North Carolina State University Athletics
Greetings from Ireland - Day 1
5/17/2010 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
Greetings from Killarney where Wolfpack Club Travel's Golf and Sightseeing tour of Ireland 2010 is into its second day. Our merry band of travelers includes a busful of Wolfpack Club members plus friends, Ed and Elizabeth Stack representing the Wolfpack Club, Lee and Carol Fowler, the two Brians (Wilder and Cockerham) with Premiere Global Sports, and of course, the two O'Briens. I think Brian and Brian are here to ensure that no one gets lost and they have their work cut out for them rounding us all up when we start to stray!'
So far the most harrowing part of the trip was negotiating the airspace around New York and not losing our place in the very long line of planes departing from Kennedy. After an overnight flight to Shannon Airport (we were only a few hours late), we were met by our tour guide Niall Wallace, who escorted the hardiest of golfers (Buddy Kelly, Ed Weisiger, Chester Huneycutt, Hans Warren, Lee Fowler and Tom O'Brien...those who didn't seem to mind the lack of sleep!) to their first round of golf. The rest of us boarded our tour bus and traveled to the quaint town of Adare for a brief visit and lunch (staying awake was a challenge by this point but we all hung in there).
We arrived an hour later at the beautiful Aghadoe Heights Hotel overlooking the Lakes of Killarney in County Kerry. The views here are absolutely amazing. We gathered a few hours later for a social hour at the hotel bar and were starting to get a wee bit concerned about the golfers who had been gone for about eight hours and had not been heard from since arriving at the airport. Miraculously, they did finally make it just in time for dinner. They had thoroughly enjoyed their round of golf at Killarney Golf and Fishing club, the home of this year's Irish Open. The folks here state that it is 'the nearest Golf Club to Heaven'. Our dinner at the hotel was fabulous.
Today's bus tour around the scenic Ring of Kerry provided gorgeous views of the mountains and coast of southern Ireland. The Ring road is very, very narrow and busses all travel it counter-clockwise to prevent ever having to have pass each other. Our intrepid and skilled bus driver, Mike, guided us safely back to Killarney despite near collisions with the occasional cyclist and several sheep.
I would like to say that we have been privileged to have two of the most beautiful and SUNNY days I have seen in my several trips to Ireland and are having a fantastic time...especially after a night's sleep!
OK, Tom is yelling that I will miss dinner if I don't hurry and as many of us know...the team bus waits for no one!
