After a short flight from Dayton to Charlotte, and after one rather filling salad, we hopped back onto another plane for our journey from Charlotte to Dublin. I quite enjoyed watching the monitors telling us the outside temperature as well as altitude and distance to our destination. To my great happiness, it was much warmer in the airplane than it was outside at 35,000 feet. I’m not sure I’d enjoy sitting in -60 degrees for seven hours.

We arrived in Dublin at five in the morning after practically being awake the entire night, which would have been not too long after bedtime at home. Alas, we had securing our rental car and learning how to drive on the other side of the road to keep us wide awake! I am happy to report that my mother got us to Mattie’s pickup point, then on to our lodging destination in Northern Ireland without too much headache or confusion. I am also happy to report that since we paid extra for full-coverage insurance, we were told, “All you are required to bring back is the steering wheel.”

Thankfully, Mattie had a safe and easy flight from Chicago to Dublin. Thank you, Mike Neary, for all of your help with that. Also, I owe a great debt of gratitude to Mike Kline, our home veterinarian for spending countless hours ensuring Mattie had all she needed for her flight.

I also think that Lisa Bergland is in need of a big thank you for designing our Team USA logo. I had no more than made it through airport security before I had somebody tell me that they’ve always wanted to go to a dog trial!

Ireland is quite beautiful, and I’m so grateful for the wonderful accommodations. For a couple of days we are staying in a barn originally built in 1903 and has since been renovated into the most perfect guest lodging. The best part is that there is sheep and a fully set up course right outside! Thank you Marianna for finding such great lodging! And to Dean and Paul for your hospitality!

Mattie even has her own dining area here in Larne!

Matties Meeting House served us quite a wonderful dinner. Good service, good food, and good decorations. I’ll show you what was hanging over the toilet:

I suppose it doesn’t matter what was hanging over the toilet so much as what good food was sitting right in front of us: Boxer Jim’s Guinness Pie! It was beef and gravy with a fluffy and flaky roll on top.

Above is my dinner (mother likes my taste in food so much she ordered the same thing), and below is father’s dinner.

After our dinner, we got groceries and saw more beautiful scenery, this time we drove along a road with a water front view.

Thank you again for all of your support, and I’ll update you more in the coming days!