Savannah, Georgia 2024 - Vacation

This year for our vacation we went to Savannah, Georgia. We tend to love older historic cities with the architecture, the history, and the lore that goes with the city. Savannah had plenty of all these things.

We got into town pretty late the first night. After checking in to the room, we went to the grocery store and got some breakfast foods and some snacks. Then we just relaxed for the night.

The next morning we did not have any plans and we just wandered the streets. We first walked down by the river and checked out all the little shops. I found a Blick Art Materials store and of course we had to stop in there and buy some art supplies. Then as we were walking around we checked out some of the squares with statues and monuments. These were such pretty little parks with so much history to learn. We even found the square where Forest Gump was recorded. Then we were a bit hungry and stopped at a little British Pub called Six Pence Pub. We got a drink and shared a Loaded Banger appetizer and a slice of chocolate cake. It was getting late so we headed back to the room. I took pictures of some of the holiday lights as we walked back.

On the second day we went and checked out the Prohibition Museum. Some of the things I learned throughout this museum are things we can look at today and see we are making the same mistakes with different policies. Also there was so much waste within this movement.

After the museum we went to a little pizza place called Vinnie Van Go-Gos and had a slice of pizza and a root beer. This pizza was so good and the slices were huge. We then wandered around some more until we got hungry again. We decided to try some bbq and went down to the District Smokehouse on the river. This place was good but a bit overpriced for what it was.

For our third day we decided to hop in the car and go check out Tybee Island. We went to the lighthouse and the little museum across the street. This was the third lighthouse we walked all the way up on. There was 178 steps to get up to the top. We definitely had to stop and take breaks but we did make it!

After the lighthouse we decided to go out to the outlet mall and do some shopping. We ate lunch at a little diner and then walked around the shops.

The fourth day we decided to go have breakfast out. We went to a place called Toast! All Day. We got some beignets and shared some biscuits and gravy. The food was so good here. After breakfast we walked around and we found the Colonial Park Cemetery. There were quite a few graves that were military from the civil war. There was a huge memorial and grave for Button Gwinnett who I did not realize was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. We also walked to the Old Harbor Light after learning about that from being at the big lighthouse the day before.

We made a reservation for the Ghosts and Graveyards tour for the evening so we went back to the room to rest for a bit.

Before we met up for the tour we went and had an Old Fashioned at the 17hundered09, which is a hotel, restaurant, and bar. It is supposed to be haunted. There were so many people in there we did not get any odd feelings being in there.

Then we walked to our meeting point for the tour. The Ghosts and Graveyards tour we interesting but a bit cheesy. They drive you around on a trolley and tell stories from the past. We also stopped at the Andrew Low house and museum. We learned about the history of the Low family and some of the hauntings that have occurred in the house. All the dolls throughout the house was probably the creepiest thing.

After that we got back on the trolley and headed to Perkin’s & Son’s Ship Chandlery. This was a neat experience. It was more of a performance style story telling along with lighting and sound effects. They actually got me with a couple jump scares.

Our last day here we took our time in the morning. Then we went out for lunch and tried this place called Spudnik’s, it was a potato bowl place. It was basically a twice baked potato, then put in a bowl with different toppings. I love me some good potatoes. After lunch we went and walked around some more. We walked past the Marriott that was down by the river and they had all these huge gemstones and fossils on display throughout the lobby. We went back to the room to do a little bit of packing and organizing for the ride home the next day. Then we decided to go to the roof of the building and take some pictures while the sun was setting. We went and got ramen at this anime inspired place called Yatai. It was so good and warming considering it was getting super cold outside.

We went back to the room and finished up some packing and watching movies. There was this weird ceramic plate hanging on the wall with a guy blowing a bubble. It was so weird because it was in the bedroom right next to the bed.

In the morning we ate breakfast, finished packing, and hit the road to head home. We stopped at Ford’s Garage for Lunch in St. Augustine. The food there is really good.

We had a great trip and look forward to planning the next one.

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Ireland 2023 - Cliffs of Moher, Galway, and Home

This will be the last blog for the Ireland Adventures…

The next day in Cork we got up and checked out of the hotel. We then loaded up the car and found a little coffee shop to get some a cappuccino and a scone.

We then hit the road and headed to the Cliffs of Moher. This was such an interesting drive as a lot of the roads were so narrow. The scenery was so beautiful though. We made it to the Cliffs and walked up one way and then back the other to get a good view of the two sides from the visitors center. We did not end up going any further than this because it was windy, cold and wet. It was such a beautiful view. Being from Florida which is so flat this was such a refreshing new look at the ocean and beach.

After our walk we were cold and hungry. We got some hot chocolate and sandwiches. I got a goat cheese and cranberry grilled panini and he got a sausage roll.

As we were leaving this raven let me take a bunch of pictures of him. Leaving from here we made our way to Galway. I took some pictures of the scenery, the sun setting, and a gas station with my name.

After checking into the hotel we walked around and did some shopping before the stores closed. There was this statue of the Galway Girl. Then we stopped for some dinner and we both got Shepherd’s pie. This was so good and there was so much of it. I tried my best to eat as much as I could but couldn’t finish it all.

In the morning we got up and went had breakfast at the hotel. We then checked out and had to make our way back to Dublin to fly out the next day. We took a detour and stopped to check out the Hill of Tara. This place was so neat and magical. There was a little girl walking with her Mom and she asked if we were there to look for the fairies. This made me think of my Mom and how she would have been looking for fairies and leprechaun’s the whole time. The shapes of the hill and being able to walk on them was so surreal to me. There was a statue of St. Patrick, a church, cemetery, and cross. One of the hills is called the Mound of Hostages which was a 5,000 year old passage tomb. There was also a standing stone which is called the Stone of Destiny. It was a bit wet and muddy to walk around. It is one of the oldest ancient sites in Ireland.

We stopped to have lunch at the little cafe there. I got a mocha latte and he got a cappuccino. Then we shared a sandwich and a brookie.

We then headed to our hotel near the airport. We found out the hotel had a shuttle to the airport so we decided to turn the car in that night instead of worrying about it in the morning. We took the car back and rode the shuttle back to the hotel. We decided to eat dinner in the hotel. I got a chicken sandwich and he got fish and chips. Of course he got a Guinness and I got an Orchard Thieves cider. After dinner we went back up to the room and repacked our suitcases to make sure everything fit comfortably.

The next morning we went to the airport early and checked out all the duty free shopping. Then it was time to head to the gate. It was pretty cool because Dublin has an American Customs pre-clearance. So once we went through that area we couldn’t leave it. The flight back home was a bit longer than the flight there. The food we ate on the plane wasn’t too bad. We got pretzel’s and a ginger ale. Then for dinner we got a feta salad, curry chicken and rice, a slice of soda bread and a white chocolate raspberry mousse. Then later in the flight we got a small ice cream. I ended up watch a couple of movies and tried to relax as best as I could.

When we got to Florida we had to get our bags and make our way to our car. Then we had a 2 hour drive home from there. It was a long day of traveling.

Ireland was such a beautiful place and I already miss it and can’t wait to go back and see some of the sites we missed because we didn’t have enough time. It felt like home there.

There were so many things that Ireland does that we don’t do here. They are more conscience about conservation. There is more accessibility there as far as the crosswalks having different sounds from when you push the button to when you can actually cross. All the menus not only had calorie counts but allergen information on them. They never take your credit card away from you and walk off with it, they actually bring a machine to the table. These machines all had the tap to pay feature on them. It feels like here at home the stores don’t have this feature as much.

Overall it was a great trip and I want to make sure we get more stamps on these passports then we did on our old ones.

I would love it if you had a chance to check out my little Etsy Shop. To keep up with new updates and upcoming sales join my Newsletter Here.

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Ireland 2023 - Cork

I have split up these blogs by the cities we visited while in Ireland. So there is one more blog to come.

The next morning in Kilkenny we got up and went down for breakfast. At breakfast they start off by bringing a little tray with a smoothie or juice shot, irish soda bread, and croissants. We both wanted to try the waffles so we decided to each order something different and shared. This was a really delicious breakfast.

We then finished packing and loaded up the car to head to Cork City.

This was a 2 hour drive. We got to the city and checked into the hotel. We were both hungry so we walked over to the English Market to see what that was about. I got a Toasted loin of bacon, scarmorza cheese with onion marmalade sandwich. It was so yummy. He got a chicken sandwich with a tarragon mayonnaise, this was also good. This place was really cool with all the stalls and different foods.

We then walked around and checked out the the city. We stopped and got some ice cream from Murphy’s. The ice cream we got was a chocolate whiskey. It was so creamy.

There was this cool store that took a picture of your eye and then made prints of the image. This is mine and the fiancé’s eyes together with an explosion technique added to it. I thought these were so cool!

Talking with the people at the eye place we were talking about where to eat for dinner. One of the places they suggested was Oliver Plunkett’s. I got a spice bag for my dinner and it was so good. It is basically fried chicken pieces, onions, peppers, and fries with a sauce on top. It was so delicious. There was a band playing and they were singing more modern music, more from the 90s then anything else.

Heading back to the hotel after dinner, seeing everything lit up was so pretty. There are so many little streets and alleys to discover here in Cork.

In the morning we got up and went downstairs for breakfast. That chocolate croissant was really good.

I took a picture of this switch in the hotel. Most of the hotels we stayed at had these. So basically you had to put your key card in the slot to access the electricity in the room. I thought this was so ingenious for conserving energy.

We then headed to the must see Blarney Castle. This is where some of my ancestry is from. It was so interesting to see how they lived back in the fifteenth century. I felt a sense of being home here.

There was a whole poisonous garden with different plants and little plaques that explained how the plant is poisonous. And yes that is a marijuana bud, which I thought was interesting. I took so many pictures of the different plants but did not want to bore you with all the pictures and some of them I couldn’t remember which plant was which.

Heading through this entrance it felt like you were entering through a portal. Everything through here felt like a fairytale. There were plaques that explained all the areas. There was a fairy garden, a huge table, witch stone, wishing stairs, witch kitchen, a dolman, and the seven sisters standing stones.

Walking back up to the castle we found this cave. This was a passageway for people to escape from attacks. It was so muddy down there that we did not go to far in.

Heading back out to leave, there was so much more to see on the grounds but it was getting late. You could definitely spend most of a full day here. In the gift shop I bought this beanie. I am so glad I got it, it was so cold in many places after this. We went across the street to a little pub and had a drink and a sandwich. I must have been pretty hungry as I did not take a picture of the sandwich.

We drove back to the city and walked around checking out some of the little shops and fun things. This donut was really soft a fluffy, and it wasn’t as sweet as we have here in the States. The statue is of the onion seller. I am not sure on the story of this one but I liked the statue. There was this little metaphysical store that looked straight out of Harry Potter. There were so many businesses with the McCarthy name (this is my heritage). The last statue was a memorial to the men who fought and died in the Wars of Ireland.

We ended up deciding on pizza for dinner. This pizza was was pretty spicy and the dough was so soft. There is something about the bread over in Ireland. It is soo good! The fiancé had a sweet tooth so we ordered room service.

I really loved Cork. There was so much to see and not enough time to see it all. We are definitely wanting to go back and spend more time here.

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Ireland 2023 - Kilkenny

I have split up these blogs by the cities we visited while in Ireland. So there are several more blogs to come.

The next day in Dublin was Halloween. We got up and had breakfast in the hotel. I decided to make an egg and bacon sandwich. We then hit the road and headed to Kilkenny. When doing the research on where to go in Ireland, Kilkenny was on my radar because it was the oldest medieval city in Ireland. Also a big selling point was the pub that was originally owned by a women that was accused of witchcraft.

When we got to Kilkenny we checked into the hotel and decided to walk around. We came across this little pub and split a club sandwich. I for the life of me can not remember the name of this pub. The sandwich and fries were really good though.

We went and checked out the Kilkenny Castle. This was such a beautiful place. I loved that there were roses still bloomed in the garden.

Walking around we came across a couple of statues. Nothing in particular about these statues I just liked the artistry of them.

We then went to the Smithwick’s Experience and learned all about the history and brewing process of this irish red ale. We did learn that Smithwicks got its start from monks. They were not able to drink the water so the monks boiled the water with the addition of barley. This tour was really neat with some fun technology with talking and moving pictures. At the end we did get a free pint.

That night we went to Kyteler’s Inn. This is the pub that I was most interested in going to. The woman that owned the pub back in the 1300s, ended up being accused of witchcraft and fled the area. I got the traditional lamb stew and the fiancé got bangers and mash. The food was really good! I got this beer that was called witch’s brew but it was a bit to hoppy for me. We then moved over to the bar and waited for the live music to start. Here we had an irish coffee, and I tried a new cider called Orchard Thieves. This became my new favorite cider while we were in Ireland. The little skeleton dude was looking down at me when we were sitting at the bar. I guess he was looking over me!

The next day I didn’t take a picture of our breakfast but I got another traditional irish breakfast and still did not mind the black pudding. The fiancé wanted to go check out more of the country side so we drove out to the Dunmore Cave. On our way there we came across this little cemetery. I love old cemeteries.

The Dunmore Caves were just down the road from the little cemetery. Looking down into the cave was a bit overwhelming with all the stairs. They said there were over 700 steps on these stairs throughout the cave. It was neat learning the history of the cave and seeing all the formations. They believed that the Vikings used this cave as a type of burial ground because of the bones and trinkets that were found.

I was interested in seeing where Cartoon Saloon’s offices were here in Kilkenny. This animation studio makes some of the most beautiful cartoon’s about irish folklore. I was kind of hoping there was a merchandise store within the city, but there wasn’t. There was some really awesome murals from the artwork of Wolfwalkers though.

Right next to Cartoon Saloon was St. Mary’s Cathedral. This church was gorgeous both inside and out.

We stopped and got pretzels and coffee, then continued to walk around and explore the city. This is the first time I have ever seen swans in the wild.

When walking by this building that said Left Bank. I thought it was an actual bank. It turns out it was a restaurant. Of course I got an Orchard Thieves cider and a burger with fries. The fiancé got a Guinness and ribs with corn and slaw. The food was really good. The burger was different than what we get here in the states. It seemed to have less fat in it and was a bit more dense, but overall it was good.

When we walked to the restaurant we passed this area and there were a bunch of birds making a ruckus. On the way back to the hotel, it was quiet. I thought the birds left but if you look close they are nestled into the vines and sleeping. I thought this was so cool, I had never seen anything like it.

Kilkenny was such a wonderful little city. It reminded me a bit of St. Augustine here in Florida. There is more to come as we also visited Cork, Galway and our trip back to Dublin and then home.

I would love it if you had a chance to check out my little Etsy Shop. To keep up with new updates and upcoming sales join my Newsletter Here.

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Ireland 2023 - Travel & Dublin

Ireland has been a bucket list travel destination for as long as I can remember. We actually planned and booked the trip back in 2020 but we were not able to go because of Covid. This year we were able to make it happen. It is the first time I have ever traveled abroad.

The flight was an overnight trip. We left Saturday night and arrived Sunday morning. Thank goodness we arrived at the airport on time, because my dummy head kept messing up the conversion from the 24hr time. For some reason I kept thinking that take off was at 10:20 pm and it was 8:20 pm. I felt so embarrassed by this.

Below is a picture of the Full Moon and Orlando lit up as we took off. After take off they offered drinks and I got a Sprite. The Sprite that was giving was different than what we have here in the States. It was not as sweet and you could tell it used a different sweetener in it. Then we were served dinner. It was a beef stew with carrots and potatoes, a pasta salad with cucumber, feta cheese, and olives, a slice of bread with Kerrygold butter, and a chocolate mousse for dessert. It really wasn’t too bad.

After that they turned down the lights and let everybody rest. I watched a couple of movies, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and then I put on Nightmare before Christmas. I was able to doze off a bit but it was not a good sleep.

As it got closer to landing we woke up and I opened the window to see the sun rising. They served us a toasted egg, sausage, and cheese sandwich, which I found to be really good. As we were landing I took some photos and happened to get a rainbow in one of the photos. It was so pretty seeing all the green fields.

After we landed we went through customs, got our bags, then went to rent the car. Driving in Dublin was very interesting. We decided we were just going to keep going until we just couldn’t go anymore.

Our first stop of course was the Guinness Storehouse. There was so much to see in this place. It showed the history, how it is made, and the history of marketing for Guinness.

We paid extra to take a class on how to pour the perfect pint. We both did amazing and got certificates to take home for completing the class.

There was also free beer tickets for the Gravity bar at the very top of the building. It was so cool to be able to look out over the city of Dublin. I decided to try the Guinness Zero because I got a bit of a buzz already from the first one. While we were up there another rainbow appeared. It was the brightest rainbow I think I have ever seen, the pictures do not do it justice.

We then decided to go to the Jameson Distillery since it was’t that far from the Guinness Storehouse. We were hungry but couldn’t figure out a place to go to eat. This tour was full of a lot of information on the history of whisky making in Ireland and then the process of how it is made. We got a free mixed drink, which we both chose a Jameson and Ginger Ale, and we got to taste a few different kinds of Jameson. You can see the ruins of the old facility in little windows on the floor. The sign Sine Metu means “without fear” and I just love that as a motto.

We then went to find our hotel. What a drive that ended up being! There was a lot of local events going on with it being close to Halloween so some of the roads that we had to take were blocked off. We ended up traveling all around the city to finally get to the hotel. By the time we checked in and figured out where to park we were both starving. We looked for a pub but there wasn’t one that served food near the hotel. We found this Fish and Chips fast food restaurant and decided to get food to go. This fish and chips were huge, it was so much food. I got a fish sandwich and chips with salt and vinegar. I’m not sure if it was that we were so hungry but the food was really good. We ended up passing out around 8:30 pm.

We got up the next morning and headed down for breakfast in the hotel. I did try the traditional Irish breakfast with a little of everything. I did eat the black pudding. I actually didn’t mind the taste, although the texture is drier then I expected. We decided we were going to just walk the streets today and explore.

I did see pictures of this alley with umbrellas overhanging. I was surprised when we fell upon it as we were exploring. I had to get some pictures!

This is St. Andrew’s Church and the statue of Molly Malone. I really love the architecture, especially on the old churches. I definitely wanted to take a photo of the Molly Malone statue. It makes me thing of my Nana and how she used to sing the song to us growing up.

I wanted to go into the old library at Trinity College. When we got there you had to buy tickets online and the only time slots were a couple of hours out. We decided to go eat lunch instead. I have seen pictures of the library and it would have been an amazing experience. We ended up at a pub called Kennedy’s, I got a Bulmers Cider and a BLT. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about a BLT with their bacon but it was surprisingly good. The fiancé got a Guinness and a lamb burger.

The city of Dublin holds a Bram Stoker Festival for Halloween. There are events all over the city. We decided to check out Stokerland at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. This was a small little festival with food trucks, vendors, and there was a juggling performer. It also looked like they had craft stations setup, but we got there toward the end of the festival.

This church was so beautiful.

We then checked out the Dublin Castle. The architecture and statues were so unique. I especially loved the lion statue in the middle of the courtyard and the lion head on the doorknob.

We were getting a little tired of walking around and stopped for a hot chocolate and churros. I had read about this parade before we left home for Ireland. This is something I really wanted to check out. It was raining and it took awhile for the parade to start. The story of the parade is of La Loba, a wild wolf-woman, who wanders the world collecting bones and preserving that which is in danger of being lost to the world. There is more to the story about an ancient witch and her wolf. The artistry behind this parade was phenomenal. This parade, although small, was better than anything I have seen in here in the States.

On the long cold and wet walk back to the hotel, we came across the legendary Temple Bar. This place was packed and as we turned the corner there was The Whiskey Reserve, which is the newest part associated with Temple Bar. This area was pretty quiet so we stopped in and had an irish coffee to warm up a bit. After our coffee’s we walked back to the hotel. I took a picture of this building with vines growing up it. I love the way this looks.

I figured we would be so tired from all the walking but I think the coffee kept us up for a bit. Dublin was such a fun city and I would love to go back. There was so much to see and not enough time to get to everything.

I would love it if you had a chance to check out my little Etsy Shop. To keep up with new updates and upcoming sales join my Newsletter Here.

Thank you so much for taking a look and if you would like to see my work in progress pictures or just some creative randomness you can follow me on Instagram and Facebook.