Adventures with Buzz and Woody: Off to the Land of Shamrocks

Well, February 16th I met with two of my sisters, Laura and Tammy and Tammy's daughter Alaina at JFK to start our adventures to the Emerald Isle. Our flight didn't leave till 8:30 pm and we met up around 4:30. So what do you do at JFK while waiting for your flight. Try and find a place to eat, window shop and take a few photos of your niece with Woody and Buzz of course.

Soon it was time to board our plane. We bundled up for the night of sleeping in an upright position and we were excited for what the next day would bring. As the light crept in through the crack of the shade. We could see the wing of the plane and down not too far below, our destination for the week. IRELAND

We arrived safely in Shannon Ireland at the international airport.It's a lovely small airport. One of the easiest airports I've been through internationally. After signing away our life fortune for a car and the fuel to drive it with, we waited ever so patiently for the van to pick us up to "pick up" said vehicle that we would drive for the week. When I write "we" I must mean the royal we as it was deemed that I would have the honor of holding our lives in my small little nail bitten hands traversing the horse and cart roads of Ireland.

The tree outside of our villa

We traveled to the quaint little town of Adare where were would make our home for the week. Situated about 40 minutes from Shannon airport it's known as the most beautiful village in Ireland. It was quite pretty. The people were oh so nice and helpful. We stayed at the Adare Manor and Golf Club at the Villas http://www.adaremanor.com/

I think all of us would highly recommend this as a great place to stay. After checking in, we headed into town to grab a bite to eat at the Collins Bar and Pub. http://www.seancollinsbaradare.com/

This became "our" pub. We ate well and of course Buzz and Woody enjoyed themselves there too.

Woody felt Buzz needed a shower after the long flight.

After lunch we walked a bit in town.

Then we headed back to the "manor" and took a nap. After our "power" nap, we made our way back into town for Ash Wednesday services.

One of the many churches in Adare

It was rather interesting as it was in Gaelic, Latin and English. I have to say I didn't feel a bit odd walking into the pub with Ashes on my forehead as many other folks that came in to the pub had ashes on their foreheads too. What you would think of as a stereotypical night at the pub and that's what we experienced. A football match was on the telly, people coming in from church to have a pint, catch up with friends and family and then listen to some traditional Irish tunes. People were singing and an older gentleman was asking one of the little girls who was about 10 if she wanted to dance a jig for everyone. It was a great evening and a perfect start for our trip.