The end of our trip...

On Tuesday morning, we woke up to another beautiful, sunny day in Northern Ireland. Regretfully, we knew we would have to head back toward Dublin and leave our relaxing time at the coast. After another big Irish breakfast, we actually got to chat with the owner of the B&B at the Seaview Tavern. He is actually a dual Irish and American citizen and lived in both paces prior to eventually staying in Ireland to take care of his aging parents. He told us stories about the area and other sights to see. He probably spent about an hour talking with us. The people are certainly one of the things we loved about Northern Ireland.

Here is a better picture of where we stayed... the Seaview Tavern.

And here is a picture the other direction! Ahh... look at this beautiful area. We decided that we could have stayed here longer and just enjoyed the slower pace and beautiful scenery.

We stopped at a beach on our way down the Peninsula.

As we drove 3.5 hours back toward Dublin, we lost our sunshine. But at the same time, it was probably a good transition as we began to feel more and more ready to hop on a plane and go home. We were quite tired and just wanted to get a good night's rest before our lengthy flight home the next day.

In our efforts to avoid Dublin, we booked a night's stay at a small hotel on harbor, about a half an our drive from the Dublin airport. Skerries looks like it is a little harbor town on the Irish Sea (east coast of Ireland) and by the time we got there, most of the shops were closed. So, we just walked on the small beach and collected shells and beach glass.

Here is a view from our window. When the tide goes out, like above, all the boats are left stranded on the sand. In the morning, we saw a guy headed out to his small boat in the harbor in an even smaller boat! It was fun to just watch the happenings in the harbor.

So, finally, the last day of the trip, we remembered to get a picture of the Irish breakfast. At every B&B and hotel, they are proud to serve their guests an Irish breakfast. So, this is basically very big, heavy breakfast. They usually start with cereal, tea/coffee, and juice. Then the above plate comes out with bacon (the ham like stuff), white pudding/black pudding (white and blood sausage), eggs, cooked tomato and sautéed mushrooms and a sausage. Oh and lots of toast. There were many days that we ended up just eating breakfast, a snack and dinner because of how huge the breakfast was!

Here I am at breakfast before we went to the airport. Note the harbor behind me.

So, we made it to the airport to find that our flight was delayed. Apparently, they had to switch out planes due to some mechanical problems. So, instead of leaving at 11am, we left at 1pm. Luckily, our layover in Philadelphia was 4 hours so we had plenty of time to get on that flight as well. The funny thing is that at every security check, Chet got his bag checked! We had gotten a cheap 10 euro bag in Dublin and security must have thought it looked suspicious (or something). It was kind of funny!

We made it home on time and it feels good to be back in our house. The last couple days, we have been dealing with preparing our insurance claims and getting settled back into a normal sleep pattern.

One of the most amazing things was Chet's hair! This is probably the longest it has been since I have known him! He was so ready to cut his hair... it was one of the first things he did in the morning after we got home!

Despite the speed bumps and challenges of the trip, we did enjoy traveling together and seeing so many new things! It was definitely a growing experience to face the challenges together and to share in these memories. We will have stories and memories we will remember forever!