Nine years ago Jon and I were blessed with being able to travel to Ireland when Justin was here studying. I had always been interested in my Irish heritage and so when we traveled to the beautiful isle the first time in a way I felt as if I were coming home. We spent our weekend in Dublin with Justin, rented a car and drove about 1100 miles around the island visiting places such as Connemara, Galway, Bunratty (built by the McNamara's my ancestors), the Ring of Kerry, etc. The following year we were doubly blessed by being able to visit again with both Justin and Brett. Again we rented a car, visited many of the places we had gone on our own and also a few new ones. Both times we fell in love with the Emerald Isle even more and almost had to have it in mind when we would return before we could leave. We have been waiting now for 8 years to be able to return and this year we both said, along with much encouragement from our sons, that we had to go this year. And on Monday that happened. We left for our long awaited trip to this most beautiful place where my great-grandfather came from and I've always had a hard time understanding how one could leave. It is almost like coming home and the fun part is that when the people of the country discover that you have just a wee little bit of Irish in you, you are like family.
This time we decided to stay in Dublin and explore the metropolitan part of the country, which we really hadn't had more than a few days at a time to do in the past. So as I sit here in our hotel room in Dun Laoghaire, a sweet seaside town 8 miles south of Dublin, we are getting ready for our 3rd day of exploring the "metro" Ireland. I'd love to invite you to join me on our journey by following my "Gypsies" blog. I'll be attempting to post each days experience and pictures as we go along. Top O the mornin'!
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