Kennedy Family Travels

Finally the Kennedys landed in Dublin! Progress!! We now had about 10 hours before the flight to Berlin. So, in true Kennedy fashion, we stowed our bags at the Smarte Carte station at the airport and headed to Grafton Street in Dublin. Coffee was our first thought, so off to Starbucks we went!

While we were finally spending time outside the airport, the Hursts were embarking upon the Berlin walking tour. There were many highlights and Patrick the tour guide was accredited with 94, 876 “ok oks” throughout the tour!! Luckily they shared the knowledge with us the next day❤️

By the end of the day the Kennedy family was on their Aer Lingus flight into Berlin! The reunion was eminent!

After greeting us at Hotel Berlin with beers and planning, everyone was ready to hit the hay and prepare for a long day of travel to Poland. Exhausted but excited, here we go!!

Honestly, the title is probably one of many Vacation trilogy references in this post. Because right now, we truly are in that 9th level of hell. Also known as the Charlotte Airport. Where I have been sitting, waiting, hoping, and praying to finally embark upon a winged goddess, also known as a 747, and fly through the blue skies to Dublin. Alas, it has not happened yet. So here we sit, since 6:45 yesterday evening.

The trip started out well enough. We made it to CVG without much ado, loaded up, and made it rather quickly to Charlotte. Then things changed.

After landing, we found our gate and headed that way. Joe and I sat down for refreshments and the boys grabbed coffee. And the first delay came. Fine, it’s an hour. Then, after about 45 minutes, the second delay. Thirty minutes. We got this. Little did we know….. Next delay to 10:55 (originally we were to take off at 9:10). Then, hey, let’s board this puppy. Ok, everyone lines up. Oh hold up there folks, the moose needs to check the plane first and make sure it’s ready. At this point, I’m chatting with the gate agent about boarding tips. Found out she’s from Poland and grew up in Germany. She tried to help. As we were chatting, I see the pilots leave the plane. Crap. I’ve been reading enough about American Airlines I know what is happening next. “Folks, the moose at the front said we’re going to try to get pilots and take off at 2:00 AM.” Sure. Because not two minutes later, we hear “Folks, I’m sorry to say we’re delayed until 7:00 pm tomorrow. Oh, and because it’s late, there are no hotels available!”

So we line up to get another flight to salvage our Saturday and Sunday. No go. I break out in hives. Joe and I try to find alternatives because we have an Aer Lingus flight at 5:00 out of Dublin to Berlin. I go back down to try to get into Frankfurt. Nope. Has to be within 300 miles of Dublin. The boys have walked the entire airport 16 times now. Patience is gone. We’re defeated. So the boys go to find us seats for the night.

We were up all night. Meanwhile we have Todd and Dee trying to cancel and handle things in Berlin. Joe had to rebuy our flights to Berlin. We miss the walking tour we were so looking forward to doing. This has been rough. Noise cancelling headphones are miracles. Honestly, I’m pretty sure you can smell me from the pictures.

So at this point we start day 2 still in Charlotte hoping we get out at 7:00 tonight. Panera bagels to refuel. A long day of waiting is ahead. As Seamus said, “Things are going to turn around now!” Hopefully we don’t Heck it up-yes, we love The Middle. Watch it.

Here’s hoping the moose at the door changes the sign tonight.

Today we headed down to Stanley Village for breakfast at You Need Pie! We all know I love pie, but I restrained myself and didn’t have pie for breakfast 😉. We did have some really good food though!!

Next we picked up water at Safeway and wandered around the hotel for a bit before heading down to shop in Estes Park. Not much has changed and there are lots of little shops to peruse. We even found an Irish pub where we will have dinner tonight!!

The staircase

Now we were heading back up the mountain to hike a bit more. This time we headed in through the Fall River entrance and up to Deer Mountain trailhead. It was much colder today, but I saw the forecast and by Sunday it’s supposed to be 80! The sun came out though and it was great. The wind was whistling and although we didn’t reach the summit we had some great views. Next we drove up to Many Curves lookout, and there the road closed. Trail Ridge Road will not open again until May. I was secretly hoping we could sneak up, but no luck’

Next it was back to the hotel to get ready for our Shining Tour of the hotel that evening. We checked out the grounds a bit and had a glass of wine at the 217 Wine Bar with the most magnificent views you can find. Then it was tour time! I’ll let the tour photos tell the tale, but we did learn there had been a bear at the hotel foraging in the trash the night before!!! I wish we would have witnessed that scene!!!

The Halloween game was strong at the Stanley

Little children ghosts run here

Joe and I embarked upon an anniversary adventure to Estes Park, Colorado for a long weekend. We are even staying at the famously scary Stanley Hotel. Growing up, I travelled to this majestic town every summer with my family, but I hadn’t been out since 1988. While some things have definitely changed, there’s a lot that hasn’t!

Frontier flew us here pretty uneventfully and the sun was just coming up when we arrived. We grabbed our little Bronco rental car and headed for the mountains.

The drive was pretty much as I remembered it to be; once you turn in Lyons, you’re really on your way up along the Big Thompson River. It’s weird what your mind can recall!!

Aside from a new roundabout, everything looked familiar! The Holiday Inn we stayed in multiple nights is even still here! My picture of that turned out terrible so I’ll try again later!

After coffee and some nourishment we were off to Rocky Mountain National Park to hike before check in to the hotel. They couldn’t renew our pass due to the government shutdown, but the rangers on duty were awesome and friendly. Off we headed to Bear Lake trailhead, where I remember hiking as a kid. I’m not sure how my parents put up with us on those hikes😉

Off we go. No he did not walk that far ahead. I was taking pictures. Shocker

The trip back down the mountain was much easier and we decided we were up for a bit more hiking so we headed up to Alberta Falls. Everyone on the trails was friendly and kind; it’s such a fun thing to experience!

Now it was time to check in to the Stanley Hotel. Somehow I didn’t get any outside pictures yet so I will do that today! The hotel is beautiful and lots of Halloween decorations abound. The hotel staff are all dressed as well. Tomorrow we have our The Shining Tour and I’m sure that won’t disappoint! Dinner was at The Post here on the grounds of the hotel and was amazing. We stopped at the bar Cascades for a quick drink before exhaustion overtook us for the night. More hiking in the Park tomorrow!!

Today we had a true Irish day: rain! Joe tried to convince me it was a fine, soft rain. Nope. It was rain. Big drops. And wind!! I broke down and bought an umbrella to try to stay a bit drier. We foraged out into the weather to head over to the National Museum because Joe and Max wanted to see the bog people who had died and been preserved in a bog!

Unfortunately the bog people were not on display this summer. The boys were very disheartened by this, but they trudged on through the rain. They had closed the entire second floor, so it was a quick trip.

Next we were heading to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells and the Old Library.

Finally we made it into Trinity College and the line to see the Celtic Book of Kells. They are restoring the Old Library and have pulled many of the books to fireproof and protect them due to the age and condition of these books. I loved the library. Very cool experience. When Joe and I saw it 20-some years ago there were no tickets, no lines, no one around. Very different experience today!

After this we headed back to the room and had some lunch before resting up for our ghost bus tour that evening. We knew it would be a late night since we didn’t start until 9:30.

Joe and I have done this tour before and loved it. There’s some history shared and some scares along the way too! Highly recommend this tour if you find yourself in Dublin!

After a nap I headed out to shop and found the original Guinness Storehouse so of course I called Joe to come over!

Now we were delayed on our tour because they had to switch out buses. No big deal, it just made it darker for us. Almost everyone on the bus was from the Midwest! We saw the Doctor’s College that started the idea of body snatches and supposedly inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula. Our guide said there was a female writer who penned a very similar story earlier that may have inspired the story as well. We think it was called Camilla by Irish writer Sheridan Le Fanu, and it predates Dracula by 25 years. They really tried to scare us but it was all in good fun!

Now right outside these gates Seamus made a discovery that excited him. Lorian Studios, one of his favorite game makers, had a studio there! He was way more excited about this! I don’t have a photo though!