Dennis Deery

The day we flew home from our Christmas visit to Wisconsin, we had the pleasure of meeting my niece Meghan coming in from her short visit to Germany. On break from school at UW-Platteville, she of course had to take advantage of the chance to visit Uncle Dennis and Aunt Kathleen while we’re overseas (just as I visited her mother in Germany when I was in college!). We were happy to have more company as it gives us the perfect excuse to get out and do more exploring here.

In this case we headed once again for Galway, where Meghan had a school friend doing a semester’s studies. We spent Saturday exploring Galway and the University, then took a drive out into Connemara, the area north and west of Galway. After dinner and a brief stop for some live music, it was off to bed early Saturday night. Sunday morning we were up before the sun (yeah, so the sun doesn’t come up until 8:30, it was still early). We headed back out to Connemara for some more exploring and searching for pictures. We had absolutely atrocious weather (what else is new), so my pics don’t do justice to what we saw. Connemara is just absolutely beautiful country. It’s very rough territory, covered with boulders and bogs. Though it’s seeing a lot of development pressure now from people building vacation homes, it still feels pretty unpopulated. And it’s laced all over with dry-stack stone fences, mile upon mile. The whole place really has a mystical feel to it, and not surprisingly is home to many of Ireland’s oldest legends and fairy tales. Kathleen and I both have decided that so far, this is our favorite part of Ireland - we’ll definitely be back for more exploring.

After a quick breakfast with Meghan’s friends, we headed down the coast to the Cliffs of Moher. These are the largest seaside cliffs in Ireland, and are located about 30 minutes south of Galway. The winter weather was in fine form yet again, and we explored the area while leaning into 40 MPH winds. The cliffs have been walled off to keep visitors back from the edge, but even with the high winds there were people foolish enough to hop the wall and stand right on the cliff edge - 700 feet above the North Atlantic! We headed for home near sunset, making the 4-hour drive across the country in the dark.

We spent the next few days showing Meghan around the home territory, and she did some exploring in Kilkenny on her own. I toured Waterford Crystal with her, having not done the tour myself. It’s really quite amazing to watch the artists at work here. The various artists, depending on whether they’re glassblowers, cutters or sculptors, spend from 5 to 10 years as apprentices. This is a company with a lot of long-term employees!

Finally we put Meghan on the train to Dublin for a couple of days exploring the city on her own, with her promise she’d do her best to get back and see us before we return home!

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