Relaxing is the Key! Key West, Florida

If you read my other blog, New Adventures of Us (jwlamb12.blogspot.com), you know that we've had a flood.  Before the flood, I was working seven days a week either on the Nickel Manor or in Garwood, Texas on my wife's grandmother's estate for my lovely mother-in-law.  Kathy and I had booked a short trip earlier, but when the flood assaulted us I wanted to cancel the trip.  Kathy convinced me otherwise.  Emphasis on the word "wise".  She was right...as usual.

We spent 5 days in Key West, Florida with Beth and Brian Dill- Kathy's sister and her husband.  We stayed at the Heron House on Simonton St.  It was wonderfully restful.  My phone/camera died right after getting there, so very few pictures from me.  Kathy took mostly sunset pics.  But you know what?  Not having a phone or camera was freeing.

Kinetic Parade (where my phone went belly up)

We snorkeled, circled the island on jet skis, rode bicycles, walked, ate, and just hung out.  Ahhhhhhhhh....

We came back refreshed, recharged, and ready to go.

Love her

Thank you Key West.

Sunset, day 1

Everything's So Green!

So we made it to Ireland at about 10:30 Sunday morning... Irish time. That means we arrived around 4:30 AM Texas time!  Yikes! and no nap time for several hours.  Okay...to business:

Houston went fairly smoothly.  Of course I ended up having a pat down because of the metal in my leg.  Minor detail.  Flight was loooooooooooooong.  Wasn't able to sleep very much at all, per usual, but survived well by doing yoga stretches in the back of the plane.  Heathrow airport in London was a stinkin' nightmare.  Too many fliers and not enough passport/security personell. I will say that the British Airways people did try to help, but there just weren't enough of them. With a 2 hours layover, we were nearly late for our plane- it was loading as we walked up.  Dublin Airport on the other hand was lovely.  Quick.  Organized. In-out-gone.

Our first night is in the Hotel Mespill in Dublin.  Very nice, older hotel with good amenities in a picturesque area of town.  Since we couldn't check in for a couple of hours, we all went out for some food.  Most of us went to Beshoff Bros for the fish and chips (not me).  Kathy and I took a quick nap, then it wa down for orientation which went well.  Our tour manager, Alocoque (que is silent), has everything well organized on the face of it.  We'll see.  After that we went on walk-a-bouts. We explored a bit then wound up back at the hotel from which we went to Searsons for good food and good jazz.  They messed up the dessert, but they did take it off the bill.

 We just got back a few minutes ago.

Tomorrow we will tour Dublin then head for Galway.  Another post tomorrow night.

Heading for the Old Sod...

... and I don't mean Donald Trump.

We leave Palestine Friday, and leave the US of A on Saturday heading for Ireland.  Our 10-day bus tour of the Republic of Ireland will take us counter-clockwise from Dublin across, down, under, over, and back to Dublin.  We'll see the tourist spots as well as explore on our own.

When I say "we", I mean my wife and me along with her sister and her husband.  All this courtesy of one of the great mothers-in-laws of our time, Helen Nutter.  I'll start the travelogue Saturday at the airport.  Then the words and pictures will arrive in fits and starts as wifi becomes available on the Emerald Isle.

Éirinn go Brách!