Welcome to the August 2026 edition of the Ultimate Coffee Date—a blogger link up Deborah and I host the first Friday of every month so we can catch up on all the things as if we were having coffee. This month I’m enjoying an 🇮🇪 Irish coffee date 🇮🇪 as I start my long-awaited vacation!
You know how this works—grab the badge, link your post, and comment on the other blogs in the link-up.
Enjoying An Irish Coffee Date
If we were having coffee, I would tell you that so far I am really enjoying my first visit to Ireland—even though I’ve barely been here for 24 hours. 🍀 We had a smooth flight from D.C. to Dublin, and then an easy bus ride across the country to Galway.
To keep moving on our first day we took a long walk out to Mutton Island
If we were having coffee, I would tell you that when I travel for work, high-speed wi-fi, a hotel gym, and (hopefully) a nearby Starbucks are my priorities when choosing a hotel, but for this vacation I didn’t care about any of that! I’m looking forward to being unplugged, being active outside, and I’ll have tea if there’s no half + half for the coffee. 😉
My first hotel breakfast—but now I’m craving a cappuccino!
If we were having coffee, I would ask runners from outside the D.C. area if you’ve heard about the potential loss of some of our iconic running routes—including Hains Point, which is a key part of the Marine Corps Marathon (where the Blue Mile is set up) and the Cherry Blossom 10 miler, among many other events.
President Trump has plans to renovate take over the public golf course that’s also in East Potomac Park, and there are concerns the main road around the peninsula will be eliminated. Locals, cyclists, and runners are upset about this threat to such a treasured space, and the Cherry Blossom race organizers are urging people to reach out to their Representatives.
Construction of the arch in Memorial Circle will have less impact on race routes,
but will ruin my commute—or force an early retirement!
Because the projects are up in the air, the race organizers want people to know thecourse may be drastically different before they enter the lottery in November.
Hains Point during the 2015 Cherry Blossom 10 Mile Run
Do you like Irish coffee?
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Oh wow, that sounds like an incredible trip! I hope you’re having the absolute best time exploring Ireland. Enjoy every moment of your unplugged time—you’ve definitely earned it!
Ireland! Sounds amazing – I think you will be quite lucky with the weather, too.
And no, I haven’t heard about those “renovation” plans of the golf course – hopefully there will be enough protests to stop that from happening.
Ah, Ireland! It has been a few years since I was there but one of those occasions was in July and it was so beautiful. Hope you enjoy.
I haven’t heard of the running route loss going on– wow! It will be interesting to see what happens, as those are definitely some iconic races.
I have not been to Ireland. Hope you have a fantastic trip and take full advantage of being unplugged from work. Look forward to seeing your pics
Ooh! Ireland! I can’t wait to hear all about it and see LOTS OF PHOTOS. I knew you were going away, but I didn’t realize you were going to Ireland.
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the people involved in this “renovation” of the golf course couldn’t care less about runners and cyclists. That is a very sad situation!
Your Irish coffee chat sounds like you’re in a fun place. I hope you have a fabulous unplugged time while there 🙂
Oooh enjoy your trip! I’ve stayed at some very cool places there, although I couldn’t tell you the names of them. Haha!
Wait lose Haines Point? Say it isn’t so! That would be tragic indeed.
Have a wonderful trip! I’ve never been to Ireland.
I hate this DC timeline so much and I hope he doesn’t ruin even more public spaces. Believe it or not, I’ve never done a DC race!