As the bus left the Cliffs of Moher we headed down towards the city of Limerick where Troop 3 unloaded their luggage into the Jury’s Inn Hotel and I made my way to the George Boutique Hotel just a few blocks  over on O’Connell Street.

Around 7:30 PM we all loaded onto another bus and took a trip to a meetinghouse north of Limerick in Meelick where the Troop 3 Scouts had a cookout with the scouts from Meelick.  It was great watching everyone slowly begin to interact with each other.  The kids were shy at first, but we all expected that.  It reminded me of an 8th grade dance where the boys are on one side of the hall and the girls are on another.  But Mike Ryan, the leader or the Meelick scouts, started up a few games and a campfire and once everyone was singing songs the kids all seemed to feel comfortable together.

As we left I heard one of the girls from the Meelick group tell one of the Troop 3 scouts to send her back a box of Lucky Charms – a sure sign that the American scouts had interacted with the Irish ones.

This night was special for me because I got to see a lot of people that I met during my first trip over to Ireland back in 1999 that i haven’t seen since, such as Mike Ryan, his wife, his daughters Hazel and Rachel, and quite a few others.  Mike pointed out to the scouts that I was the first exchange scout to say that I’d come back and then actually do it. 

At night a bunch of the leaders from both troops met at the bar in the Jury’s Inn.  I went for a bit, then headed out to a bar called Molly’s with Rachael and a few of her friends.

The bus driver for Troop 3 was nice enough to let me hitch a ride with them despite insurance concerns, so I was able to take an incredible tour of The Burren and the Cliffs of Moher.  It was great getting a bit of history  from the tour guide while seeing all the sights.  It was also kind of cool driving past the area I have pictured on the top of this website.  My brother and Randy seemed to recognize it. 

We spent a good hour at the Cliffs of Moher.  They’ve finally completed all the construction so it was much more pleasing to see than it was the last time I came.  It was great to have my brother Kevin see all the places that I love so much.  I swear this part of the country is heaven on earth.  You couldn’t believe how incredible it looks until you’ve seen it with your own eyes.

I’m taking a quick break in Galway right now.  I’m currently sitting in coffeehouse named Mocha Beans.  I’ve only got a few minutes of internet access, so I’ll have to hold off on the full update until later tonight when I head back to Limerick.  But here’s a few pictures from the past 24 hours.

This last shot is in Galway.  These are some of the people I met.  The two guys are from Germany and the girl, whose name is Laura, is from nearby Liverpool, England.

Alright so soon after I landed Richie Hayes picked me up from Shannon airport.  After a quick chat he immediately drove me up to the top of this hill where I could see an unbelievable view of the Shannon region and Limerick.  He was able to point out three different counties to me.  Seriously, the view was unreal.  It was incredible.  There was a thick fog moving quickly up the hill so we didn’t have very long to take pictures.  One of them I posted the other day.  He told me how they used to hang people up on top of that hill back in the very early 1900’s…. pretty damn amazing.

From there we ventured up to Limerick University where I checked out some old abandoned mill and took a few pictures.  Richie had to head to work so Tom and i walked around Limerick for a bit before I jumped on a bus headed towards Galway.  It was just a 2 hour ride… but I knew I was going to fall alseep instantly, and I did.