Day 2: Across the green to the west

Sorry we didn't get a chance to post on Wednesday, but things were a blur.  Let us summarize day 2 (Wednesday) as follows:  great drive from Dublin to Bonduran, Donegal, and we thought Ballyshannon and Donegal Town were very pretty and interesting.  We had our first taste of the one lane, shrub bordered highways we've heard about.  They're actually fun.  Okay, in all honesty, Carrie's palpitations were audible. 

Irish "highway"



Irish "lovers"


Our hotel in Bundoron was awesome but the town has lost some of it's luster over the years, I'd guess.  It was great to see the ocean and our room had a great view.  A consistent theme in our trip seems to be if you talk to people you get amazing amounts of help and friendship in return.  Barry, our bartender/manager at the Dublin hotel connected us with his dad (Peter) who lives near Ballyshannon, and he was amazing.  We met with him and he drew us a basic treasure map of exploration in NorthWest Donegal.  Even involved knocking on a farmer's door and borrowing his rowboat to go out on his lake and see "an anchient mystery as amazing and old as the Pyramids".  Now, that being said, we never got to follow his guidance as we had the most amazing diversion (but we'll leave you hanging on that until tomorrow).  Here's a picture of Donegal Castle in Donegal Town (FYI, the DON in Donegal comes from O'Donnell which is our Irish family ancestry).  It was very pretty and I had a Red Hugh (O'Donnell) beer at the pub next door.  Since we are O'Donnell descendents, we're a pretty big deal around here ;)

Real Irish Castle (of the O'Donnell clan)