His parents were hilarious and really good hosts. His mom is an awesome cook and I can honestly say we all gained about 10 pounds or so since we were always eating and eating so much. The house was small so it ended up being a good thing his sister was out of town for most of the weekend. Maggie, Ally and I were the luck ones that got to cuddle all together in the biggest bed of the house which still was not really big enough for 3 people.
The next morning after gorging ourselves on porridge and scones that were so good they rival my own, we took a peek at Mr. McMahon's car collection before we left for the day. And may I just say DAY-UMMM! He has got some NICE cars stashed away. The crowning glory was this:
After, we went our merry way to Castle Bunratty.
We had initially planned on going to the Cliffs of Moher but it was kind of gross out and we wouldn't have been able to see anything anyways if we had gone. It was a cool place and Eddie's dad managed to sneak us in using children's tickets. We were probably the world's oldest looking 15 year olds (especially considering the amount of facial hair the boys had) but they didn't even look at our tickets.
We walked around for a bit and then came across these goliaths of creatures:
If they were a bit beefier I could have actually ridden this thing like a pony. Just get one of these when you have small children and you'l never have a need for a stroller! Just make a saddle, strap'em in, and you're off!
They did kind of smell bad (appropriately like wet dog) and I totally understand why not many Irish people allow their dogs inside houses.
After that we trekked through the castle:
looked at some killer stained glass:
went through some banquet halls that were too big for their own good:
and some staircases too small for their own good:
We finally got to the top to take some lovely photos:
and some not so lovely ones!
and inadvertent photo bombing!
I'm just that good. But it was a fun time. After we left the castle we walked around because there's a village of sorts surrounding the castle. There were lots of animals about the place and some people were obsessed with getting picture of and with them.
The only ones I cared about were the ginger pigs:
There were a bunch of buildings that were set up as they would be "in their time" that we went around to and they were pretty cool. They also had some shops in the town but we were there in the off season so most of them weren't open. There was also a church and some exhibit on plows but we were honestly more entertained taking jumping pictures and having ugly face contests.
We eventually headed home but stopped by an old abbey that we pasted on the way home:
It was super old with no roof and crumbling stones all around so it was funny seeing really modern gravestones in the graveyard.
After that we finally did head home and eat dinner (which of course was delicious). After that we decided to try and walk off some of the girth we were accumulating from the food and went for a stroll on the path behind Eddie's house. You need to climb a fence to get to the path in the first place:
It was really dark out but the path was right alongside a highway and I have a handy-dandy flashlight on my phone so it wasn't too bad. Eddie at one point mentioned that there were cows in the field right next to us so we (not so) wisely decided to jump the fence and go hunting for the cows. Lemme just say that I am SOOO glad that I was wearing my hiking boots because not only did the ground resemble cow poop, but but large areas of it WERE cow poop. You couldn't take two steps without trying to avoid a pie or two.
We finally came across them but they would move away from us when we tried to get close enough to touch them. The pictures at night were pretty creepy because they ended up looking like demon cows:
As we were heading back to the fence we heard a rustling in the trees that we were passing. We got a little skittish so as in scary movie style, we got closer to try and see what it was. We got pretty close but we still couldn't see so we just decided to hop the fence again as quickly as possible.
The next morning, Ally, Maggie, and I decided to go out sheep hunting to see if we could get close enough to them. Both fortunately and unfortunately Eddie's dog, Bruno, decided to tag along. Bruno is an adorable little dog who thinks he's the world largest dog.
We had hopped the fence into the fields across the street from Eddie's house where the sheep were and he came FLYING across the field to greet us. He laid down the second we bent to pet him wanting us to scratch his incredibly muddy/sheep poopy belly.
So of course I did. He was so cute but he would also like to chase the sheep around. I do have a video of it but I seem to be having some technical difficulties in getting it from my camera to my computer but I'll put it up when I can.
We did get fairly close, but still not close enough to touch them. They also bleet at us none stop but some of the noises these sheep were making was actually frightening. It sounded like they were either in pain, possessed, or a combination of both.
The rams were separated from the ewes and they were much more reluctant to run from us so we got closer to them. The field we were is very different than its appearance. Even in this picture above the ground looks firm and covered in grass when in actuality, we were slogging through this:
After our failed sheep hunting attempts, we decided to revisit the cows which, thankfully, we could now see.
Unfortunately, we also finally saw what was in the trees from the night before. You know, the thing we decided to get closer to before leaving? For reference, we were less than 20 feet away from this:
In the dark. Creeping around. Definitely not one of my best life decisions. Anyway we didn't hop the fence this time but tried to lure them in with grass (it had worked at the castle earlier with the deer).
Unfortunately, this is as close as they got:
and Maggie is clearly upset by this. They would've come closer probably if Bruno hadn't decided to chase them. Honestly this dog thinks he's the biggest thing in the world because he was chasing a full grown bull.
On our way back we had the misfortune of being caught in hail...again. But this time it was special because it was coming at us sideways! How exciting. Not. I've never actually been caught in hail where I needed to turn my back to it so I'm not blinded by it. Check that off my bucket list.
When we got back we all decided to go to Ennis and walk around for a bit just to see the city. "City" being a very relative term here.
It was nice with lots of little alleyways and shops and stuffz and it gave us something to do beside sit around and eat. Which, none of us would've had a problem with anyways, but it was probably for the better we didn't. It was also surprisingly crowded for a Sunday afternoon because all other places I'd been to on Sundays have been pretty dead. We also stumbled across this gem of a restaurant:
And you might be thinking, "Oh well that's just a coincidence! It must stand for something other than 'you only live once'!"
We also narrowly missed a second even worse bout of hail. We had literally all just piled into the car to head home, and were waiting for Mr. McMahon to come out of his friend's house. Just as he opens the door the hail starts. I actually thought there were going to be dents in the car. When it finally stopped the ground was white like snow, only, surprise! It wasn't snow.
So after one last belly-bursting meal, we were packed up and ready to go. His parents invited us to come over anytime we want which we warned them not to do because we probably would take them up on their offer. Overall, this too falls under the title of successful trip as there were very few of us able to stay awake for the whole train ride home.
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