The Emerald Isle

We left for our trip to Ireland at the end of September the day after my final day at the USAID Staff Care Center where I worked for the past three years. While I have many thoughts about moving on from this position, the subject of this post will be our ten days in the Emerald Isle.

Two reasons.

I had long wanted to spend a week or so with my dad in some beautiful part of his homeland, which I assumed would land me in the Cotswalds or the Lake District. When we knew my parents were going to be in the UK for a month we began to make plans to try and join them for a week somewhere…but where? Long story short, we decided to fly into Dublin as it is much cheaper than flying into London and then my parents were kind and flexible enough to come meet us there for our time together. 

Flying into Dublin also made it easy to take the two hour bus ride up to Belfast to see my former dorm parents from the Philippines. If you know anything about my life, you probably know the profound influence that Alan and Hetty Dorman had on me during my last two years in high school when I lived in their dorm at Faith Academy.  Amazingly it had been 20+ years since I had last seen them!  Earlier this year, Hetty had been in NYC for a few days so I caught the bus up there to spend a few hours with her in Central Park. Almost immediately we began scheming how we might get Alan over to the US or Andrea and I over to visit them in Belfast. One thing led to another and before we knew it we were being picked up by Alan at the Belfast Bus Station and warmly welcomed with their Dorman hospitality. It was so good to be together again and to talk and talk and talk some more. Chrissy and Susan and their husbands came over that first evening for dinner so the reunion was complete.

 We spent the next four days together just hanging out and talking. We saw a few attractions including The Titanic Experience – did you know the Titanic was built in Belfast?, CS Lewis’s childhood neighborhood, Alan’s office, Giant’s Causeway – where I had been before on my only other trip to Belfast when I spent Christmas with the Dormans in 1991. On that trip they took me to several castles and sites including Giant’s Causeway and I swear we were the only ones there on that cold blustery winter’s day. This time it was a beautiful autumn day, warm and sunny with no wind but lots of other tourists. What a contrast! The other contrast at Giant’s Causeway is the very nice visitor center that now exists. Tip – if you are ever going you can park at the closest village for free and then be driven to the main entrance by bus – just a five minute ride – but you’ll get a discount on the entrance fee. You can also bushwhack your way to the Giant’s Causeway the back way, bypassing the visitor center and not pay anything!)

The BEST Picture ever!

Alan and Andrea enjoy delicious Fish and Chips

CS Lewis statue in his childhood neighborhood

The Dormans heard someone likes cheese!

Chocolate and Cheese...TOGETHER - who knew!?

Giant's Causeway

We also had some delicious home cooking (including a full on Ulster Fry) and were fully included in the extended Dorman family which we loved. The Saturday we were there, most of the Dorman extended family gathered on the beach at East Strand Beach, Portrush for a BBQ in celebration of Susan’s oldest child Andrew. It was a somewhat surreal  to think back to hanging out with Chrissy and Susan and their cousins 20+ years ago at Christmas and then to seemingly all of a sudden be back with them  - now with all their spouses and kids – it was very cool. The north Irish Sea was also very cool…frigid actually, but this didn’t stop many of the Dormans from wriggling into wetsuits to go body boarding. We were offered the opportunity to participate but sat this one out…maybe next time? And hopefully there will be a next time!

Ulster Fry in all its glory

Extended Dorman clan bodyboarding

Andrea with Luca, Chrissy and Dave's cute son

Extended Dorman family

Alan also took Andrea and me to Killyleagh, where my mother’s paternal side of the family comes from. We saw the old homestead (once the post office) just outside the castle and enjoyed some yummy baked goods at a small café before walking around the harbor which has now been quite built up with vacation apartments and trendy seaside homes

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Killyleagh - the old homestead

Killyleagh Castle

After four wonderful days with Alan and Hetty we bid farewell and caught the bus back down to the Dublin airport where we met up with my parents who flew over from Scotland where they had visited a few friends. We quickly got the rental car and then not so quickly figured out how to put it in reverse. Thank goodness for google!  We made our way south of Dublin and were soon navigating roads that got narrower and narrower until we arrived at Abhainn Ri – a working farm that also has a B and B and a couple of really nice cottages overlooking the Kings River and fields of sheep and cows.  It was beautiful and peaceful and quiet – except when the farmer cut the grass and all his cows and donkeys began hollering and making a racket.  Evidently grass clippings are a favorite treat – even though they have fields of grass to munch on. I guess even the animals like having their food prepared for them. (Full review of Abhainn Ri here on Tripadvisor.)

First peek...

The view from the cottage

Walking the fields

Again, we spend most of our time just hanging out together in the cottage and going for walks in the fields and along the roads. We picked a few blackberries and I made some blackberry jam to go with bread and scones we purchased. One day we ventured out up and over the Wicklow mountains to Powerscourt Estate to wander through their beautiful grounds and garden (ranked #3 in the world by National Geographic.) There among the grandeur and beauty I also saw a side of my mother that I have never seen before. At the top of a tower, many other visitors had scratched their names and other graffiti into the wood roof. My dear mother decided she wanted to as well and was promptly renamed the Graffiti Granny! There are a couple other stories I heard about upon their return but I can’t repeat them here in public :-) but if you see her you may want to ask about her airport experiences!

Powerscourt Estate

The View from Powerscourt Estate

Graffiti Granny

What happens to Graffiti artists...they get locked up!

Happy to be released!

Beautiful flowers at Powerscourt

Back home with the cows...

And the sheep...

Big Daddy!

Waiting excitedly for grass clippings

Early misty morn

Out walking...

I can’t believe it had been so long since last visiting this beautiful land and another piece of my heritage! I certainly don’t want to wait another 20 years to return. 

Duncan