I thought I had an idyllic childhood of excessive
romping about the yard and swimming from dawn till dusk, until I saw
where Niall grew up.
That’s his family’s dairy farm in Ireland. It's... pretty awesome.
When we went to Ireland in May for my vacation and his visit home-and-show-everybody-his-
We saw the Cliffs of Moher, dined and walked around
at Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, I kissed the Blarney Stone, we saw
the Book of Kells, and drank a pint at the Guinness Storehouse. We also
spent five days staying in holiday homes in
Kenmare with his parents, sisters, and their kids and visited his
extended family at the dairy farm. They are spread out in several houses
on the farm property and we visited them all. I’ve never had so much
tea in my life.
I embarrassed Niall by taking photos of the
gorgeous scenery and we got to see his uncle’s fancy new milking
machine. The lads were intermittently in and out doing chores and
cutting silage. We visited the little calves and walked down
to the lake.
In the interest of full disclosure I should mention
that I... um... did not actually physically milk a cow, BUT I had a good long visit with
Niall’s grandmother, aunties, uncles, and cousins on the Irish dairy
farm. And I’d much rather do that than announce
hey it’s been nice talking to you all but I’ve got an item to cross off
a list so can somebody point me in the direction of the nearest cow teat. It’s a
scavenger hunt, not a checklist. There’s no prize crossing off each
item; the fun part is the experience.
Especially if the experience includes getting Niall to stand awkwardly in front of things while I take his photo.
