Jamie Thingelstad

Sunset over a field outside of Doolin.

We walked from our cottage to McGann’s Pub in Doolin for dinner, Guinness, and music. All of it was delightful!

Checking in at the Cottage at Doonagore Castle for our stay near Doolin, Ireland.

Tammy modeling her new Ireland made Jack Murphy coat found at Adare Manor.

Today we had a special event — [Afternoon Tea](Afternoon Tea) at Adare Manor. The last time Mazie and I went to an Afternoon Tea she was three and it was in London. Tammy and Mazie have done a couple of them in Minneapolis but not as grand. It was Tyler’s first tea experience.

We had the 1 PM seating at the Manor in the Great Hall. The room lived up to its name completely. Both Tammy and I added an Earl Grey Bellini (Earl Grey & Apricot infused Peach Liqueur, Champagne) to our experience. We started with the special 1832 Blend that is custom to Adare Manor. I thought it was amazing. Maybe better than my favorite Earl Grey.

For the sandwiches we had: Baked Limerick Ham with wholegrain mustard; Free Range Egg Mayonnaise with asparagus, quail egg, brioche; Duncannon Smoked Salmon with caperberry, lemon gel; St. Tola Goat Cheese & Cucumber with goat cheese & cucumber roll, candied walnuts. I was the only one that tried them all and they were good.

Tyler got the “kids tea” (technically he was too old for it but they didn’t care). His tea included varieties of Hot Chocolate. HIs sandwiches included Nutella and Peanut Butter, Ham, Sausage Roll, and Chicken Arancini.

For the scones course we switched to Earl Grey Darjeeling. The scones were amazing. Mazie enjoyed the lemon curd so much that she made all of it go away. Mazie liked the Earl Gray a bit better than the 1832 Blend. Tammy thought both of the first two teas were okay, but found the white tea that we had as a digestif to be more her liking.

Deserts were amazing and included: Lemon cake, vanilla cream cheese, strawberry gel; Chocolate Guinness sponge, cherry, chocolate coating; Coconut mousse, sponge, lime curd, lime sable; Mango crémeux, mango jelly, apple compôte, mascarpone vanilla Chantilly cream, choux pastry; Raspberry cranberry mousse & confit, pound cake, almond sable.

For desert I tried a third and final tea — Tom Crean Vanilla. Tammy had the White Ginger Pear.

We had a fabulous time. The entire experience was incredible and very memorable. By far our favorite of the limited tea experiences that we have ever had.

Last beach walk this morning in Ballybunion during low tide.

I am excited to see sync improvements to OmniFocus 4.3 for Apple Watch. The new watchOS app is very good but sync is always behind and makes it very difficult to use. Smart to use the iOS app as a sync speed up!

• Sync – When a paired iPhone is nearby, the watch app will now download recent changes from that iPhone prior to syncing with the sync server. This makes syncing faster and more reliable when the watch doesn’t have a fast connection to the sync server.
• Sync – The watch app now attempts to sync automatically whenever it detects that the iPhone app has newer data.
• Sync – Sync errors are now automatically resolved by the watch app.

It didn’t occurr to me that Ireland was going to have much longer days. We are used to Minnesota at 45 °N. Ireland is at 53 °N with over an hour of additional light. Still a far cry from Iceland at 62 °N and yet 5 more hours of light, but super noticeable with light well past 10 PM.

Weather: Windy, partly cloudy. Cool but pleasant. Very cold for water activities.

A rare unscheduled Thingelstad vacation day with open options.

• Breakfast at Marine Bakery & Cafe.
• Wandered around Ballybunion.
• Walked and explored along the beach for extended time.
• Lunch snacks.
• Attempt to book Surf School but too late.
• Back to beach and Tyler and Mazie got on suits and braved the very cold water a bit.
• Dinner at Namir’s.
• Walk the Cliff Walk.
• Head to McMunn’s per my Barber’s suggestion
• Return to Airbnb
• Mazie and Tyler explore the beach even more

Jump to day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 or see Ireland 2024 Collection.

We ended our evening at McMunn’s of Ballybunion on the recommendation of my barber. How is that? 💈

Before leaving for vacation I made a stop at Dick’s Sports Barbers and got my regular 3 week cut from Gene. Gene’s been cutting my hair for a decade. I sat down for a trim and shared we were going to Ireland for vacation. After a bit Gene mentioned that if we ended up in Ballybunion I should go to McMunn’s. I knew Ballybunion was already on our itinerary. “We will for sure be there!”

It turns out that Tony McMunn is an “Edina guy” as Gene put it — a successful business guy and he owns McMunn’s in Ballybunion. Tony got his hair cut at Dick’s Barbers for many years. Dick, the owner, and Gene, both use to cut his hair. Gene said he was a nice guy and now lives in Florida but he still owns this pub in Ballybunion.

So tonight we stopped in for a pint of Guinness and desert for the family. When checking out I asked the waitress if she knew Tony McMunn and she did. I shared the connection and all had a laugh.

I grabbed a few McMunn’s golf tees to bring back to Gene at Dick’s Barbers. ⛳️

After dinner at Namir’s we took the Cliff Walk for an evening stroll.

We took a big part of the day today to explore and wander around the beach at Ballybunion. It was cool and windy all day so not a day for warming yourself on the beach. Instead a day to explore to rock walls, investigate tide pools, examine jellyfish and crabs that were in the sand, attempt to escape the waves, and in general chill and relax. The water and waves were beautiful.

We enjoyed the day as the tide came in and the water eventually separated what used to be the Men’s and Women’s beaches. The tide moves the waterline about 100 meters in or out, and completely swallows a large rock outcropping.

Even though the weather was cool at 55 °F with heavy winds both Mazie and Tyler did eventually get swimsuits on and attempt to bogey board. I made Tyler stop when he was incessantly shivering.

Walking the beach in Ballybunion.

Weather: Windy and rainy today and very cool. Highs around 55 °F.

• Breakfast at The Shire. Waffles and French Toast.
• Finished packing and loaded car. Checked out of Airbnb.
• Drove to Ross Castle.
• Started raining as we boarded the Gap of Dunloe Traditional Boat Tour.
• Took boat 14 miles to Lord Brandon’s Cottage.
• Jamie gets Scone and Earl Grey Tea before we start hike.
• Depart on hike of the Gap of Dunloe.
• Ascend 3.5 miles up the road.
• 1:37 PM we reach the top point in the Gap of Dunloe and it is ridiculously windy.
• Descend 3.5 miles to Kate Kearney’s Cottage.
• Jamie gets Guinness, everyone else an ice cream.
• Dux from boat tours picks us and others up to return to our car at Ross Castle.
• Dinner at The Tan Yard.
• Drive to Ballybunion.
• Listen to Jamie’s interview on Omni Show on the way.
• Check into Breakers Beach Airbnb with amazing views.
• Unload luggage.
• Mazie and Tyler explore the very cold beach.
• Tyler returns and Tammy went out to collect Mazie.
• Watch sunset from living room.

Jump to day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 or see Ireland 2024 Collection.

The view from where we are staying in Ballybunion with the sun low in the sky behind the cliffs as the tide is out.

Today’s pint of Guinness from Kate Kearney’s Cottage after completing hike over the Gap of Dunloe.

We had an amazing time hiking the Gap of Dunloe today. We started at Lord Brandon’s Cottage and hiked up the steeper side. The first mile or two were pretty easy. Then the road tipped up as we went to the top. You walk the whole way on the road so it is easy stepping just a steady climb. You also need to watch out for cars, bicycles, and the horse-drawn jaunting cars. Plenty of sweating on the way up.

When we got to the top we took a family selfie holding on to the high point marker as the wind blasted us from the other side. I don’t know how strong the winds were but you could lean into them quite a bit. That wind persisted most of the way as we gradually dropped back down and finished the hike at 7.00 miles exactly at Kate Kearney’s Cottage.

We had an amazing time with Dux and Gap of Dunloe Traditional Boat Tour today going from Ross Castle to Lord Brandon’s Cottage to then hike the Gap of Dunloe.

Boats at Ross Castle readying to go out for the day.