Forty-Four Years and Counting!

 Time certainly does fly by!  It's hard for us to believe, but today is our 44th wedding anniversary.  The best part of that fact is that we still love and truly like each other... 

I was living in the St. Louis Missouri area.  Debbie, my former Administrative Assistant, with a retail company long departed, fixed Laurie and I up on a blind date.  The two gals were residents in the same apartment complex...and after Debbie applied enough pressure and  assured Laurie that I was harmless, Laurie agreed to go out with me.  That blind date took place exactly 45 years ago today...and despite me being an 'old guy', we hit it off right away.  This photo was taken on Valentine's Day in 1979...

I'd proposed to Laurie while 'we' were doing laundry in her apartment complex's laundry facilities.  I am such a romantic aren't I?!  In any case, she accepted and exactly one year after our blind date, we tied the knot.

Like most couples that have been married for a long time, we've had our share of ups and downs...but a lot more ups than downs!  In 1981, we moved to Chicago, then to Attleboro Massachusetts, then back to Chicago, all necessitated by my career.  I worked for 5 different companies over the ensuing 30 + years before we retired in 2009.  Along the way, we had some great vacations.  Notably, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, some amazing fishing trips to northern Ontario, and road trips in Scotland, Australia and New Zealand.  We've explored or at least touched on all 50 states in the USA.

Since we've retired and moved to Eastern Tennessee...with its forests, lakes, rivers, rocks and mountains...life has continued to treat us well.  Road trips are our favorite activity for sure and we continue to explore the USA.  Of course, our most frequent destinations are St. Louis to visit Laurie's sisters and other family members and then Omaha to visit our son and his family.  

We have ventured overseas again as well... The photo above was taken along Loch Leven in Ballachulish Scotland.  On this occasion we were accompanied by Laurie's sister Bonnie and Bonnie's husband, Bill.  The trip had begun with a visit to the sister's family who live in Scotland...  

From Scotland we flew over to Ireland... This happy couple was enjoying the great weather and the fabulous little town of Kinsale on the southern coast of Ireland. (It's referred to as the Irish Riviera) Another great trip enjoyed by all...and we all have Irish ancestral roots too.

Like the rest of the world, we had to navigate and survive that notorious plague that limited movement for the last couple of years...Covid-19.  It really slowed us down, robbing us of a few great road trips.  The good news is that when we caught it ourselves, we were super vaccinated and didn't suffer any serious issues.  I still think that we looked stylish in our lovely masks.  We were glad to put them away!

...and time marches on!  We're ready for whatever adventures life brings our way.  This pair of lovers is looking forward to our 50th anniversary and beyond.  In the meantime, we're ready to hit the road, visit friends and family and explore the back roads of America. 

It's been a great trip so far!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, David and Laurie

To Dublin for the Trip Home

It wasn’t a long drive to Dublin even though we took the back roads.  Keep in mind that the entire island of Ireland is about the size of Indiana and the Republic of Ireland is just slightly larger than West Virginia.  In any case as we headed south from the town of Roscommon we started thinking about stopping along the way for a break and a bit to eat.

Then we spotted this big yellow hotel, restaurant and bar along N61 just south of town.  What happened to the “H” on the sign over the door?  We noted that this 30 room hotel and restaurant was very busy…obviously a popular place. 

We were lucky to get a table.  The bar and restaurant area at Hannon’s was packed!  We also noted a large wedding party forming up in the lobby area.

For once, we didn’t drink any beer!  It was all about coffee, lattes and hot chocolate… Coffee (2.30E/$2.75 US); Latte (2.50E/$3.00 US); Hot Chocolate (2.95E/$3.55 US)

We stuck to appetizers and ‘light’ dining items from Hannon’s menu.  This was the fried calamari with little salad on the side. (6.95E/$8.35 US) It was very tasty indeed…

Another option on our table was this nice offering of spicy Chili Prawns, once again accompanied by a bit of salad. (7.95E/$9.55)

Not everyone wanted protein and lite went out the window after we looked at the dessert menu!  This slice of Gluten Free Carrot Cake was well received. (5.95E/$7.15 US)

Another sweet to grace our table was this nice slice of Lemon Tart. (5.95E/$7.15 US)

This is one of my favorite sweet treats.  This was Hannon’s satisfying version of Apple Crumble! (5.95E/$7.15 US)

Hannon’s was a nice stop for us along the way and the food was pretty good too.  FYI…Hannon’s Hotel, Bar and Restaurant can be found on the Internet at http://www.hannonshotel.com/.

Then we were off down the road headed southeast toward Dublin…

This is something that you don’t see every day..at least in the USA.  We found ourselves following this handsome old-time horse drawn hearse for a bit.  We managed to capture this photo as we passed this old time final conveyance.

 

Apparently this is one of the services offered through RIP.ie, whose catch phrase is “End of Life Matters”.  Horse drawn hearses must be fairly common in Ireland.  Check out the numerous photos (current and past) at https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=horse+drawn+hearse+roscommon+ireland&qpvt=Horse+drawn+hearse+Roscommon+Ireland&FORM=IGRE.  Only a portion of these photos are of hearses. 

Moving south along N61, I suddenly stopped and did a U-turn!  I was sure that this home had once been a railroad depot… It had all the architectural ‘earmarks’ and it was adjacent to railroad tracks so I had to take a closer look.

This is a view of the track headed north toward Roscommon.  It turned out that this building was the old Knockcroghery Railroad Depot.  It was built back in 1860 on the Mayo Branch of the Midlands and Great Western Railroad.  The last rail service to any Midlands and Great Western Railroad depot was in 1985.

Notes: 

·         In the 1600s, a siege was laid to a nearby castle.  The O’Kelly chief and clan resisted and for their defiance they were taken to “Creggan” (a nearby stony hill) and hanged.  To mark this event, the name of the village was changed to ‘Cnoc na Crocaire’, the Hill of the Hangings.  It’s been Anglicized to read Knockcroghery. 

·         This little village has seen some history!  In the early hours of a June morning in 1921, the Black and Tans set the village on fire.  It was an act of vengeance for the killing of a British general 2 days earlier.  British intelligence agents mistakenly believed that the killers had come from Knockcroghery.

·         FYI…the Black and Tans were a force of Temporary Constables recruited to assist the Royal Irish Constabulary during the Irish War of Independence.  This force, which was infamous for its attacks on civilians and their property, was the brainchild of Winston Churchill.

As we approached the Dublin metropolitan area, the storm clouds built up and it was really a downpour for quite a while.

From all nasty things, some positives often appear.  Laurie captured a photo of this double rainbow as we neared our hotel and Dublin’s International Airport. 

This is a look at our hotel’s bar and restaurant.

 

I’d booked our rooms in the Dublin Airport Hilton Hotel.  It was close to the airport, I could drop off our rental car the night before and there was shuttle service available for our flight the next morning. (I also picked up points for a future stay at a Hilton property)  

We did indulge in a couple of pints, plus we really enjoyed this big bread board with with olives, fennel infused Irish rapeseed oil, hummus, almond and tomato dip and whipped butter. (7.00E/$8.40 US) I’m hungry just looking at it again! 

One entrée on our table was the Manor Farm Corn-fed 1/2 Chicken, roast carrots, leeks and chicken jus. (18.00E/$21.60 US)

Of course we had to have Fish and Chips one more time!  These were Howth Beer Battered Fish and Chips with mint peas and tartar sauce. (17.00E/$20.40 US)

This luscious looking snack appears to be beef short ribs but I couldn’t identify it from the current menu.  I do know that although this wasn’t the best meal that we had in Ireland, it was very satisfying and well presented.

FYI…Our rooms at the Dublin Airport Hilton were nice but fairly standard.  The cost per room was about 160.60 including a 10% VAT tax. ($192.70 US) This hotel’s website can be found at http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/ireland/hilton-dublin-airport-DUBAPHI/index.html.

  

…and the next morning it was a short van ride to the Dublin International Airport.  In 2017, this airport served 29,500,000 passengers, its busiest year on record.  I was a bit surprised to discover that it was ‘only’ the 14^th busiest airport in Europe! 

As you might expect, the airport was busy with early morning departures.  Really, don’t most airports look the same in the passenger areas?

Five of the top 10 passenger destinations from Dublin are in England.  Scotland is #9 on the list and New York City is #8.

…and here was our view of our cabin from our seats on our American Airlines flight back to the USA.

From what I could determine, 5 airlines have direct flights to and from Dublin from the USA.  They are American, United, Delta, Aer Lingus and Ethiopian Airlines.  FYI…the latter airline serves Los Angeles. 

Laurie took this photo of the Irish countryside as we flew west toward our destination in Philadelphia.  From Philadelphia, we took another plane directly to Knoxville.

...and I really liked this photo of the wing with the countryside in the distance.  So long Ireland!

Year around, only New York JFK, Newark, Philadelphia and Los Angles have direct service to Dublin.  I would have thought that Boston and Chicago O’Hare, with their significant Irish immigrant populations, would be on the year around list…but they’re only seasonal destinations.

Well…that’s it for our Scotland and Ireland adventures.  We had a great trip and I hope that you enjoyed my lengthy series of posts about our trip!

Thanks for stopping by and following along…

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

John J. Burke and Sons Restaurant - Clonbur, County Galway

After returning from our wet and soggy tour of the Connemara Peninsula, we returned to our bed and breakfast at Ryan’s River Lodge in the village of Cong.  Unfortunately, Laurie was not feeling well on this…our last evening before heading to Dublin and the airport.

Many thanks again to our hosts Martha and David, especially for that assistance rendered due to Laurie’s short but challenging bout of illness.  For more information on Ryan’s River Lodge and their related guided hunting and fishing adventures, you can go to http://www.ryansriverlodge.com/welcome.html.

In any case, when dinner time came along, Laurie was unable to join Bonnie, Bill and me for one more dining adventure.  She was perfectly happy to bundle up in our room and take a nap!

Based on our desire to eat somewhere nearby but outside of Cong, we followed our host’s recommendation and drove to the nearby village of Clonbur in County Galway, about 10 minutes from our bed and breakfast.  John J. Burke and Sons was our dining destination.

While you couldn’t tell from the outside, the inside of Burkes was beyond spacious!  The dining areas were multifaceted…with different looks in different parts of the restaurant.  It was all very warm and comfortable with plenty of objects of interest scattered throughout.

FYI… Clonbur contains the ruins of Petersburgh Estate, seat of the Lynch family.  One member of that family, Thomas Lynch, was a signer of the American Declaration of Independence from South Carolina.  Like a good deal of the surrounding area around Clonbur and Cong, at one time or another, this estate became part of the Guinness family’s properties.  

It was a weekday…it was rainy…and it was the very end of September.  Burkes was very quiet.  Other than one other table and these 2 gentlemen at a small segment of the bar, we had the place to ourselves. 

The building that houses John J. Burkes and Sons is the Ti Bhurca or Mount Gable House.  The premises were built by John A. Joyce, grand-uncle of Charlotte Burke.  It changed hands a couple of times but then it was sold to John J. Burke (aka. ‘Old J.J’) in 1922 while he was home from Chicago Illinois on an extended holiday.  He’d been visiting his daughter when he passed through Clonbur and saw the Mount Gable Hotel up for sale.

This room at the front of the restaurant holds many pieces from the past that reflect the various roles that the building has served.  It appears to have been what is termed a General Store in the USA.  They sold a bit of hardware, groceries, beverages, household necessities…and it also served as the local post office. 

On to the food… Somehow we first consumed 5 pints of local craft beer.  (5.70E/$6.85 US each) Then Bill had a nice bowl of Seafood Chowder to start out his evening meal. (7.50E/$9.00 US)

I’d love to tell you more about the dining options at Burkes but they haven’t posted an on-line menu and I’d just assumed it would be there so I didn’t take a photo or two for blogging purposes…

I do have a cryptic receipt so I’m guessing that this is a Fried Mushrooms appetizer with a bit of salad. (6.95E/8.35 US) In any case, it was well received by Bonnie and Bill!

FYI…Burkes can seat around 140 patrons. From what I could determine, they are packed in season and reservations are needed.  They even have dining on an outside deck overlooking the countryside.  Also in season, this is an important local venue for traditional Irish music on the weekends. 

This was my dinner!  It was our last night in Ireland, (other than the final stay at the Dublin Hilton Airport Hotel), and it was my last chance to order something that I’d rarely find in the USA.  So I ordered the Leg of Lamb Dinner which came with vegetables, potatoes and lots of luscious lamb. (15.95E/$19.15 US) It was very good…as a matter of fact it was the best lamb I’d eaten during our trip!

For their dinners, Bonnie and Bill went for a pair of personal pizzas.  I’m fairly sure that Bonnie’s was the one in the first photo as she prefers ‘more basic’ pizzas and Bill likes his ‘loaded’!  One was called the ‘Amore Pizza’ and the other was the ‘Caprice Pizza’.  These were huge for personal pizzas but at 10.95E/$13.15 US each, the cost was more than reasonable.  They were judged to be very good…  A lot of pizza was left over but rather than letting it go to waste, we took it back to Ryan's River Lodge and gave it to our host's family.   

John J. Burke and Sons Restaurant (Burkes) was a great place for us to close out the local restaurant scene portion of our Irish adventure.  We’d recommend it to anyone traveling in this area of Ireland.  Check out their website at http://burkes-clonbur.com/.  FYI, a quick check of TripAdvisor reveals that Burkes received 97% excellent or very good ratings based on a total of 203 reviews!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

The last posting from Ireland is coming up next time.  Thanks for stopping by for the latest on our travel adventures!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Lunch in Clifden – County Galway Ireland

Given the crowds at Kylemore Abbey, we decided to continue on to Clifden and then find a place there to have lunch…

There were plenty of restaurants to choose from in the town.  Vaughan’s Pub, Bistro and Bed and Breakfast was one colorful option. (Dawn Marie…note the spelling) It turns out that Vaughan’s was also a decent culinary option too…the bistro’s ratings on TripAdvisor are 87% Excellent/Very Good!  Website: http://vaughanspub.ie/restaurant/.

Clifden, with a current population a bit over 2,000, is a ‘new town’ by Irish standards.  It was founded in the mid-1820s by John D’Arcy who had inherited Clifden Castle which is now a ruin.  At the time D’Arcy inherited the estate, the area was primarily inhabited by fishermen and farmers.  With D’Arcy’s lobbying, a quay was built as well as a road to Galway… Situated as it is at the tip of the beautiful Connemara Peninsula, the town is now a significant tourist town.

Not only had I researched dining options in Clifden, I’d also noted that Mitchell’s Restaurant was the food service provider at Kylemore Abbey.  As far as TripAdvisor’s reviews, Mitchell’s in Clifden was listed near the top of the 28 dining options available in town with 91% Excellent/Very Good out of about 1,300 reviews!

Even though it was the end of September and it was after the normal lunch hour, Mitchell’s was fairly busy.  For some reason…perhaps the brightly lit area on a gloomy day…this segment of the dining room was very popular.

…or was it those darn American tourists the other folks wanted to avoid!

  

Actually, we wanted to sit by the windows so we could watch the action outside.  We all started out with a bit of craft beer.  Under the watchful eyes of a pair of religious icons, I was careful to limit my consumption to a half pint so I’d be legal on the road. 

Bonnie and Bill shared a Connemara Seafood Platter for lunch. (25.95E/$31.10 US) This luscious platter of seafood included Dunloughan Crab, Cornamona Smoked Salmon, Fresh Salmon, Rosaveal Prawns, Killary Mussels and Oramore Oysters.  They were very, very happy with this feast!

I noted a couple of items on the menu that we hadn’t come across previously during our Irish adventure.  There was a Warm Potato Pancake with Crème Fraiche and Organic Smoked Salmon served with pickled red onion and chives. (12.50E/$15.00 US) The second item was Fish Cakes of Cod and Salmon served with mango, red pepper salsa and a cup of Seafood Chowder. (11.50E/$13.80 US)

…plus this beautiful bowl of brown bread and butter graced our table. 

I did glance at the dinner menu just to see if there were any items that seemed different than many that we’d already seen.  There was steak, Irish stew, salmon, hake, mussels, etc. as might be expected.  But another offering was Mitchell’s Fish Pie.  This consisted of fresh white fish fused with melted leeks and a light cream sauce then topped with a creamy house mash.  Not in the mood for seafood?  How about Baked Irish Chicken with blue cheese and garlic on a bed of tagliatelle?  Sounds good to me!

Laurie wasn’t feeling hungry…just didn’t feel great…so she ordered a simple but attractive Open Face Egg Salad Sandwich with a side of greens. (8.95E/$10.75)

Other open face sandwich options included: a Duo of Crab and Smoked Salmon on homemade soda bread; Connemara smoked salmon on some of that great homemade brown bread; Dunloughan White Crabmeat on brown soda bread and fresh salmon on soda bread.

Looking back at it, I wasn’t very imaginative when I ordered my lunch.  I had the Golden Fried Scampi of Cod with tossed salad leaves, nut crumble, garlic potatoes and tartar sauce. (14.95E/$17.95 US)

While my lunch was very nice, I’d had a lot of fried fish on this trip and I should have ordered something different.  A better option…just because it’s something one doesn’t find in East Tennessee…would have been the Connemara Lamb Shepherd’s Pie (11.95E/$14.35 US) The Connemara Smoked Salmon Plate with capers, horseradish and apple crème would have been another good choice. (14.50E/$17.40)

Mitchell’s Restaurant offers a comfortable dining environment, good service and a truly varied menu.  While they specialize in seafood, good options exist for those who are in the mood for something different.  To learn more, go to http://www.mitchellsrestaurantclifden.com/read-me/.

It was too bad that it was such a rainy and dreary day.  The center of Clifden is a colorful cheerful place and it would have really ‘popped’ in a burst of sunshine.  For those who like to eat, there are at least 25 restaurants in and around the town. 

For a variety of photos of Clifden and the immediate area you can go to https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=clifden+ireland&id=9BEA684003777518245DAF6E340A8394C23EA15C&FORM=IARRTH.

Unfortunately, given the rain and nasty weather, we didn’t try to visit such area attractions as Connemara National Park with its herd of Connemara ponies and other wildlife, (http://www.connemaranationalpark.ie/), or the Connemara Heritage Center where visitors can learn about what life was like here in the early days. (http://connemaraheritage.com/)

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for joining us for yet another meal in Ireland!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Kylemore Abbey

The rainy day did hamper our exploration of the Connemara peninsula.  It was overcast with wind driven rain off and on all day.  I’d wanted to explore Connemara National Park…but it was just too nasty outside.

So we focused on a tourist attraction that offered some shelter from the elements.  This is Kylemore Abbey as viewed from across Kylemore Lough/Lake.  As you can see, preservation work was underway on part of the abbey.  It was just wrapped up a couple of weeks before this posting.

  

Here’s a closer view of the part of the abbey that wasn’t undergoing preservation efforts.  

This is a massive structure, covering over 40,000 square feet.  The granite façade of the abbey extends for 142 feet.  Originally it contained 33 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a ballroom, billiard room, library, study, school room, smoking room and gun room plus various rooms and offices for staff.

This is the drawing room in the abbey.  You might ask, ‘What is a drawing room doing in an abbey?’

Kylemore wasn’t originally an abbey.  Kylemore Castle was originally built as a private home for a wealthy doctor, Mitchell Henry, from Manchester England.  His family gained its wealth from textile manufacturing.  He and his wife moved to Ireland and he served as a Member of Parliament for 14 years.  Construction of the castle began in 1867 and it took 100 workers and 4 years to complete.

To say that this is a popular tourist attraction would be an understatement.  The rainy day may have increased the number of visitors but this was a rare instance on our trip where there were actually lines to buy tickets…

Unfortunately, Mitchell Henry’s wife Margaret died in 1875 at the age of 45 after contracting a fever during a visit to Egypt.  After her death, he didn’t spend much time at his estate.  In 1909, the castle was sold to the Duke and Duchess of Manchester.  They lived here for several years before being forced to sell the property to cover gambling debts. 

This is the rather posh dining room in the abbey (castle).  While the couple of rooms that we saw were very well done, the limited number of rooms in this huge structure that visitors can view was a real negative for us…  

In 1920, the Irish Benedictine Nuns purchased the castle and it became an abbey.  They’d been based in Belgium for hundreds of years but they’d been bombed out of their old abbey during WWI.

The various residents of the castle/abbey over the years certainly had some great views from their home!

The nuns continued to offer education to Catholic girls, opening an international boarding school as well as establishing a day-school for local girls.  The school functioned for almost a century but it closed in June 2010.  A community of Benedictine nuns continues to live and work in the abbey and they’ve contributed to the preservation of the abbey and the grounds.

As I said, we were disappointed when it came to the limited ‘tour’ of the abbey’s interior.  Fortunately, the weather took a little breather and we were able to brave the wind and explore the grounds a little.  This pretty path along the Kylemore Lake leads to a church and a mausoleum. 

This neo-gothic church was built by Mitchell Henry in the style of a church that might have been built in the 1300s.  It was constructed between 1877 and 1891 as a memorial chapel for his wife. 

Unlike most Gothic churches, there are no gargoyles or similar stone creatures.  Instead, there are smiling angels, carved sandstone flowers and birds.  These stained glass windows depict the five graces: Fortitude, Faith, Charity, Hope and Chastity. 

Laurie took this photo and I really like it!  Everything was very green and lush around the abbey’s grounds.

In 1893, Mitchell Henry began generating his own electricity.  Lough/Lake Touther is located on top of the mountain overlooking the castle.  The water pressure from the stream off the mountain was harnessed to make electricity.  Based on the value of a pound sterling in those days, the reoccurring cost of hydro power was 10 pounds per year whereas gas would have cost 400 pounds.

Love the moss and ferns…beautiful, resilient and yet delicate!

Henry created the first model farm in western Ireland.  He also cultivated the largest Victorian Walled Garden in Ireland.  It featured 21 glass greenhouses heated by a network of water pipes.  The gardens are open for visitors but the weather took a turn for the worse before we could check it out…

This simple brick structure is the mausoleum where Margaret and Mitchell Henry were interred.   He died in London and his remains were brought back to the estate.

Here’s one more view of the church…with a view of the beautiful hill or mountain enhancing the scene.

FYI…Originally the estate included 15,000 acres.  Today the property has been reduced to 1,000 acres.

I had to include a picture of some flowers didn’t I?!

The most famous visitors at the castle were King Edward VII, his wife, Queen Alexandra and their daughter, Princess Victoria.  Alexandra was a princess from Denmark and her father was to become the King of Denmark.  The entourage arrived in Leenane in July of 1903 via the Royal Yacht.  A nine-car motorcade carried them through Connemara to the castle. 

It there was any doubt that Kylemore is a major tourist attraction, this photo as well as the next 2 should prove my point.  The store was bonkers with folks shopping and trying to stay dry!

Lines…lines…lines!  If you have the urge to shop and you don’t like long lines, the craft and design shop at Kylemore is online!  Check it out at https://www.kylemoreabbey.com/shop/.

Hungry?  Visitors can dine at the Kylemore Abbey Restaurant/Mitchell’s Café, the Express Coffee Shop and Tea House or if take-out is your preference, you can visit Henry’s Take-Out Café.  As you can see, the restaurant was very busy during our visit…with yet another line.  We opted to wait and eat at Mitchell’s Restaurant in Clifden.

While we weren’t overwhelmed by the sights at Kylemore Abbey, it’s fair to say that the weather didn’t help and if forced us to skip the Victorian Gardens.   In general, we don’t like crowds either…

Admission to Kylemore Abbey and its various attractions is 13E/$15.60 US for adults and 10E/$11.00 US for seniors.  Sometimes it pays to be a senior!  To learn more about Kylemore Abbey, you can go to the website at https://www.kylemoreabbey.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave