08/14/2026
Northern Ireland views were STUNNING!! 🇮🇪
We made the trek all the way to Limavady immediately after landing in Shannon. Our hero, Daniel drove 6 hours on the naaaarow left side of the road 🤪 while James and I took mini car naps.
Our first stop along the way was Strandhill, a cute beach town where we ate breakfast & ice cream, skipped rocks, and walked around in our first bit of Irish rain. All things that help with our reset to try and skip the jet lag!
We also stopped at the castle in Donegal and did a little popping into shops. I got a wool scarf that I proceeded to wear for half the trip... adjusting to the chill of Ireland while it was 105° back home!
We finished the day with grocery shopping, hot tub and dinner at our Airbnb, and a later than we expected bedtime, BUT... it worked ✨️ got us lined up with Ireland time in just one day! I was nervous about this with James being a kid who needs a lot of sleep and me someone who struggles with sleep, but we did it!
The following day we headed to the Giants Causeway 🙌 An absolutely incredible immerse yourself in nature experience where this rock formation feels like a playground of stacked hexagon stones... surrounded by crashing waves, green slopes and the most exhilarating wind... I've never enjoyed a windy day this much!
On our way there we stopped at Dunluce Castle which is said to have inspired C.S. Lewis' Cair Paravel from the Chronicles of Narnia. We also tried to go walk the rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede, but it was closed due to the wind, so just a dreamy hike before our quest for dinner.
I say quest because we made SIX attempts before we found a place that would feed us. Lesson: reservations matter and we CAN eat at 8:30pm, sleep in, and still enjoy the hot tub one last time before we hit the road for our next stop: Galway!! 🍀
