Ireland 2008

Four years ago my family traveled to Ireland on what must have been our best family vacation. We had a car and just drove around exploring whatever we could find without a tour or guidebook. If we saw something on the side of the road we were going to explore it whether it was blocked off or not. Since I've been in Ireland I keep thinking about all the hilarious stories from that trip. So I thought I'd dig up the pictures and tell some of the stories.

We stopped by a lot of Cliffs. The ones that they generally let you see like the Cliffs of Moher are beautiful, but completely railed off. No, we liked finding cliffs on the sides of roads and just climbing to the very edge (my mom hated me getting too close to the edge though) where we could sit and watch the waves crash into the rocks. 

While I was in Dingle, we were eating in a restaurant and I found a cat sitting on the windowsill outside. I excused myself and headed outside to see the cat and it started to walk away and I followed it. The cat lead me through some bushes and onto a beach that was blocked away with this colorful boat. 

Also, the picture on the right is of Foxgloves which my Dad and I found on a walk. We then decided to have a photography competition to see who could get the better photo of the flowers. I was just getting into photography at the time and snapped away with my super thick point and shoot until I got this.

Great family bonding trip. I think this is one of the best photo of my brother and me.

Coolest castle we ever trespassed upon. It was definitely about to crumple underneath of us.

I mentioned before that we were exploring everything we could see, well we were driving through hills and hills when we saw a castle on the highest hill. We decided we'd drive up and check it out, so as we got up to the top there was no sign of the castle, just a stampede of cows coming our way.  Behind the cows we saw a farmer waving his hands above his head and shouting. So my Dad backed the car all the way down the hill chased by these cows until we were safe on the road surrounded by all the cows.

And here is my favorite photo I took on that trip of Dingle of all the colored buildings right on the water.

I'm glad I got to travel to Ireland with my family four years ago and even happier that I got to come back and see this great country again.

Shannon