I didn’t do any posts while we were in Connecticut. Bad me.
One of the places my daughter in law and I went was to Costco. Now, this is not a big deal in the Pacific Northwest – we had a Costco 5 minutes from the house. And there aren’t many areas in our general vicinity that were more than 15 minutes from a Costco. It was an hour drive to the nearest Costco from Groton. An hour! Not because there was traffic, but because it was that far away. How do these people survive? And then the parking lot…it was adorable. It was a mini Costco parking lot.
We had a wonderful time with our daughter in law and grandson. We didn’t get to spend nearly enough time with our oldest son though. Uncle Sam required his presence far more than we appreciated. We went to the zoo, explored Mystic Seaport, walked around Mystic itself (Sift (a newer bakery/cafe in town) – you stole my heart!) and just generally enjoyed our time there. My mom flew to Connecticut for the last couple of days that we were there. It was very strange leaving her behind. She heads to Germany today.
While we loved our time in Connecticut, it is now time for the new adventure to begin! I didn’t intend to start it by losing my passport while in the hotel in Boston. Okay, I didn’t lose it, I just couldn’t figure out where I had put it. After begging for some assistance from St Anthony it suddenly popped into my brain where I had stashed it. Not a good few moments there.
Let me start with the negative and get that out of the way…I now understand people who are driven to violence over seat backs being reclined all the way back. You see, we are spoiled, Alaska Airlines (always our choice if available) has a special seat design. You don’t get a seat back reclined to the point where it is 6 inches from your face. This lovely 757 – seriously didn’t realize these were still flying – has a terrible seat design. Yes, I do have long legs, but when that woman in front of me put her seat all the way back I could not even sit forward in my seat, I had to turn. It was hand’s down the most uncomfortable plane ride I have ever had. Done whining.
Now we are in Newcastle West, Co. Limerick, Republic of Ireland!!! As I sit here typing I am looking out the window at the partial remains of the Earl of Desmond’s castle from the 15th century.
We are very fortunate to be staying at a flat owned by a couple from Salem, OR so we have bonded over our northwesterness. Rick and Joanne happen to be here working on their other properties, so we have some time with them. Rick seems to know everyone in town! The bonus to that is that he took us onto private land that happens to have the remains of a Knights Templar stronghold from the 11th century!! Oh yeah, the history nut in me geeked out. This wasn’t some fixed up castle, this was incredible! We were able to climb around – carefully.
We are at the end of our first day in Ireland and it is wonderful indeed. Now to try to shake the exhaustion. We arrived at 6:00AM and have pushed through but brain fog is setting in.