Day Eleven - Tuesday, December 30, 2025
Thirty years ago to the day, Gary and I got married, in St. Therese church where my parents married on a beautiful winter day in Southern California. I chose that day and time of year because everything is so festively decorated. And thirty years later as we are celebrating our three decades together it's the decorations, the lights and the Christmas atmosphere I will remember and cherish the most from this trip.
I woke up to two texts from Madelyn. Jack had food poisoning and was up all night getting sick. Madelyn who is a caretaker to her core, tried to help while studying all the possibilities of why Jack was sick through ChatGPT. She also figured out how to extend the room to help him try to feel better, looked into buses and rental cars and almost booked another night in Tralee.
We regrouped at breakfast and decided to let Jack sleep while we made the hour long drive across the Dingle Peninsula to Dingle Bay. The landscape was similar to the Ring of Kerry with rugged mountains littered with painted sheep, but it was much greener and more picturesque. Ben took us on a route up the mountain on another one lane road meant to be a two land highway where we squeezed through the mountain to see gorgeous views of the Dingle Bay. Our intent was to see Skelling Island the location where a Star Wars scene was filmed, but the only way to access the island is by boats and I don't think they run in December. Definitely, something to consider for our next visit.
We wanted to do a quick three mile hike around Dingle, but our time was tight. We stopped by the visitors bureau and she suggested a circular walk around the town to see the shops. It was a short 2 km walk around the town, in and out of shops, by a very old but internally very modern church, a cute daycare center next to the church, the public library, and a number of B&Bs or just Bs and a university.
We secured some provisions of crisps and SevenUp from the SuperValue, Dingle's largest and busiest supermarket and headed back to collect Jack. After a quick petrol stop where they still pump your gas for you, we were ready to head north to Galway.
Fortunately, Jack had a chance to sleep a bit and hadn't gotten sick in several hours. So we loaded up our car and headed to Galway. The scenery was still spectacular but Galway is fairly far north and we had about a three hour drive ahead of us. The drive went by the River Shannon, past the Shannon airport and through Limerick but sadly it was getting dark and we did not stop. Ben kept us entertained and thinking by orchestrating several games of 21 questions. The winners of this contest were clearly Ben and Gary. Poor Jack tried to sleep but it's tight with three of us in the second row.
Our group of travelers were starting to get tense. Fortunately we arrived in Galway around 5:15 pm when it appeared darkest just after the sunset. Ben was done with navigating and found a parking lot so we could get out and get checked in. Of course the lot was not approved by hotel policies, so I forced Gary to move the car. None of this is easy. We struggled to get in and up the first parking lot, struggled to park and struggled to get out. We did find the hotel approved lot and that was even more challenging to get in. I have no idea how we didn't scrape our car. These parking lots are built for mini Coopers and not sport utility cars. But we got a spot and were set for the night.
At this point Gary was starting to feel tired and sick. Likely the pasta carbonara that he and Jack at the most of the night before was taking its toll on him. Fortunately for me both Ben and Madelyn were feeling up for dinner and exploring Galway.
On my agenda was Dough Bros pizza for dinner. Gary and I had passed it when we went to move the car and I saw a long cue outside the door. The place doesn't take reservations nor does it do take out. Ben and Madelyn were in for the wait. Along the walk we met a nice Irish chap who had also lived in San Francisco. He assured us that the pizza line would move fast and it was definitely worth the wait.
The line stretched in and out of the restaurant. Once we got in we were ready with our order - marinara, hot honey and pepperoni and jalapeno and pepperoni. We got a great table and perused the cookbooks decorating the walls. One was the Flour & Water book where we learned that they originators of SFs famous restaurant were Irish. FUN FACT! The pizzas were delicious and made with Irish cheese, organic locally sourced ingredients and perfect dough and crust. We pigged out on the three pies but did have some leftovers in case Gary was hungry.
Back at the Hotel Leonardo Galway, Gary was watching Irish news on CNN and Jack was still sleeping. Madelyn went back to check on him. Gary, Ben and I (Ben who was our new roomie) caught some Irish football on the tube and our crew who many had zero or negligible sleep from the night before went to bed. I think lights out were at 9:45 pm which was the earliest were were in bed for the past two weeks.
It was certainly an anniversary to remember!
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