We were lucky enough to be able to leave our kids for about a week in the capable hands of our family (mostly my mom) and take an anniversary vacation. The week, all on it's own would have been awesome enough, but in addition, we were able to go all the way to Ireland (where Jonny has always wanted to go) and we even got to go first class!
We were pretty excited about the lay flat seats.
my travel buddy.
the first stop on our trip was Trinity College in Dublin. Mainly because it was a block from our hotel. We took a quick tour which was interesting, and then checked out the library.
So many books! Not Alphabetized in any way!
There was a Magnolia tree in bloom there. Of course I had to take a picture of that.
We did do other things during our first stay in Dublin, but I'm an iffy photographer and can't always be relied upon to take pictures. The highlights were Christ Church Cathedral where we able to watch their choir and St. Micham's church where Jonny touched "The Crusader" a mummy from their crypt. It's supposed to have imparted some mummy luck to him, so we'll let you know how that pans out for us.
After Dublin, we rented a car and drove to Killarney. See, that makes it sound really simple! Jonny was the brave one who took on lefty driving. We had a taxi driver tell us that in 20 minutes he wouldn't have any more problem and that he would even find it awkward when he went back home to drive on the right. LIES!!!! Although he did get the hang of it enough that we didn't cause any horrible accidents, I'm not sure he ever felt 100% comfortable and he certainly didn't have to worry about driving on the right at home.
In Killarney we spent all our time in and around their national park. First stop was Ross Castle. Some of it has been restored, so we were actually able to go up inside and take a tour.
Later that day we went to Muckross House. Again, we took a tour, and it was definitely a cool old place, but Good Lord, the property was insanely beautiful! It makes perfect sense that it would become a national park.
Yes, we took a "selfie". I'm sorry. Mostly I'm sorry because the internet has given "selfies" such a bad name.
Nearby there was a waterfall and a few trails you could hike.
So we did.
So, which way is north then?
Also in the park they had different examples of traditional farms, complete with lots of farm animals.
This guy was huge!
"She had hair of sticks and woooool"
Muckross Abbey was probably my favorite place. I'm not exactly sure why, but it was just a neat place to be.
Chim chimney
This is probably a weirwood. Don't you think?
Strangely enough, the only place we were ever truly cold was the Cliffs of Moher. Also strange: It never rained once.
Random castle on the way to Galway. They're kind of everywhere.
In the outskirts of Galway, these were also everywhere.
We stayed at Ballynainch castle hotel one night. It was a perfect little forest scene right out of our window.
The hotel ground was really the only place that looked like that in the area. Instead, it was mostly bogs and Ocean nearby. We had a guy from the hotel take us on a hike nearby.
Pretty view of their beaches from up there.
As well as the bogs.
We had another couple days in Dublin before we left. We went to St Patrick's Cathedral and saw their choir as well.
We also went to the National museum of Archeology which had some more really cool mummies as well as other things that had been preserved in bogs for around 2,000 years.
By the end of the trip we missed the girls a lot and were excited to get back home refreshed! That didn't turn out to be entirely true, but we still had a great trip. Can't wait to go again and see and do the many things we missed.
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