Ireland (2004)

After our trip to the Azores, my family was hooked on travelling (or most of us, it took my dad a few more years and an upgrade to first class to truly embrace the jet-setting life style).  And so it was an easy sell to convince them that we needed to continue the heritage tour and go to Ireland.  I mean we had a family castle there that we really needed to see.

Using a good old fashioned travel agent, my mom had worked out all of the details. We were to fly in and out of Dublin, rent a car and drive north along the coast and stop to see the sights along the way.   We did have a rule though… we limited the historical sites my mom wanted to see to three; anything beyond that needed approval from the family.

The trip could be summarized as follows:  mornings in the car with my dad getting used to driving on the left side of the road, my mom navigating using the large paper map (that threatened to block the windshield and all windows) and Cody and I in back laughing; days spent exploring the new town, historical site or whatever else we stumbled upon and evenings spent in the local pub… I fondly look back on this trip as a countrywide pub crawl. 

Drinks at some bar... could have been any point along the trip.

The North Coast of Ireland

Giant's Causeway

The Family at Dunluce Castle 

On the wall in Derry

One of the many gift shops we found ourselves in along the way

Mom learning about the historical sites

Enjoying a Guinness after the tour