Pub, beach and everything in between

Monday June 10, 2013 Last nights adventure to the pub was a mixed bag. The food was great, the music was great, the Guiness was great.... But they had overbooked the place so we, along with a family and another couple were sent to a back room to eat which had none of the lively atmosphere of the main pub. When it was time for the music, they took us into the pub and seated the couple and us in the "washing up" area at the back of the room. We sat on bar stools surrounded by miscellaneous coffee machines, dishwashers and extra candles for the tables. We spent 3/4 of the evening there before people at one of the tables left and there was space for us. The good news is the couple were a nice pair from Scotland and we enjoyed each others company and joked about our circumstance. We then shared our good fortune of a table with them. This morning our destination was a boat tour of the Aran Islands and the Cliffs of Moher. We had booked the trip the day before when it was sunny and pleasant. We woke up early and headed for the west coast and the town of Doolin. Upon arrival we were greeted with chilly temperatures and gusting winds blowing the rain sideways. We decided to put off the trip and avoid the guaranteed seasickness. We drove to a local hostel that has a coffee shop and we warmed up with some tea while planning our next move. We decided to wander some back roads and chose a route. Well, Irish roads don't always look like what we would call a road so we ended up driving some very small, single track roads that eventually dumped us out on a road overlooking a gorgeous beach. Fanore Beach was exactly as we expected an Irish beach to be. Windy, rainy, and very blustery, but incredibly invigorating! We laughed as we were almost blown airborne several times. We spoke with a woman from a local "outdoor experience" company. She had a group of kids from the town next to ours out for four days of outdoor adventures. Today was their body boarding experience. Thank goodness for wetsuits! After the beach we headed back into the Burren and stopped at the Burren Perfumery. They had beautiful smelling lotions, etc and we enjoyed the gardens. We drove on and stumbled upon some ruins where we stopped for lunch and the photo opportunity. After lunch we decided to make a dash to Galway. We arrived just after most everything closed but we wandered the town and got a feel for the city. We found the Fish and Chips shop that Carrie had heard was the best in Ireland. We had considered eating there to say we did, but we two gluten free vegetarian just couldn't bring ourselves to do it. Being lost earlier in the day showed us a short cut home, which is always a good thing.