So we woke up in the morning and I prepared to make the dreaded call to the car rental company as Jenn and Nolin played with the cousins. This was going to be fun since they were already scared to rent the car to me in the first place. I felt like a little kid telling his parents he just broke something.
I started off the call with Hi, this is Patrick O’Brien I rented the Polo from you all the other day…and well, while we were driving, we had a minor issue. Looking back I probably made it sound worse than a flat tire and you could literally hear her heart sink on the other end of the phone. Again, this was the girl that was so nervous to rent the car to me that she needed to make sure I knew how to turn the key in the ignition.
I explained the situation, and she just asked me to come in and they would fix it so that I would have a good spare tire…no problems. Well, I think the hole is a little too big to be fixed I explained, so I will probably just need to buy a new tire.
When I got there, you could still tell she was nervous and overly talkative to me as she kept apologizing for it taking too long. That is when she really scared me. It must have seemed like an innocent comment, but she asked how we liked Slieve League. It was like that moment in the movie when you realize who the killer is because they should never have known that information. I sort of looked at her with a strange look, but replied it was nice.
Realizing that she had just totally freaked me out, she tried to explain that on her way home she saw us and then followed up with I mean I saw the car…awesome these people have GPS on me and are following us around...I didn’t realize that I was renting a car from the CIA or to be more proper the G2.
A few minutes later the tire was fixed and I was on my way and determined to have no further car issues. A little freaked out about Big Brother watching me, and running late with an unintended pit stop, we decided to stay much closer to home on this outing. We went to Solis Lough Eske Castle in Donegal. It was a castle that they built additions to and made into a 5 star hotel.
Obviously we weren’t staying there, so we didn’t have a chance to explore inside too much, but Nolin loved the grounds, and I am sure that all the people relaxing in the spa loved the fact that he picked up every rock he saw and threw it into the peaceful serene fountain.
They also had a lot of very random statues, that Nolin enjoyed. He was especially fond of the naked lady statue…while it may have been inappropriate for us to take pictures you really couldn’t help but laugh.
We decided it was time to make our way home and as we were getting in the car this little old lady caught my attention as she was waiving us down. I walked over to see what she needed all the while thinking she was sent by the car company and was here to see if I had done any more damage to the car. She then asked if we wouldn’t mind sitting with her because her friends had walked in and she was scared. On account of the random dragon and deer statues outside the castle, I could see how it was pretty scary, so we agreed. She was a fan of Nolin, and we talked to her until her friends eventually came back.
We made our way back home in time for another great home cooked Irish dinner. That night, one of Jenn’s cousins stayed at the house after Nolin went to sleep so that we could join some of the other cousins to see Bridesmaids. I wasn’t expecting to like it as much as I did, but it was really good. It was even funnier as her cousins thought that it was a true depiction of how all American weddings are (maybe minus the dress fitting scene).
The next day we were packing up early and heading to Sligo to visit Jenn’s family and brother who live over there. It was not too far away, but there were also some great places to stop along the drive like Bundoran…the surf capital of Ireland.
I was excited for this outing…if only I realized how this trip would have turned out we may have planned it differently.
Our Modern Family 