bird.jpg). They also got to handle the ferrets the falconers use when they go hunting with the birds to help flush rabbits from their holes. (The rabbits win 90% of the time). This was a highlight of the trip so far for all of us.

The end of the bike trip was on Christopher's birthday, Saturday, August 12. Christopher and I played the nine-hole golf course at Ashford Castle in the morning. We had a wonderful time on an absolutely beautiful day. Carrie went off to do clay-target shooting on the range at the Castle. I must admit to being a little disturbed by the gleam she had in her eye looking at me after firing a shotgun for an hour...... We then made the hour long drive to Clifden and the Dan O'Hara Homestead and farmhouse.

Dan O'Hara's is a working farm maintained one would have been in the 1840's, before the famine. Nora and Martin Walsh, a wonderful couple committed to helping others understand the history of the region, run it. It couldn't have been a nicer place to spend a week exploring the area. When we arrived, we discovered that Paula, Nora's right hand, had baked a birthday cake for Christopher in the shape of a "10" which we enjoyed that evening after a birthday dinner in the town of Clifden.

Christopher, Brennan, and Grego went with Mr. Walsh a few mornings to feed the donkeys and chickens and to start the turf fire in the cottage.

One of the highlights of our stay in Clifden was our tour of the bakery where we learned the secret of putting the jelly in jelly donuts (and got to sample our work). Carrie had met Una Walsh, of Walsh's bakery while we were at Ballynahinch. What a great time! The kids had a ball using the dough-rolling machine for making piecrusts, watching the big mixers, and walking into a freezer!

We also went to the big Connemara pony show in Clifden, an annual event for judging the local breed of horses. Brennan was in her element, fascinated with both the horses and the young girls in the riding competition.

While in Clifden, we took a side trip up to Donegal in the North. Donegal itself is not that interesting a town, but the area around it is very pretty and quite prosperous judging from the factories and farms. Because it is so far north, it does not get the tourist traffic of the west and southwest. We went to Killybegs, north of Donegal, and visited the Donegal Carpet factory. Donegal carpets are hand-knotted carpets that were quite well-known during the first half of the century. The business went bad due to high labor costs, and the current team is trying to bring it back to its former glory. The beaches just south of Donegal were beautiful and the locale for a number of surfing competitions.

We celebrated Carrie's birthday in Clifden by going to the circus (Barnum and Bailey, watch out!) followed by a great dinner topped off by another of Paula's cakes at the farm. Carrie got a lot of deserved attention from her fans.

Speaking of dinners, one of the real challenges we thought we would face with this trip was getting the kids to eat different foods. We set up an incentive plan for trying new things, and all the kids have been good about tasting the local cuisine, even our fussiest eater, Grego. More challenges lay ahead, especially in countries where chicken nuggets are not on the kids' menu and peanut butter is not available in the stores. Christopher has been the most adventuresome with new foods as you can see.

At the end of the week, we said goodbye to Clifden and headed south to Dingle. Our house here is right at the end of a river where it flows into Dingle harbor. We are about 1 mile from town. A perfect location. School for our kids began here on the 21st of August. We spend the mornings on the schoolwork and have been exploring the area in the afternoons. So far, so good on the schoolwork. We found more beautiful beaches here, and the weather has been spectacular, warm and sunny! It even allowed Gregory and Brennan to try Irish surfing!

Carrie's folks arrived to spend ten days with us while in Dingle. We all took a side trip over to Waterford and stayed in another castle dating back to the 11th century. While in Waterford, we took a tour of the Waterford Crystal factory. The kids loved it as did all of us grown-ups. We saw everything from the glass blowers to the cutters and engravers who make all of this wonderful stuff.

Our other big find in Dingle was the Gallarus Oratory, a church dating back to the 8th century, which is still standing. It is made of stone with no mortar and has lasted all these years despite the harsh weather on the peninsula during the winter months.

We leave on September 2 for Greece, and will be sorry to go. Ireland has been a perfect spot to begin the trip, with a combination of wonderful things to do and great people we have met along the way. If the rest of the trip is as nice, who knows, maybe we will stay away longer.


All our best to everyone.