Galway Girl

Stardate 67288.6

22:00 - We spent our third day in Ireland in County Galway. This was no ordinary day. This was a day of reckoning. You see, Focus Foxies, we placed this day aside as a prize. Earlier we had made a bet that the winner of our fantasy football league match-up would be King or Queen of the day. Since I did not prevail, Rob had great fun planning our day trip. Fortunately for a girl like me, Rob knows what I like to do. We set our sights on going to the country side to see Kylemore Abbey.

Lough Inagh, I believe

Kylemore Abbey lies in the heart of an area called Connemara. Throughout Ireland, you will find many gorgeous countrysides and wandering landscapes, but in my opinion, nothing compares to Connemara. Connemara's mountains rise up to meet the sky. Its adjacent lakes provide contrast as they dip below, and bogs cover the land. In October, the wind whips around the car, and we curved around each mountain, waiting to see what was next.  We took a shortcut to get to Kylemore Abbey through the Inagh Valley.

As in much of Ireland, Inagh Valley is home to many creatures of a more cuddly nature: sheep. At least, I assumed sheep were of a more cuddly nature, but alas, it is not so. I had many dreams when I landed in Ireland, chief among them to pet a sheep. I am sad to say, Focus Foxies, I failed miserably in this task. Connemara seemed like the perfect place to attempt it, but I got out of the car, carefully made my approach, and they fled like wild things.

We eventually made our way to Kylemore Abbey. Originally, Kylemore Abbey was no abbey at all; it was a castle built by a cotton merchant's son, named Mitchell Henry. Mitchell and his wife, Margaret, honeymooned in Connemara and fell in love with its beauty. When Henry inherited his father's fortunes, he set about to build a castle, or rather a monument to the love he held for Margaret. In 1867, he built a magnificent castle, employing many Irishmen after a time of great famine. He spared no expense in this undertaking. At this time, he had no worries about money in the slightest.

Kylemore Abbey

Mitchell Henry proved to be a great landlord and benefactor to the area, which had suffered from a lack of jobs and development. He provided adequate housing and schools for his tenants. He even provided windows in each house. Fun fact, Focus Foxies, windows were taxed by the English back in the day. Mr. Henry paid for the taxes to ensure that his tenants' houses were well lit. Sadly, the Henrys suffered a great loss when Margaret died young in Cairo. She left behind her grieving widower and nine children.


Kylemore went on spending lavishly.  Eventually, Henry had to sell the property, but not many takers existed. Even King George VII declined, mentioning the cost alone was exorbitant. Henry died in 1910 in England with less than 100 pounds to his name.

In 1903, the property made its way into the hands of the Duke and Duchess of Manchester as a wedding gift. However, the Duke's penchant for gambling was legendary. In a tight game of cards, he gambled away the deed to Kylemore. Needless to say, he lost more than a place to stay; the Duchess was soon on her way out as well.

Kylemore became an Abbey in 1920, when the Irish Benedictine Nuns purchased it. This order of nuns had been looking for a place to call their own for quite some time. Founded by Lady Butler in 1600s, the Irish order soon found themselves unwelcomed in Ireland due to the Williamites forcing out Catholic influences on the island. The nuns fled to Ypres for safety and were able to remain due to the patronage of King Jacob and Queen Mary. King James contributed to their handicraft works by purchasing their gold and silver weavings. The Benedictine Nuns were known far and wide for such works, and for a king (or a king without a kingdom), this was an invaluable skill. The Irish Benedictine Nuns stayed in Belgium until WWI. The order fled again, this time to Ireland.

The order settled in Kylemore and opened up a boarding school for girls. Many upper class girls came to Kylemore to be educated for nearly 100 years. The local girls also attended a day school at Kylemore. The school is now closed but the order kept their education mission by opening Kylemore up to the public. We toured around the Abbey and grounds, and sampled some of the nuns' homemade candies.

Another testimony to Mitchell Henry's love for Margaret is the Gothic Catherdral in miniature dedicated to her. When Margaret died, Mitchell commissioned this church in her honor. The Church appears to be more feminine in nature on the inside to reflect Mrs. Henry's beauty. In addition, the marble in the Church represents the four different provinces of Ireland. They used green for Connaught, rose for Muster, black for Leinster, and grey for Ulster. Originally, the church was Anglican. However with the return of the Benedictine Nuns, the Church is now Catholic and used for the nuns' prayer services.

After visiting Kylemore Abbey, we drove along the coastline to Galway. Rob's next idea was to take advantage of the comedy festival in Galway. We went to Busker Brownes for the open mic night. Focus Foxies, huge differences exist between American and Irish humor. Irish humor believe it or not, is more clean cut. We rarely heard them make an off color joke or one about politics or religion. The two American comedians (not us) passing through gave it a shot and made it clear that we strive to shock. Anything vulgar or scandalous passed through the non-filtered Americans' mouths. We found it hilarious. It did not fly with the female Irish audience. We got an extra kick out of watching them gape in disgust and then leave. In general, all of the comedians gave it their best shot, and we laughed with and without them.

Our day came to a close, but I can say I was the luckiest girl in Galway that night.

The Moonshiner

This exists in Ireland!

Stardate 67285.9

22:30 - We started off our morning in the outskirts of Kilkenny and an hour behind. We did not have a schedule to keep, but Ireland did treat us to daylight savings early this year. As travel weary travelers, we accepted with gratitude. Plus, we ate our first full Irish breakfast, which beats most other breakfasts.

Rose garden in the rain.

We wanted to make a day of visiting two special manufacturers of alcohol: Smithwicks Brewery and Kilbeggan Distillery. We fell in love with Smithwicks the night before, so we felt it only right to pay homage to the drink by taking a tour. I mean it is located in an old St Francis Abbey, so we really were paying homage. However, our dreams were cut short by pesky maintenance heathens as the brewery was closed for upgrades until Spring 2014. So we substituted our first drinking tour with something I have never been to: a castle.

The Butler Crest over the main entrance

Kilkenny brags about being a Medieval town complete with torture displays, cathedrals, and castles. We went to what is now called the Kilkenny Castle. Originally built in the early thirteenth century, Kilkenny Castle endures as an example of Anglo-Norman architecture. The Butler family became the primary owners of the castle in the fourteenth century until 1967. The Butler family was a pretty big deal in Ireland; they even held fancy titles, such as Earl and Viscount. However, in 1967, they no longer wished to manage the upkeep of Kilkenny Castle, so he sold it to the government of Ireland for £50.

While the outsides represented the Anglo-Normans, the inside reflected Victorian tastes. It was filled with marvelous furniture and paintings from around the world. The paintings were mostly of the Butler family members and royalty throughout the ages.

Outside of the castle, the people of Kilkenny used the ground for different celebrations. While we were there, the Taste of Kilkenny festival took place. I got to speak with a woman who sold whiskey chocolate cream liquor called Coole Swan. We huddled under her tent to shelter from the rain. She knew right off the bat that Rob was part Irish. She also explained that it was her husband and her son that made the cream that went into the liquor, so I promptly took some off her hands. She ships worldwide, so go check her out.

After our castle tour, we drove to our next tour: Kilbeggan Distillery. Now this distillery has a proud tradition in Rob's family. His mother's side of the family comes from a long line of proud Irish people named McManus. It just so happened that a man named Matthias McManus built the distillery in 1757. Unfortunately, this distillery did not pass down throw the generations because in 1798, both Matthias and his son were executed for their parts in one of the many Irish rebellions. It seems that one thing did eventually pass down from generation to generation and that would be the fiery attitude towards authority.

As he lovingly looks onto his family's legacy

The town of Kilbeggan took care of the whiskey license, thus the namesake, so other Irishmen like Locke and Cooley could make whiskey in the future. Because of their dedication, this whiskey distillery can proudly be called the oldest licensed whiskey distillery in Ireland and perhaps the world (from 1757 onward to be exact).

The current Kilbeggan distillery has the old operation juxtaposed against the new. We saw the the old equipment, such as mash tin, and the water wheel that powered everything. Fun fact, Focus Foxies, the distillery used to dump the some of the alcoholic waste into the adjacent river. Most of the fish in that river would be temporarily knocked out by this waste but would recover downstream. The old operation was small and cramped, and I had enjoyed ignoring the 'mind your head' signs. The new operation was slick. We got to see all of the modern yet rustic finishes. Rob was more interested in seeing the actual production. I set about admiring the modern yet rustic touches. Those large barrels contained the early stages of whiskey pre-distilled. They were just open and for the taking. We contained ourselves and did not take a sip or a bath.

The Waterwheel

House Special

The Kilbeggan distillery eventually made its way into the hands of the Cooley company. We were able to buy and try out some of the various whiskeys made in-house and around the company.  The main ones in-house were the Locke's brand and the Connemara whiskey. The Locke's brand is a straight forward Irish whiskey. The Connemara whiskey has a peaty flavor and is Rob's favorite. The other two we tried were the Tyrconnell and the Greenore. The Tyrconnell was named after a race horse who was named for a region in Ireland. The Greenore took on more aspects of a bourbon, thus it became my favorite. With the tour, we had one free whiskey tasting and shot glass, so they gave us the house special. Of course, we had to try out a few more. How else would we know what to take back as souvenirs?

We sobered up in the Kilbeggan Distillery restaurant, feasting on ham and cabbage and an amazing chicken club. Our final destination for day was in Galway where we stayed in a fancy hotel, The Clayton. Believe you me, Focus Foxies, I googled these directions. There was no way I would allow the same shenanigans as the previous night. Once parked, we let other people drive us into town for a Saturday night out.

We quickly realized that Galway is the town for Hen and Stag parties. Focus Foxies, I think you might misinterpret this statement as a few people go out before they get hitched in Galway. No, false. Every larger party we saw out and about in Galway was a Hen or Stag party. They were rampant across town. Our first place definitely attracted this crowd. The Quays (pronounced keys) hosted a live cover band that played everything from Johnny Cash to the Black Keys. Apparently, Johnny Cash travels well in Ireland. The cover band really played well. Our next location we stumbled upon was called Murphys. Murphys represents your typical Irish pub. We say that because none of the pre-wedding parties followed us, and our cab driver said it was a locals only type of place (the next day). Because of the casual setting, we got to interact a bunch more with actual Irish people in flesh and blood. We met a small group of Irish police officers who were actually pretty fluent in college and professional football. Because they were police officers, they got to do some of the work when President Obama came to Ireland. They had a few stories about his visit.

Sadly Murphys had last call a bit too soon, but we definitely enjoyed our little night in Galway.

Sleepless in Dublin

Dublin from up top.

Stardate 67283.3

23:50 - We landed in Ireland on a bed of fog beneath and a blanket of storms above us. We had been traveling all night to get here at 04:00, and our adventure was just beginning. We were going to rent a car and travel about Ireland's country side exploring the ruins, landscapes and pubs. We were just missing one thing when we landed: sleep.

There was not much time to sleep. We got in our car, hurriedly drove on the wrong side of the road (their right side of the road, confused yet?), and got ourselves lost in Dublin. Dublin was our first town to visit, but we were not staying there long. Like many towns in Ireland, Dublin suffers from a distinct lack of signage and a devotion to changing the street name every few blocks. We ended up at a gas station in a random part of town to sleep, wait for the sun, and buy a Dublin map.

Our business in Dublin consisted of seeing the famous Book of Kells and the Trinity College Library that housed it. We had our tour booked, and we were not going to skip it. The Book of Kells is an intricate manuscript containing the four gospels of the New Testament. This book was made in the early 800s by four monks.Check it out, because we were not allowed to take pictures. We did get to take pictures of the famous Trinity College Library, which houses the Book of Kells and other famous objects of Irish heritage. Fun fact, Focus Foxies, this library provided the basis for the Jedi Archives in the Attack of the Clones.

Our next goal was to get lost again. I am just joking, but we managed to do it nonetheless. We finally stopped ourselves in a parking lot and again slept for a few hours. Luckily it was a parking lot for a restaurant. I took advantage of that and some time to figure out how to get us to some back roads. You see, Focus Foxies, this was my aim all along. I had purchased a back roads book, and it had this awesome drive through the Wicklow Mountains. And who wouldn't want to do that? Well, when you hadn't slept well in a really long time, it starts to look silly. Luckily, Rob got a great power nap in, and we powered on. I think he knew I had my heart set on going through the mountains.

The Wicklow Mountains did not disappoint. We drove through this unearthly terrain full of the fabled Irish landscape and colors. The colors were just starting to turn to fall hues, but the lushness of Spring and Summer remained. We could not take our eyes off of it. We passed through valleys and waterfalls, while we wound our way around cloud covered mountains. We passed tree farms and wandering sheep on small and narrow roads. It was worth every penny to get over here.

Through the Wicklow Mountains, there lies a small area named 'Glendalough' or the glen of two lakes. Glendalough has a very famous reputation of being home to mainly saints, chiefly St. Kevin. After being ordained a priest, St. Kevin left to a then remote part of Ireland to avoid his followers and live as a hermit. However, word got around that he was a holy man living off the land, so people came around pretty quickly. St. Kevin eventually established a small community of monks and a church where St. Kieran once lived.

St Kevin's Church and Round Tower

Round Tower Art Shot

The whole area of Glendalough has seven churches and/or holy sites.  One of the non-holy sites is the Round Tower, which impressively sits 30 meters high. The tower was used as a store room, partially for protection, and partially for my odd attempts at artsy picture taking.

We meandered our way to the main highway as the sun started to set. Our hotel room was in Kilkenny, but the only catch is that we had no where to stop for dinner nor did we know where the hotel was in Kilkenny. The first challenge was finding the hotel, and thankfully a man at a convenience store was able to give us the most confusing directions to it. Our second concern, our stomachs proved to be a a much more difficult task. We could have stayed in the hotel and slept because at this point we were at 48 hours with very little sleep. But we did not. We (I) were hungry, and gosh darnit, Focus Foxies, we were on a mission. A mission from God.

It turns out this mission was most likely from St. Kevin because he did not eat too often, and we waited a while to eat as well. We found a parking spot in Kilkenny and proceeded to walk all around town to find out that everywhere stops serving at 21:00. EVERYWHERE.
Not even a sad face could make it better. We ended up getting lost trying to find an ice cream shop we had seen before. Instead, we found ourselves lost in the suburbs. We officially threw in the towel and went in to ask someone how to get back to the car and again found ourselves in strange territory. We walked into this strange little low key pub (we alter found out it was named the David Campion's Lounge Bar) with maybe five or so people in it. You know, Focus Foxies, in those old western movies where people walk into the saloon and others immediately give them a look because they are not from around those parts? This was nothing like that. They were happy to give up seats for new people. We knew we could not immediately ask for directions, so we asked for two Smithwicks.

Let me tell you, Focus Foxies, that was the best Smithwicks I have ever tasted! I do not know if it was the day or the place or just because it is better in Ireland, but it was better. It is having a completely different beer. We got to talking to the locals. This being a local bar and a Friday night, they had started quite a bit earlier. They were all curious about where we were going and where we should go. They even unknowingly told us how to get back to town. So we tipped out hats after the beer, and left.

This story does not end badly or in any state of hunger. We ended up finding a SuperMacs, which is the only saving grace for Kilkenny's late night eating.

Cathedral at Glendalough

Zooma Annapolis Women's Race 2013

Finish Line

Stardate 66885.7

18:22 - In Spring 2013, I decided to get healthy, super healthy. In that vein of thought, I signed up for a 10k race. I have mastered a 5k and have participated in a a couple of 8k races. Those last 2ks were going to be tough. Before this journey, I let myself go. Basically, I could not run more than a mile. Actually, I could run less than a mile. My muscles cramped up when I ran about 0.75 miles. I thought I was seriously injured the first time this happened. I was not, but I did need to build up.

Swag Bag!

The build up was intense and so was the DC heat. I picked out a training plan. I never picked out a plan before. I mean I have always been able to run my races, except the 5k in grad school. I blame that race a victim of the night before. They didn't even have the ice cream left when I finished. This race was going to be different. I had been dieting and sticking to the plan.

I signed up for the Zooma Annapolis Women's Race Series. We decided to make a weekend of it with me running it and Rob actually running it. He volunteered to be the turn around guy for the 10k people. The race had both half-marathon and 10k runs. Rob was the guy who had us 10k gals turn around so we didn't run 13.1 miles.  We stayed in a nice bed and breakfast to make sure we can get to the start line in time.

Spoiler alert: I finished!

The day of the race was blazing hot! Annapolis unlike the usual coastal towns I have been in is hilly. The hills took me by surprise. I mostly trained on flat surfaces in DC. Despite all of this, I finished the race. I hurt my foot, but I did finish! The race was a lot of fun. I like doing "women's runs." Everyone dresses up nicely and is really pumped to run. This helps a lot when you are not sure you can actually finish the race.

Brew At The Zoo

Stardate 66866.6

18:21 - Sometimes you feel like going wild and day drinking. Brew at the Zoo is the way to go when both these feelings are running through your veins. You have to try at least all of the beers there twice. The worst beer there is Sam Adams. That should tell you all you need to know about the quality. Most of the beers were animal themed, but here is a run down of the best:


1. Shiner Wild Hare Pale Ale - Awesome, I am not a pale ale. This ale hops around in more way than one. Hey-o. I will stop that, Focus Foxies.

2. Harpoon Honey Cider - Nectar of the gods. Enough said. It glistens in the early Summer light.

3. DuClaw Sweet Baby Jesus - Only one thing could beat number two, that is sweet baby Jesus. It is true. I mean a stripper referred us to this beer. That is not a lie, Focus Foxies. More importantly, it tastes like a peanut butter cup. Do not doubt me or our stripper friend.

After we toured the beers, we took the tram to the animals. I wanted to check these awesome beings out first, but the boys wanted to get in line to get into the beer section. I mean they were right because the line was so long. Nonetheless, we had time for the wild. There is an order in the Maryland Zoo. A order of animals, if you will. I know the zookeepers don't let the animals know that, but there is. First you walk into the zoo and spy the prairie dogs. They are cute, run around, and dig. Then you tram like you do up the hill. The hill is basically were it is at. There is the Arctic section and the African section.

1. The Arctic section - your classic foxes and polar bear mix. No penguins. Penguins live South of the hemisphere.

2. The Africa section - you see the giraffes; you see the lions. Then you see the PENGUINS!

Focus Foxies, this is an amazing event that helps out a good cause. You will find me there next year.

Focus Foxies in attendance: Rob, Chip, and actual foxes