Rachelle Delaney

Wow. Where has the summer gone? It might be 30 degrees out today, but it feels like fall is coming. It smells like it. And there’s that certain kind of orangey light in the mornings and right before sunset. Before we know it we’ll be all about scarves and tuques. Which works well for me, because my travels through damp and chilly Ireland for the past weeks inspired a tuque-buying spree. At one point, my travel buddy Tara actually had to put a stop to it.

So my trip to Ireland? Wonderful. Gorgeous. I tromped across the countryside, befriending donkeys and marveling at all the different shades of green (cliched, but perfectly true), and felt so…so blessed to be able to hop on a plane and travel halfway around the world just to explore a new place. I sent out a little thank you to Hermes everyday. The god of travel, that is. Not the posh luggage company.

Highlights: the sheep. The donkeys. The green hills of Connemara and cliffs of Clare. Americanos brewed by The Bald Barista himself in Dublin. Discovering The Cujo Family, an amazing bluegrass/folk band in the most unassuming pub in tiny Listdoonvarna. Getting soaked hiking the Aran Islands. Not losing my lunch on the pitchy boatride to the Aran Islands. The horses. The horses. The horses.

And while I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone name Irish food as a trip highlight, it certainly was for me, for one good reason. There are more celiacs in Ireland than nearly anywhere else (save Italy, apparently). So nearly EVERYTHING came gluten free. We’re talking GF bread (that actually tastes like bread), GF cookies, GF GRAVY!! I ate like a queen for the first time in years.

All in all, great craic was had. Thanks, Ireland. Twas a slice.

Tags: Ireland

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 15th, 2010 at 3:41 pm and is filed under General Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.