Come In, Stay A While

I am back from one of the most brilliant trips. About 10 months ago my dad surprised my sisters (and aunt - his sister) and I with the news that for his retirement party he would be taking us to Ireland for 10 days. He retired after 20 years as an Allstate insurance agent, owning his own agency and always one of the top agents.

We headed to Dublin on Sept 17 and arrived the morning of Sept 18. Our goal was to stay up all day (which in the States was Tuesday evening) so our body's would get on Ireland time. By the time we had landed we had been up for 20+ hours. We walked around beautiful Dublin. I was instantly in love with the city. Being a softy for the city life I instantly was trying to think of a way for Mike and I to move there. I love how they honor and preserve their history, instead of tearing down the old buildings they recondition and renovate what they have and keep the great character of the area. We happened to be there during their "cultural night." One evening every year all of the museums, galleries, shops, etc stay open until late and the streets host performers. There were singers, actors, painters, sculptors, etc. Krista showed off her cultural talents by doing the Irish dance.




We stayed in Dublin for two days then headed to the country where we drove our cars on the wrong side of the road through narrow streets and saw rolling hills of green carpet and old rock walls precisely placed throughout the land. Castles and churches seemed to be around every corner and each one came with its own history. We saw tombs that dated to 2500 B.C. and castles and churches that were more than 1,000 years old. We searched for our ancestors who we learned left in the 1850's. It was an amazing trip with the best company. I loved every minute. When I came back Sophie grew about 2 feet. I missed her and Mike soo much but loved the memories made on the once-in-a-lifetime trip.

I took over 400 pics and have posted just a few here and on flickr, so check it out. Also check out my map below.

more...

Cliffs of Moher


Celebrating Dad's birthday at Castle Dunguaire


Castle


Dingle Peninsula


Town of Covh - last port of the Titanic



Ireland is a land full rocks and stones. In order for the farmers to farm they had to remove the rocks, which they used as fences. The lines in the backdrop of this picture are the rock fences.

Beautiful Coast of Ireland

For more pics visit my flickr account.