Welcome to Shannon, Ireland!

Second stop for our September trip was Ireland! Let me explain myself. Okay, so about a half a year ago, Danny and I got travel vouchers on our way home from
Chicago because of our flight mess-up. So we used our flight vouchers
to get us to New York...so that is how we ended up there. We figured it
would help us to cut up the jet-lag.(And we wanted to see it!) And then
we were looking for a cheap way to just get us to Europe. And New York
was having a seat sale to Shannon, Ireland, a small airport town. So we
booked tickets there, and that's my story. Ireland wasn't exactly in
our plans this time around so we took our time there to recover from
the time change. And let's be honest. New York didn't help AT ALL. By
the time we got to Ireland I was so tired, I was a zombie-woman! We
both slept until 4:30 pm. And this pic below is us after showering and
waking up. THANKFULLY the hotel let us check in at 8am. Crazy! So we
slept all day. We stayed at theBunratty Shannon Shamrock Hotel. First
warning: anything with the word "ratty" in it should be avoided at all
times. But we somehow missed that warning. And stayed there. Let's just
say, the decor was probably from the 60's, and I'm pretty sure the
mattress wasn't actually a mattress, but rather a fat piece of
cardboard.


Once we woke up, we went exploring! This town is SO little, I can't even tell you. I think it had about 3 restaurants, and 6 shops. MAYBE. It was super cute though, and very green. Especially since it rained when we arrived. Everyone is SO Irish
there...it was actually funny. Their accents were so thick sometimes I
actually couldn't understand them. And they sound SO incredibly Irish
you think they're joking. I often felt like saying "Dude, are you being
serious right now with that accent?!"


We had one full day in Ireland the next day. We walked around and looked at the castle. And ate at Durty Nelly's. YUCK. I'm sorry but the Irish do not know how to cook. (very broad generalization I know. I apologize.)


The only thing Durty Nelly's has going for it was this sign that I liked.




Seeing as we are literally unable to escape the fact that we are big goofs, if we're really honest with ourselves...we went into this cute, funky shop that sold tons of toys and books, and girly things...and we tired on their shower caps. Don't ask me why.


And we went for a nice walk. To the cemetery. You
get kind of desperate when there is nothing else to do... :) I'm
kidding. We were just passing by, and it looked really neat. We
eventually made our way to a cool coffee shop above a store. Had a nice
long chat, and then headed back to our hotel.



Our hotel had this sun room that we used to read and
journal. It was cozy. I am pretty sure reading is Danny's favorite
thing in the entire world. He could win an award for loving books more
than anyone else. I'm sure of it. I think he counted and he owns over
500 or 600 books. Like, who does that at age 27?


So that's Ireland in a nutshell. Stay tuned for London.
p.s. Hawaii is going great! We have been soaking up the sun and loving every minute of it. What a true blessing. I feel grateful. We are home at the end of the week!

NEW YORK NEW YORK... the first bit of our September trip

Hey folks! Somehow my post that I saved got deleted. So here is a little diddy I'm throwing together for your enjoyment. With some pictures smacked together. We are in Hawaii right now, LOVIN IT....thus there is little to no time to write on this thing. BUT I have not posted for so long I feel like I am getting behind! So the focus of THIS post is NEW YORK! We were there for a few days at the beginning of our trip and then again at the end for one day. So here are SOME pics.

1. The first 2 are at the top of the Rockafellar Centre. Is is STUNNING up there! You can see forever.
2.This is a picture of me sleeping on the airport floor. Yeah. What can I say. Best sleep of my life. NOT.
3. Next 2 pics. Times square. Such high energy. People EVERYWHERE. Street vendors, shopping, madness until late in the night. It was very neat to experience.
4. Next 4 photos are at the Mary Poppins Broadway!!!! You know it. It made me feel like I was a little kid again. I actually spent a lot of time sitting on the edge of my seat.
5.Grand Central Station. It's hard to photograph the beauty/coolness of this place. But it was actually quite unique inside. HUGE. And pretty artchitecture with paintings on the ceiling.
6. Central Park! I will have to post more pics of this later. But words cannot express how HUGE this park is. Honestly, this park is probably 15 times larger than I expected. It is blocks and blocks of land. Fields, and roads, and a zoo, concerts, a free CHECKERS hangout place. We played a game. I kicked butt. Hence the look on Danny's defeated face. Central Park is extremely green and so incredibly beautiful to walk through.
7. We were on the David Letterman show! The main guest was Hilary Clinton, which actually ended up being really interesting. I mean if Kate Hudson or Brad Pitt had been on I would have been a little more excited. But I can be into politics too. Who knew?!