In 2017, my daughter and I were able to go on a trip to Ireland. It was special in many ways.
1 - My daughter turned 18 in the air on the flight to Ireland. Because at least then their legal drinking age was 18, I was able to buy my daughter her first legal drink... twice (I got to do it again here when she turned 21.)
2 - Due to moving back to Birmingham in the middle of my daughter's junior year in high school, we decided that home-schooling her would be better than changing schools for that amount of time. That meant she wouldn't graduate in the traditional sense - no walking across a stage, getting handed a diploma (or piece of paper as a place-holder for the diploma), and moving her tassel from one side to the other.
When I was blessed with the resources to do this trip, I planned to hold a surprise graduation in Londonderry, a city in Northern Ireland where we have distant relatives. We were able to have it on a rooftop in the middle of the city and I live-streamed it (badly) back home so that friends and family could be a part.
3 - We were huge Game of Thrones fans and, as anyone who watches Game of Thrones knows, a lot of it was filmed in Ireland. I opted to rent a car and travel a route that included most of the Irish Game of Throne filming sites.
(Note that this day was the same as the one for "Seven Rainbow Day." It was a banner day for great photos!)
It was day three of our trip - and the day that we rented a tiny, red car that would take us along the upper half of Ireland, along the perimeter, and then cut back through the middle of the country.
Though Dublin was nice, I was ready to get into the country. The traffic was very, um, interesting there. Big double-decker tour busses shared the road with bikers, who swerved in an out of the vehicles. I know we were only there two days but I was very surprised we never saw an accident.
It's also amazing that we didn't have one, as Ireland is a country where the driving is done on the left side of the road. My daughter's job was to remind me if I pulled out of a cross-street and started to get in the right lane. She would yell, "Left! Left!" By the time we left Ireland, I was getting the hang of it, but it was a big learning curve after driving about 45 years the other way.
We also had fun stopping at convenience stores as we drove to see local offerings. However, one shocking scene was the rest stop that included a Burger King and a Subway.
It didn't take long before we fell in love with Ireland. The rolling hills, the bright green, well, everything, and the quaint homes simply led to a feeling of deep peace.
Except one incident that day.
As I said, we had just gotten a rental car. I was really nervous when driving it that I might damage it in some way. (This is also true when I rent a car in the States.)
During this day, we found out that not only did we have to remember to drive in the left lane, some of the back roads in Ireland are tiny. They fit one and a half cars, if that. This wouldn't be a problem if it was just flat land on the sides, or even on one side, but nooooo... here there are often hedges that butted up to the road.
Driving down one of those roads, the hedges weren't as trimmed as some other places. I could hear the branches scrape down the side of the car. The worst part was that I couldn't even get out and look right after it happened. I couldn't open the car door due to the thick shrubbery.
I had to drive down that road, wondering if I had already messed up the car the first day I had it. As soon as we got to the end of that road, I stopped so I could get out and look at it. Thankfully, it was fine. It had sounded like it was digging into the paint like the car was being keyed (or at least how I would imagine that sound), but it was fine.
It was the beginning of an adventure where we learned a lot... that there are very few gas stations - and they close at night (the time we almost ran out of gas in the late evening - with no option of AAA rescuing us); that it doesn't matter if you are driving on the plain or the side of a cliff, the narrow road was still the standard; that sheep are everywhere; that the top of a cliff is cold and so windy that you feel like you'll be blown over; that the place to be is a pub where the locals play fiddles and guitars, sing beautiful ballads, and tell wonderful stories (and it was just any other weekday afternoon); that kids come to the pub with their parents and play pool; and that the people are very kind.
It was one of the best weeks of my life.
(Images by Tracy Riggs Frontz)
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