Last night we went to sleep by 11:30, a bit earlier than we have been. The lodge was quiet by then; no more children were running in the halls. All seemed fine until around 3:30 a.m. when we heard a loud group banging around slamming doors and stomping their feet. That lasted thirty minutes then was quiet again. The night was okay except for that.

The lodge is basic but has done a good job of describing itself so we knew what to expect. At the lodge we saw a lively mix of people. One big group of folks were all gussied up for a wedding. Another group were dressed in period clothes of peasants of the middle-ages. Lots of young people and a few older ones were rather grubby and had the look of long-time campers. Then there was us.

I chose this place because we wanted to be near the Bru na Boinne Visitor Centre. When we were here two years ago, we planned to visit, but did not know how busy it is and arrived too late in the day to tour. They sell out all the day's tours by early afternoon. We had to wait quite a while to get on a tour. I searched for B&Bs nearby without luck.

Before we left the lodge, I took a peek at the "Free to Use" cabinet. The half loaf of bread I left there last night was already gone. I am glad someone wanted it. The mayo that I left in the fridge was still in the same spot. We checked out of the cheapest accommodations we have had on this trip by 10:30 to drive to the hotel near the Dublin airport. It’s only about thirty miles, but the GPS says an hour drive. Most of the way was on the motorway. We stopped by the Clare Hall Shopping Centre to look around and get some walking in. While we were there, we went across the parking lot to eat at Eddie Rockets for lunch. The continental breakfast at the lodge was not that great so we were ready for lunch early. Last night when I was checking out the kitchen, there were two fat flies walking around on the sugar in a bowl on the counter. Not very appetizing. Eddie Rockets looks so similar to Johnny Rockets that you’d think one was a take-off on the other. The burgers, fries, and shakes tasted different, of course.

By the time we finished lunch, it was still early but seemed an okay time to check in at the Hilton just catty-corner across the road from the mall and restaurant. We used points to pay for this night, but also got upgraded to a larger corner room. We had one more day to enjoy the views of that verdant landscape outside from these windows.

After getting the luggage unloaded and up to the room, we drove to the hire car return lot. It was only five miles away, but we used the GPS to get there and took the shuttle back to the hotel. Philip had an entire class of papers to grade, so we stayed in the room so he could finish. Dinner in the hotel bar was fine, and they let us bring in our own wine. We had a bottle that we did not want to carry back home. We are turning in early since we have to be on the shuttle at 6:30 in the morning.