Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving started bright and early. John Nolen was ready to pick us up at 6am. We then drove to Delaney's Pub to pick up the students. That is always the meeting place for trips. All of the students live within walking distance from their schools, which are all south of the city. The drive to Delaney's can take 45 minutes or so, but that early on a Thursday morning we made it in 25 minutes. The students came from all directions out of the darkness dragging their luggage for the four day trip.

Our drive out of the city and across the middle of Ireland was nothing impressive, I must say. It looked very much like the view from I-80 on my treks across PA during the summer months. Lots of green grass, a few houses, and cows and sheep scattered about. I think I nodded off during the early hours. Actually, truth be told, I was out cold.

We stopped for an Irish breakfast around 9am. We had the typical eggs, sausage, bacon, blood pudding (not me!), scones, etc. We drove a bit more to Limerick. We drove past the University of Limerick, where SRU has a fall exchange program with their PE majors. I had three Irish students in class this fall. It was great to see where they came from. We stopped at King John's Castles and spent some time wandering the grounds. When I finally get my pictures uploaded I will be sure to include a few. We were blessed with a bit of sunshine during the visit, as it rained throughout the day. It rains throughout most days, actually. That does lead to some wonderful rainbows!

From Limerick we drove to Adare where we stopped so everyone could find their family name. I did find my mother's maiden name, Finn. It was a fast stop. Onward we went to Tralee. We had a few hours to visit the museum and do some shopping (in the rain!). Since we were in county Kerry, I was on a mission to find some article of clothing with Kerry on it. That is my brother's name, although we pronounce it "Curry" in eastern PA. I found him a scarf. Not as cool as perhaps a Kerry rugby shirt, but what are the odds that he would really wear something with his name across his chest?

We checked into the Tralee Townhouse, a small private hotel around 5pm and had a chance for some R & R prior to our 7:30pm Thanksgiving dinner. We had reserved the second floor of a local pub where we were served a very good three course dinner of soup, turkey, ham, stuffing, vegetables, baked pototatos and apple pie for dessert. The highlight of the meal was a local man, Derry, who played what he considered American favorites (Yellow Rose of Texas and the National Anthem, among others) on his accordian. All 31 individuals (minus Derry who just smiled and drank his Guinness) shared what they were thankful for as the evening drew to a close. It turned out to be a pretty good Thanksgiving, even without a football game to watch.