When 5am rolled around, Joe woke up and I went off to find out more about the bus. I found which bus we would be getting on, but the driver wasn’t there, as expected. We knew it would leave shortly after 6, so we decided to head out the bus around 5:30. It seems like the second we got out to the bus, it started raining a little more than the sprinkles that had been coming down. At around 5:50, the bus driver opened the door to the bus. I guess he had been sleeping in the back for a little bit or something. Joe went on, paid the driver for his ticket, then I went on, handed the driver money… and he handed it back and said I was okay. I just figured maybe Joe had paid for my ticket or something… so I went and sat down and said “I didn’t know you were going to pay for my ticket.” and he said “I didn’t.” … So I guess I got to ride for free. Maybe the bus driver was scared of me, maybe he was jealous of my beard… or maybe he just knew how awesome I was. We rolled through Ireland quite smoothly for a bus. The ride for me was a matter of getting about 10 minutes of sleep and waking up when the bus was rocking from the roundabouts, taking note of where we were and going back to sleep if it wasn’t where we were supposed to stop. Eventually I knew we were getting close so I just stayed awake, and sure enough, within 15 minutes I saw the sign for Oranmore. The bus stopped just outside a small shopping center, (small by our standards, at least) and Joe and I stopped off inside and called the number we got from Mom before we left. I was really nervous because I had never heard Laim or Diedre’s voice and they had never heard mine… were we in the right place? I’d hoped we hadn’t gotten off too early or too late. I don’t think I could pull off another free bus ride if we were in the wrong place. We were kinda confused at first because we had a like… 13 digit phone number, and in the end we only had to dial the last 6 digits. That was sorta weird, but we got through, and Deirdre said she would pick us up in about 20 minutes.

Soon thereafter, we got to Liam and Dierdre’s house. Deidre had to go to a meeting in Gallaway for a little bit, so we just chilled out at their place for a little while. We both got showers since we hadn’t done so since we left Dublin for Scotland, and we warmed up by the fire they had burning. We loved the smell. They actually burn small “bricks” of the compacted materials in their bogs. Since the bogs contain no oxygen, whatever falls in and sinks doesn’t really decompose. The smell that these burning bricks of bog give off is a real earthly sort of incense. Joe and I actually ended up ordering some when we got back to the States. Around 5:30 or so, Liam got home and he started to prepare dinner while Mom, Dad, and myself talked with him about all sorts of things. Shortly after that, Eoghan (pronounced like “Owen”) came home. He stays at school during the week, but comes home most weekends because his girlfriend lives in town still. I started dozing off a bit because I was up so late, but at some point Deidre got home, and Phillip arrived with his girlfriend Mary Rose. We weren’t going to get to meet their other two children, Niamh (who lives in Dublin) and Dairmaid (Who lives in Boston).
In a very short time we were sitting down for dinner, which was very, very, good. The conversation was very lively, entertaining, and made me feel all around very welcome. Eoghan left shortly after dinner, which I can’t say I blame him for, because we had really never met him and he didn’t know us, and he was probably itching to see his girlfriend. After dinner, we took some pictures to mark the occasion, and then Phillip took us out to one of the local pubs. Mary Rose dropped us off, and we stayed for about 3 hours and had what else, but about 5 pints of Guinness. We stopped off at a “Supermac’s” (the Irish equivlent of McDonald’s, even though McDonald’s is over there) and had a quick bite before calling a hackney, which is a sort of non-official taxi service. He dropped us off at the McGregor’s place and we chatted for a brief moment with Phillip, and then Phillip left to go back to his house.

I woke up just a few minutes before Dad came in to wake me up. We had a simple but delicious breakfast of Scones (which is similar to a buttermilk biscuit). Deirdre told me that the best way to “enjoy a proper scone” was with butter, Jam AND fresh cream… I was hesitant thinking it would be too much, but it was absolutely delicious, and I can imagine myself keeping some handy now and then, although I have yet to do so. She suggested we visit the “Aran Islands” (or at least the largest of the islands) for our final day. So we hung around until about 10am, and then left for Gallaway to catch a bus and Ferry out to the island. The bus ride to the ferry was long. I was expecting a 20 minute drive at worst, but it ended up being almost 45 minutes. I’m kinda glad we took the bus, because the roads sucked, and I could imagine us getting lost or run off the road quite easily. The ferry ride was also pretty boring. It took about 40 minutes, too. I used some of that time to download the pictures from my camera to my laptop and clear off space for the hundred or so pictures I took at the Islands and to keep my mind off the possibility of getting seasick.

The Largest Island was incredible to see. The entire island is covered in rocks, and in order to build, farm, and do the things they need to do, the people living on the island used all the rocks to build walls. The guide we had on the island said that there are about 7000 miles of walls built, and I have every reason to believe him. The feel of the island is quite primitive. There isn’t much besides, roads, small houses mostly between 30 and 50 years old, and like I said, lots of rock walls, sectioning off the island in about 1000 square foot sections, some smaller, some bigger. We stopped to get something to drink after getting off of the ferry, and picked up a tour guide as soon as we walked out. About a dozen of the locals have vans parked outside of the ferry dock waiting to take people on tours of the island. It’s so peaceful and beautiful on the island that it made it a great place to spend the day. Unfortunately, we had a scheduled ferry ride off the island, so around 5 o’clock we made our way back to the docks to depart. The bus ride back took even longer, partially because the driver was about 45 minutes late, and partially because the idiot kept stopping along the way to talk to people and make unscheduled stops.

The final stop for the bus was right next to the garage where the car was parked in Gallaway, so we hopped off and went on our way closer to Shannon, which would be our last stop on the trip. The drive from Gallway to Shannon wasn’t so fun. It took quite a bit longer than we expected, and unfortunately we ended up bickering a lot. We were told to give a bar called “Dirty Nellie’s” a try, but by the time we got there nobody wanted anymore than a quick drink because we were all sort of pissed at each other. I have to admit, I’m finishing up typing this nearly 4 months after the trip because I put it off for so long, but I can’t even remember if there WAS a reason we were all crabby. We left Dirty Nellie’s, and once again, since there are no real names to the streets in Ireland, it took us another hour or so to find the Bed and Breakfast we had reserved for the night. I think we got there around 11pm, we got some showers and cleaned ourselves up so we didn’t look like hell when we got home, and spent an hour or two packing all of our goodies in our suitcases and such, since we really couldn’t take them on the plane in the gift bags. I was out like a light as soon as I climbed in to bed, and in only a few hours I was woken up to get ready to leave.