Exhaustion is not man's best friend

Well we did arrive in Dublin eventually. Four days late and completely exhausted, my parents and I wandered around the Big Smoke for three days in a daze. I can honestly say that the few things I actually was able to see and do in that time I remember next to nothing of. And thus my noble plans of visiting Dublin crashed and burned not unlike Seattle in 1889.

Thus, the first week of our trip consisted solely of four days of traveling to Dublin and 3 days of walking like zombies around Dublin standing in touristy lines. Oh good fun! I think it may have been a better plan if we had just made up our mind to sleep for the first day and a half to catch up on our four days lacking sleep and be up-to-date with the time zone. Unfortunately, in our sleep deprived state, we did not realize the extent to which we were actually sleep deprived and, consequently, were not thinking of functioning at our prime.

The trip got a little better when we decided to give up on seeing everything in Dublin and start heading South. We went to County Wicklow. First on the list of things to see was Greystones and the house my dad was born in. It was amazing to wander around the city and, although my dad doesn't remember living there (he was only 4 when he left), it was fun to imagine him running up and down the street wreaking havoc with his brothers and sister. Greystones is a small beachside community, which is remarkably similar to the town I grew up in. Although Dad doesn't remember living there, I think his subconscious must have influenced his decision to move to our current home. Then we went to Powerscourt Estate, which my dad was under the mistaken impression was the estate his father grew up on and at which his paternal grandfather worked. Half a day of imagining my little grandfather running around with the cocker spaniel named Jack that we saw at the pet cemetery was for not when a visit with our Irish relatives informed us that the estate we were thinking of was Kilruddery. Unfortunately, we did not have time to visit that estate, but there's just one more incentive for me to return!

Then we visited Glendaloch, which is an old monastic site and beautiful park grounds. Glendaloch was started by a hermit named St. Kevin, who loved nature and sleeping in caves. People thought his life was just fantastic and started moving there to join them, not realizing the irony in their actions.

Now, I was originally planning on departing from my parents at this point to start cycling on my own, but I was so far behind in my plans at this point that I decided to stay with my parents in an attempt to play catch-up with the car. We drove down the coast stopping at Wexford and staying at a really nice little farm hostel of the beaten track in New Ross. The couple that ran it was incredibly sweet and, surprise surprise, had lived in Vancouver for a good portion of their lives. The next morning we traveled South to the JFK Arboretum (beautiful grounds) and took a ferry across to Waterford to see the Waterford Crystal Factory, which is really not much more than a glorified shop, albeit a beautiful one. We stayed that night in Cashel (one of our more productive days driving-wise) and went to see the Rock of Cashel the next morning. The Rock was one of the things I wanted to see, but was going to cut out if I didn't have much time left. I'm so glad I didn't cut it! It was the most Irish-y and amazing things I'd seen up until that point. Amazing! I'd say to look up pictures, but it wouldn't do it justice.

The next day we drove down to Cork and wandered around town before booking into a hotel for the night and a much needed sleep. After leaving the next morning Cork (and spending a couple hours looking for a spare tube for my bike tire), we stopped in Blarney and kissed the Blarney Stone (yes, I realize the locals pee on it, but pee is sterile, right?), before setting my bike up. All of this took so long that my parents ended up driving me to the little town of Dripsey to stay at a B&B for the night.

Now you're all caught up and so am I :-)