Ireland, Day Two: Bunratty Castle, The Cliffs of Moher, Lahinch



On Day Two, we headed up the East coast for our main stop at the Cliffs of Moher!  We broke up the 3hr drive by stopping at the Bunratty Castle.  We probably wouldn't recommend this stop unless you stayed for the medieval dinner show (which we didn't do).  It was an old town castle town preserved with the blacksmith, baker, chapel and such in a folk park (I was kind of picturing Colonial Williamsburg, but it was just the buildings and no actors).  But the castle was well preserved and the girls got in lots of walking after sitting in the car!   

Speaking of the car, I was a big chicken and did not drive on the "wrong" side of the road!  Not to mention that the car was a stick-shift!!!  The shifting alone (using your left hand!!!) would have thrown me off!!!!!!  My brain cannot re-wire itself like that!!!!  It was stressful at times considering we didn't know where we were going and had three noisy kids in the back (talk about a lesson in patience, but Leevi did GREAT and I tried my best at being his co-pilot!!!!  The picture on the left below is a two way road!!!!!!!!!!! 

 The grounds at the Bunratty Castle

 Inside the Bunratty Castle

 Gorgeous rolling hills and farmlands!  I'm a sucker for old ruins!!!

 The Cliffs of Moher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Breathtaking to say the least!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 We were soooooo glad that it was a nice day!!!!!!!!!!

 It was bright and sunny but VERY brisk!!!!

After leaving the Cliffs of Moher, we were looking for a beach where the girls could dig in the sand...we stumbled upon the coastline town of Lahinch and it was perfect!!!!  We had dinner, ran from waves, and played at a park until sunset!  The coast only had a rocky shore, but we found a boat ramp that was perfect to chase the waves on!

A guiness and ice cream...what more do you need?  Notice the "perfect pour" on the Guiness that left a shamrock shape!

Who would have thought that Luke's first time to the beach would be in Ireland??!!!

Running from the freezing water!  They both misjudged a wave once!!!

The absolute perfect end to our day...Kai and Luke had napped on the drive from Bunratty to the cliffs, so we were able to hang around until sunset at 8:15.

Panoramic iPhone pic!

Even after seeing a hundred sunsets in Hawaii, they still never get old!