Mary L. Johnson

KimandMarysIrelandAdventure

Mary L. Johnson

As a child, I often dreamed of visiting Ireland and Scotland one day and even in the early days of our friendship (formed thanks to the Celtic Thunder Pub/Chat Room in 2008), Kim and I have often discussed taking the adventure of a lifetime to the Emerald Isle to sightsee and experience the culture and hospitality of the Irish people and especially their music. Kim visited Ireland with friends for the 1st time in 2010 and came home longing to return. The beautiful country had captured her heart in a HUGE way. We immediately commenced planning her return and my first ever trip to the picturesque country of Ireland. Our adventure would take place July 20 - August 15, 2011, and has been dubbed the "Adventure of a Lifetime!" Our flight reservations have been made, house, hotels and rental car. Tickets have been purchased for Glasgowbury Festival and Riverdance. We also are taking advantage of discount cards/passes such as the Dublin Pass, Heritage card and the Heritage Island Pass. The pages of the OSI Official Road Atlas of Ireland are already starting to show wear and tear as our itinerary is beginning to take shape for our 3 1/2 week stay in one of the most beautiful places in the entire world. Just under 73 more days to our flights depart Seattle and Washington, DC . . . so VERY excited to set foot for the very first time on Irish soil. I've been working 7 days a week since last July just to sock away the funds so that this dream trip can become a reality. I may have just turned 50 in March, but there's still alot of get up and go in this ole girl, but believe me I will definitely be needing some rest, relaxation and adventure come July! No stone will be left unturned and not a single inch of Ireland will be left undiscovered. I've already started the cumbersome task of gatherine and packing my gear! All I need now is for someone to fast-forward the calendar to July baby! Come along to Ireland with Kim and I via our travel blog as we share our amazing adventures and experiences with you later this Summer! I hope it inspires you to plan your own epical adventure too!



Europe August 28th 2011

August 14, 2011 Goodbye Derry, Hello Dublin for One Last Hoorah!! As promised, this is my final blog recounting mine and Kim's final day in Ireland! Up early although not as early as we had originally anticipated . . . WAY too much excitement last night and I know for a fact that I had a VERY difficult time getting to sleep and Kim stayed up later than I did finishing up her laundry so to say that we are EXHAUSTED would be an understatement. We loaded our stuff in the car, dropped off the keys at the B&B and headed out of town towards Belfast enroute to Dublin. We decided to take the major roads into Dublin and Kim was anticipating there would be traffic so she wanted to allow for additional commuting time. As ... read more

Europe August 24th 2011

August 13, 2011 Rewarded in Derry Up early this morning . . . invited for a full Irish breakfast at the B&B by Seamus . . . gotta love that guy! He’s been SO awesome to us during our stay at his house! We grabbed our laptops and walked the block to breakfast. We surfed the net while we waited for Paula to bring us our food. First up is a hot cuppa tea . . . . thank you Paula . . . you sure know how to make a rainy, drab morning much warmer! Yes, I said the R-word . . . been raining for the past couple of days, but today NOTHING is gonna get me down today . . . it’s Feile day baby! After breakfast, we headed back to the house ... read more

Europe August 13th 2011

August 12, 2011 Rain, Rain, Rain! Up early today as we were planning on heading out to the Antrim Coast to see the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge and then drive back down the coast to see the Carrickfergus Museum and Castle. It's a miserable morning outside and there is intermittent rain, but we decided to head down to Mason's Bar to get our tickets for the 1st Waltz performance at St. Columb's Hall before we headed out for a day of sightseeing. We discovered that Mason's wasn't open yet and Kim was concerned that we wouldn't make it back in time to get our tickets before the show as she really wanted to see it (and so did I AFTER a day on the Coast) so we decided not to head out to the Coast fearing that ... read more

Europe August 12th 2011

August 11, 2011 Mountains, Valley and Streams . . . OH MY GAWD! These two girls would never let a little rain, drizzle and cloudy skies stop us . . . we were up and at it not early but still not very late. We kinda piddled a bit getting ready but we headed out for our day of adventures well before lunchtime. We left Derry and headed out on the N13 towards Letterkenny. Just before Letterkenny we switched over to the N15 which took us back through Ballybofey (alot of towns in Ireland have the prefix of "Bally", "Money" or "Killy" and when I get time, I'm gonna search out the reasoning behind this . . . sorry I'm digressing LOL), the spectacular Barnesmore Gap and then right around Donegal Town we hopped over to ... read more

Europe August 11th 2011

August 9, 2011 Belfast and the Glorious Antrim Coast Our day started a bit late this morning due to being out late the night before! Needless to say we were moving at a much slower pace this morning than we had on prior days! After we got ready for our day we headed to the car and took off for Belfast. We took the A6 out of Derry and went basicallly the same route we take when we go to Draperstown; however, instead of taking the Sperrins scenic route we continued on through the Glenshane Pass, Tobermore, Castledawson, Randalstown, past the Lough Bey and the Lough Neagh and finally through Newtownabbey before arriving in Belfast. The traffic in Belfast kinda reminded me of what I see at home and getting to the parking areas was a ... read more

Europe August 9th 2011

August 7, 2011 Spectacular Beaches and Scenery in Northern Ireland Late start this morning! We were invited to have breakfast at the B&B this morning by Seamus, so we got ready and headed over for an Ulster Fry! We grabbed our laptops so we could check in on things at home before heading out for our day! Paula was so nice to fix us our breakfast even though it looked like she was on the verge of cleaning up. Next we headed back to the house the drop off our laptops before hopping in the car to head out towards the Antrim Coast. We originally thought we'd take the ferry ride over to Magilligan's Point from Greencastle but decided that it was so nice out that we'd just take the scenic drive through Coleraine instead! We ... read more

Europe August 6th 2011

August 6, 2011 Evil Craic in Dungannon & Draperstown This morning Kim and I were up early even though neither of us got very much sleep the night before! After a bit of breakfast we headed to the car for our drive to Dungannon and points beyond! Today was about returning a certain shall we say non-existent person to his "hometown" and the laughs and jokes along the way were just way too much fun for words! We decided to take the scenic route to Dungannon through the Sperrin Mountains which is actually considered a shortcut because if you take the main road the route is much longer! It took as close to an hour and a half to get to Dungannon from Derry and the day before it took us nearly 2 hours to get ... read more

Europe August 6th 2011

August 3, 2011 Catching up with Friends in Derry Late start this morning. Both Kim and I slept through our alarms but not really much on the agenda so all is good! We got ready and then headed out of the house and headed into the center of town to search for a bookstore so Kim could get the 3rd book in a series that she's been reading. I had seen a bookstore earlier on one of our many walks around the City, so we headed in the direction where I thought I remembered it being. Sure enough she not only found her book but got it at a bargain price . . . . can't beat that! We still had time before we had to meet friends for lunch so we walked through the Craft ... read more

Europe August 1st 2011

July 31, 2011 Intoxicating Beauty and Pain on the Antrim Coast Up early but took our time getting out of the house since The Old Bushmills didn't open until noon! We had some breakfast, checked our email and headed out the door towards the Antrim Coast. The drive was absolutely breathtaking . . . even more than our trail through the Sperrins earler in our trip. It's actually very difficult to describe this part of Ireland . . . it's just something you have to experience in order to have a true appreciation for its splendor and majesty. We made it through Coleraine without any difficulty and found the Old Bushmills Distillery, parked the car and walked into the main door to purchase our tickets for the tour. We didn't have long to wait before our ... read more

Europe July 31st 2011

July 30, 2011 Motorcycles, Cotton Candy and Beaches in Northern Ireland Up early again but slow to get moving out the door. We had originally planned to do an entire day at the Muff Festival but instead opted to first head over to the Wall to check out the Roaring Meg Motorcyle Rally after Kim called her friend Judy to see if she wanted to go with us to the festival and she mentioned the Roaring Meg rally and that she already had made plans to meet friends there. After the usual morning rituals, we headed to the rally. I had purchased a birthday card for my husband the day before and wanted to find a post office box to drop the card into. I managed to locate a box in the center of town and ... read more




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