Our second day in Ireland began with Beth waking up well before I did. She hopped in the shower and politely awakened me when she finished, telling me it was time to get dressed and head downstairs for brunch before catching our train back to Dublin.
We had originally planned to go whitewater rafting that day, but the company canceled on us the night before. They said something about the water level being too low. Personally, I suspect the guides may have celebrated the final night of Galway Race Week a little too enthusiastically. From the few places where we saw the river, the water certainly didn’t look too low to us!
With the rafting trip canceled, we suddenly had a wide-open day. We enjoyed a quick brunch in the hotel’s lobby restaurant and then made our way to the train station for the trip back across the country toward Dublin.
Our destination was the Portmarnock Resort and Jameson Golf Links, which would serve as our home away from home for the golf portion of the trip. We arrived at approximately 5:00 p.m., settled in and then headed outside for a quick jog along the beach.
It was a wonderful way to stretch our legs after the train ride. We took in the beautiful Irish weather and explored some of the gorgeous grounds surrounding the resort and golf course.
That evening, we attended the opening dinner with the crew from Chasing Scratch and the other 64 golfers who had traveled from near and far for six days of golf in Ireland. It was our first opportunity to meet everyone and begin getting to know the people with whom we would be sharing the week.
Dinner wrapped up around 9:45 p.m. Afterward, we headed to the resort’s Irish pub with a few of the people from our dinner table and enjoyed a couple of pints of Guinness.
We didn’t stay out too late this time. With our first round of golf awaiting us the following morning, we returned to our room and called it an early night so we could get some much-needed rest.
Day Two may not have been quite as action-packed as our first day, but it was still a wonderful one. After all, we were in Ireland—and the country continued to be absolutely unbelievable.
