Correction...Into the Wet

I always knew Ireland was a rainy country, but I never guessed it would rain this much during the summer time. Since my cousin Conor and I have been here, it has rained off and on everyday. Despite being perpentually wet, we're still having a blast lugging our bags around in the rain. We arrived in Shannon tues morning and caught our good friend, Bus Eireann, to a small town on the northern banks of the River Shannon called Kilrush. On the way to Kilrush, we had a three hour wait to switch buses in Ennis. Since we were fresh off the plane, we thought it would be no problem to spend some time sightseeing around Ennis. Well, we lasted for about an hour before we decided to head back to the bus station and just hang out. And it was just in time too, because soon after it started to rain again.
Kilrush was a lovely little town right on the river. The main street is lined with typical Irish houses stacked right up against eachother and in a variety of colors. While Conor slept, I wandered the streets gawking at the giant old churches and cute little stores. The lady that ran our hostel informed us the following day was the beginning of a traditional irish music festival. What better luck than to arrive in Ireland on the eve of a music festival. We made big plans to head out that night and hear some musicians who had come into town early. We thought it'd be a good idea to get some rest back at the hostel before heading out. Well, it was a bad idea actually. The next thing I knew, I woke up and it was 11pm and raining. We completely missed the festival because the next day we took the bus onward.
The original plan was to catch the morning bus to Kilkee and spend some time on the beach, exploring the natural rock pools, and then continue north to Lahinch. Well of course it was pouring down rain, so once we got to Kilkee we decided to take the next bus possible to Lahinch. Unfortunately after asking a local shop keeper what time that bus arrived, we were told that route no longer existed. But luckily enough, the next bus back to Kilrush and onto Ennis arrived in 30 minutes. For some reason, bus shelters are not the common in Ireland, so we huddled up against a pub with a group of other backpackers all waiting for the next bus. We finally arrived back in Ennis and decided to skip the whole sightseeing aspect since we didn't really last that long the previous day. After a couple hour wait, we caugth the bus to Lahinch.
Lahinch is a wonderful little town on the atlantic that has some good surfing. We're staying in a hostel right near the beach and downtown, which constists of two whole blocks! Today the weather actually cleared so Conor and I decided we would walk the beach to the scenic Cliffs of Moher. Well, the walk was a bit longer than expected. We had to detour around a river and then walk along the road, which is basically committing suicide. The roads here in Ireland are barely wide enough for two cars to pass eachother, let along enough room to swerve around pedestrians. The Irish musn't be too keen on sidewalks. So after walking a few minutes along the road, we wised up and decided to take some back roads that led inland. Well, three hours later we arrived in a little town that was basically right next to Lahinch. Not wanting to continue walking to the scenic Cliffs, we decided to turn around and head back. By some stroke of fortune, right as we're beginning to walk away, Bus Eireann pulls up at the unnoticed bus stop, heading for the Cliffs. We hop on the bus and make it to the Cliffs of Moher in about 5 minutes. It would have taken us another three hours if we walked. We spent a few hours walking along the cliffs with all the other tourists, snapping away on our cameras. Overall it turned out to be a wonderful day and once we got back to our hostel, we made a nice, delicious dinner of steak fajitas and now we're ready for tomorrows adventures!

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