Our first meal & more

We got off the bus in Loughrea and Erinn's grandfather, Michael, was waiting for us. After introductions, we all got in the car and drove about 30 minutes to Erinn's grandparents home. Their home is wonderful. They live on the top of a small hill and own almost all the land surrounding it.
We walked into their home and were greeted by her granny(Mary), the dogs, and a home cooked meal. Erinn's grandmother cooked us a delicious Shepherd's Pie. It was so wonderful to have a home cooked meal from someone other than myself.
We all sat in the living room after dinner and talked for awhile before going to bed. I had the best night's sleep I've had so far in Europe that night. The bed is so comfortable in comparison to the one in my apartment. I awoke just in time to watch the sunrise.
Mary took the day off of work to be our personal tour guide and chauffeur. She cooked us a delicious breakfast complete with her special brown bread. Brown bread is extremely popular and common across Ireland but Erinn says her granny's is the best. So far, I agree!
Our first stop was Ennis. It's a cute town with a lot of great little shops. Erinn, Melony, and Lesly needed an ATM and Mary needed to stop at a shop there. We spent an hour exploring before getting back in the car to go to Lehinch. Lehinch is right in the beach. We all got out of the car but only Lesly and I went down to the water. I wanted to find some sea creatures and I did! I found a crab and lots of sea anemones and bivalves. Lesly found lots of shells.

We drove through Doolin on our way to the Cliffs of Moher. I've wanted to go to the Cliffs of Moher for a long time but even more after they were used for a scene in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I was blown away by how beautiful the cliffs really were. The pictures I've seen do not do them justice. We took a few group pictures before exploring. 

First we went up the right side of the path which leads to the closest tower to the entrance. We walked around the tower and marveled at the cliffs. From where we were standing, you can look down the entire left half of the cliffs. Along the path, there are signs telling people to not go over the wall but people do anyways to get "good" pictures. All of us were shocked at how many people were going over. There is about a 10 foot space before the edge past the wall but after that it's an 150 drop. Non of us wanted to risk that for a picture.
We headed back to the entrance to go down the left side. There are two paths along the cliff on the left side. One is the official designated path with a wall and one is on the other side of the wall closer to the edge. At first Melony and I were on the designated path, too afraid to go to the other path. But a few steps down the path we went over the wall to get a picture and stayed on that path till we went back to the entrance 2 hours later. We walked about an hour down the left side of the cliffs seeing new parts and rocks every time we came around a new bend. Once we got back to the entrance we realized we were just like the people we'd seen on the other side taking pictures over the wall.
We left the Cliffs of Moher and drove to Burren. In Burren there are miles and miles of sandstone rocks. We got out of the car and I climbed up a hill of them. At the top it is completely flat and there was a great view of the ocean. I could have stayed up there for at least an hour but the others were freezing cold so I reluctantly climbed down and got back in the car.
We left Burren and drove through Bally Vaughan on our way to Kinvara. In Kinvara Mary treated us to a lovely meal at one of her favorite restaurants. We tried to pay for ourselves but Mary wouldn't let us. On the way back to Mary's, we stopped at Canny's. Canny's is the local bar which is owned by Mary's best friend. Their family has been going there so long Mary's mom has a corner dedicated to her and anytime she comes in and someone is sitting in her corner, the people know to get up. After a few drinks, we went home and got in bed. 
Again this morning, Mary cooked us another delicious before dropping us off at the bus station. We caught a bus and just arrived in Galway for the day. I'm ready and excited for another day of exploring.