CHAPTER FIVE: I got worms . . . that's what we're callin' it (Part 1)

TOD: After Magellan and Columbus' great find of the hidden hostel, we decided to treat ourselves and journey into the night enjoying fine authentic Irish food at a place called La Salsa. Okay it wasn't Irish it was Mexican but we needed a fix and after the day we had we felt we earned it. After we stopped at another pub in Galway. As we left we were almost attacked by a muskrat on the bridge. We weren't in Kansas anymore. The next morning we hopped in our small European car pretending we didn't care about our limited leg room and headed through southwest Ireland through the Burren. We became hazards to the road as we were constantly snapping pics out the window of the gorgeous scenery. We couldn't help it everywhere we looked there were green pastures and rolling hills. We even stopped to pet some donkeys. The locals were like celebrities to us! We couldn't believe an elderly man in a wool knit hat was actually real! Cliffs of Moher were breathtaking and we were enjoying the beautiful landscape of the country.



Next it was on our way to Blarney Castle. Of course we kissed the Blarney Stone, I mean who hasn't? That stone gets around not really earning a respected reputation if you ask me, but what happened next was even more magical. What do you first think of when you think of Castles? I would venture to guess you would say: princesses, kings, servants, etc. What does Jaci think of? Vampires, of course. One thing we haven't told you is that Jaci deliberately packed a vampire cape and vampire teeth in her checked bag. Why you ask? Well we were exploring castles and the two kind of go hand and hand. While touring the castle we each took turns wearing the cape with our vampire teeth re-creating a Celebrity Cribs: Ireland edition episode (videos to follow).


Weird? Jaci packed vampire teeth just because she wanted to do a photo shoot at a castle? Yep. hahahaha

Finally we were headed home. It was a long day of traveling across the country and our lack of sleep was catching up to us, especially for Jaci. Poor girl had been driving all over the past two days on limited sleep. While headed back to Dublin I suddenly hear her slapping herself to stay awake. Not good and a bit disturbing. I told her we could pull over a bit to give her a break but of course she wanted to keep going so we could get back at a decent hour to make it to our favorite pub, can't fault her for prioritizing. We ended up doing impressions of people and celebrities and trying to guess who each person was so she could stay awake. We also got a little delirious and started annoucning Jolly Rancher flavors as if they were accepting diplomas at commencement. "Peach Jolly Rancher . . . with honors." Yep, we were beginning to lose it. Finally we made it back and were able to enjoy a pint of beer at the local pub as we reflected at our successful trip across the country with no GPS.



One highlight was attending a rugby game. We didn't have tickets but were under the assumption that we could buy them at the booth when we got there. Apparently it was a sold out game. What did we do? Waited for the first elderly gentleman to offer a price for a ticket so we could make a deal. We weren't entirely sure if this was legal, until I heard the man say in his Irish accent "what just a minute the police are coming." I guess it wasn't. At any rate we made it through the gates and enjoyed the Irish sport over a foot long hot dog and a coca-cola, both of which we happened to spill on the backs of the people in front of us. It was the perfect ending to our Friday night.