September 13
After a few super-busy travel days, we were MORE than happy to be staying put for a couple nights, especially in such a BEAUTIFUL hotel! We LOVED the Clayton Hotel, even if it was a bit far from the downtown area. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast buffet both mornings we stayed there, then relaxed and took our precious time.After a while, even though it was a pretty dreary day, we decided to make the drive through Connemara, starting along the southern shore and coming back along the main highway, N59.
It was such a cold, wet, dreary day (one of the worst during our trip), so we were really sad that we didn't get to see as clearly as we had hoped to :( But it was still very beautiful, just in a very different way.
We stopped for lunch at this little bistro, just outside Spiddal, and tried to see what we could of the scenery. It was a really cozy atmosphere, and as usual, we split a bowl of soup and a sandwich to hold us over to supper.
After lunch, we took a VERY long, VERY windy drive through the southern portion of Connemara, passing by some (unfortunately, very muted) absolutely incredible views.
We were exhausted from all the driving, and while we had every intention of making our way all the way up to the National Park, we didn't make it that far before picking up N59 and heading back to Galway.
Oughterard Park
On our way back along N59, we decided to stop in Oughterard at this cute little park for a bit to stretch our legs. The river was REALLY high there, and it was still raining, but it was nice to stop :)
There were these really cool, large windchimes hanging from the trees in the park.
We also made a quick stop at this pretty lake along the way, but it was kinda a dud because of the weather that day.
After our stops, we were pretty tired, and the traffic was crazy, so we planned on going into downtown Galway later for supper and went back to our hotel to rest. After resting a bit, we decided to not venture out in the rainy, cold weather, and stayed in for the night. That's right - we stayed in Galway for 2 nights and we never made it downtown.
We enjoyed a delicious meal at the pub in our hotel, then went to bed pretty early this night. Of course, this was after catching up on my adorable new little nephew AND NIECE on FB :) Yep - little Kaleigh Mae was born this day, just as we were getting ready to put our heads on our pillows in Ireland, it was only around 4pm at home, so we had just heard the news!
