Doolin, Ireland

Here we are moments before leaving for the airport. Our bags are packed precisely, our clothes are all clean, and the butterflies in our stomachs are on speed. Let's go!

We've made it to Ireland, and Erin's already realized she forgot a belt. At least its not her passport, but she should have remembered something that easy. After a flight full of crying babies and a bad Billy Bob Thorton movie, we arrived in Shannon early yesterday morning. The airport lacked basic security, evidenced by the mother of the bride smuggling pounds of meat in her golf bag for a 4th of July bbq. Before we left the US, we thought that part of our trip might involve a goodwill tour to reestablish some dignity to the good ol' US of A. We quickly learned, on the bus ride from the airport to Doolin, that our job would be tougher than we realized when we sat behind a crazy New York cabbie who was explaining to the entire bus his 9/11 theories which included missile strikes and barns full of people. Needless to say, we have more work cut out for us than we initially thought.

Doolin is a tiny town, with about as many cows and sheep as people. The cows, sheep and people here all agree that the weather sucks. It has been cold and rainy (and really windy) since we arrived. This is how we pictured Ireland weather - in January. Although it's too windy right now to visit the Cliffs of Moher or to take a ferry to the Aran Islands, we were able to get in a round of pitch-and-putt golf. The wind was so strong, we would lose balance on the back swing, or at least that's our excuse for some poorly played shots. It was the most beautiful course I've ever played on and also the fastest. We played 18 holes in less than an hour and a half. The nice thing about Ireland that every event is capped off with a Guinness. So we celebrated our first Irish round of golf with Guinness and beef stew.

The 4th of July bbq was fun. There was lots of Irish singing and dancing. The band knew a lot of patriotic US songs but sadly nobody knew the words so we all just sang "Take me out to the ballgame." It was odd. There's more dancing tonight and hopefully the weather improves so we take in the cliffs and the islands in a few days. Assuming we get on the right buses, we'll be in Galway on Sunday and Dublin on Tuesday.