Black Friday in Ireland

This morning we woke up at 7am and it was very difficult getting out of bed! The only thing about this Friday that makes it black is the darkness outside! There are no people driving madly to and from the stores because there is only two grocery stores in the little town of Clifden. And the gift shops and clothing stores are experiencing black Friday because they are still dark because they are still closed! I believe the insanity of Black Friday is an American Icon, of course it is...

Travis told us to skype on Thanksgiving Day so we did! It was great to see Travis, Carleigh, Shelly, Tina, Cassidy, Haley and Emma!!!! Missed you all and  missed the Turkey! Sounded very good!

We did have a Thanksgiving dinner are Misty's house while we were in Pittsburgh and it was delicious! Sitting around the table with Thomas, Misty, Elyssa, Jackson, and McKenna was so very nice! So enjoyable visiting back and forth!  I also cooked a Thanksgiving dinner on the Saturday before we left and My brother and his wife Jo and my niece Teea and her boyfriend Bryce and last but not least my nephew Adam came over and ate with us and we played a couple of games! So maybe that is why I didn't really miss Thanksgiving! We had it early this year!!!

But the only reason we are up at 7:15 am is because we have the longest drive of our time in Ireland, 150 miles , which is going to take us 3 hours and we need to get to the castle to enjoy our time there!

So we go down for breakfast and this morning there aew no pancakes or french toast or eggs benedict, so I ate porridge! Healthy!

Porridge and brown bread and tea!

 Breakfast room!

 This is a house behind our B&B, I thought it was so cool!

 On the road again,,,as you can see we had a little rain and it is a little cloudy!

 But beautiful it still is!

 How would you like to live here!

  In Ireland and Scotland, lakes are called lochs.

Pardon the fuzzy pictures, Bud was driving and I was taking pictures! We didn't have the time to pull over, because we wanted to get to the Castle. When one is planning a trip such as this, one doesn't take into consideration for potty stops, hunger stops, gift shop stops, gas stops (not very many of these, small car) and photops! So this drive I said to myself no stops for pictures or shopping!!!

It worked!

But the pictures are not as good and I don't get the souvniers that I normally do! But that is good cause I am on the first leg of the journey still time for shopping!

But as you can see Ireland is green no matter where we go.

Kylemore Abbey was built as a private home for Henry Mitchell and his wife. He was a wealthy doctor and his family owned a textile manufacturing company in Manchester England. It took 4 years for 100 men to build it! It has 70 rooms, 33 which are bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, a gunroom, library, ballroom, billiard room... It is 40,000 square feet. In 1920, the Benedictine Nuns bought it when there Abbey in Belguim was destroyed in the First World War. They continued to  offer education to Catholic girls, opened up an International Boarding School and established a school for local girls. They were forced to close the school down in 2010. They still own the property for tours and such.

The town of Donegal!

Donegal Castle

It was built in 1474 by Hugh O'Donnell wealthy chief of the O'Donnell Clan. This castle was regarded as one of the finest Gaelic Castles built in Ireland. It is right in the center of town!