Slight Detour: Ireland Fall 2025; Day Eleven

Happy Halloween from our cottage in Kenmare.

It's our friend Catherine's birthday today, and now we know why she loves Halloween so much.

I've dedicated all the photos above from various places in Ireland to Catherine on her special day.

We asked one of the servers last night at the Brew House Pub and Restaurant what Halloween is like in Kenmare. He said if it doesn't rain, it's very robust and the town is popping with costumed creatures and kids (probably of all ages) looking for treats.

Since we don't have any costumes, 'cept for our usual looks, we'll cautiously watch the action and maybe stay in our cottage, which is not too accessible for trick or treaters.

It should be a fun day watching the Irish traditions here.

Yesterday was not the most fun day ever spent in Ireland. If you were a duck, you probably loved the day. For humans, not so fun but very, very wet.

We drove to Baltimore, which is on the coast in County Cork. The highlight of the visit: getting wet while walking to the public toilets.

Otherwise, the beauty that our kids experienced when they visited in the spring was not too apparent through the wind, fog and rain.

The wind was strong, so much so, that a tree blew over on the main road leading into Baltimore, so we had to take a detour through the farmland.

The rain did stop long enough for us to walk the main street of Bantry on the way back.

On our way to Baltimore, we stopped at Molly Gallivan's Cottage on a beautiful hillside not far from Kenmare. We have stopped there many times before.

On one beautiful October day and our first visit, we met Tara Tinder, a travel consultant and guide from Wisconsin. Tara and her group had stopped to shop and enjoy a cup of tea and some sweets.

A friendship was instantly forged, and soon afterward, when we were flying back to the USA via Chicago, who was on our plane? Tara.

That was back in the day when travel had just begun again after the Pandemic. Our plane was almost empty.

Anyway, Tara and I have continued to follow each other's yearly adventures to Ireland, and when we arrived at Molly's yesterday, I, of course, thought of that first meeting.

While at the gift shop, we had a wonderful conversation with the clerk and soon found out that her daughter and John Adams' daughter are good friends.

So, of course, we told a few John Adams stories and reviewed Willie's basketball clinic, which John coordinated.

Small town flavor in Ireland has become more and more apparent and enjoyable for us small towners from Idaho.

Our evening last night kinda made up for a miserable day. The rain had let up when we walked Main Street to go to dinner at the Brew House.

First, we met a nice Kenmare native with his beautiful red and white Border Collie. He told us he was 53 and had lived here all his life. He also gave us several tips about which restaurants and bars were the best.

As we moved on, I suggested we cross the street and see if our friends Vince and Mary were at PF McCarthy's. I had no more than said it when Vince suddenly appeared with some friends having some smokes outside the restaurant.

He went in, summoned Mary and we did a little catch-up on the sidewalk before saying good bye and heading on to dinner.

Our server was a nice young lady from the Czech Republic. Her name is Christine and she's been in Kenmare for about four months. When I told her that we lived on a farm in Idaho, her eyes lit up.

Maybe we'll hear from Christine again sometime.

Bill has just gone for a walk and it looks like for now the rain has stopped. A 95-percent chance of rain today does not give us much confidence about spending time outside, but we've got our rain pants.

Since this is our last day before returning to Dublin where we'll once again meet Willie and Debbie, we'll make the most of this Halloween in the country that inspired the holiday.

Happy Halloween to all, especially Catherine, the birthday girl.

Enjoy the photos and scroll to the classic "Fields of Athenry."