Ireland

As long as I can remember, I've wanted to go to Ireland.  It has long been a place of imagined magical beauty and wonder. I'm not sure if I expected leprechauns to be hopping around the cities or lucky clovers to be blowing around in the wind, but I had really high expectations. So, as sometimes can happen when we set our expectations too high, I was a little disapoodisap in Ireland.  To be fair, we went in October and it was starting to get cold. There also been in a drought, so perhaps some of the areas weren't as green as they willw have been in other years. Don't get me would, Ireland has some beautiful sights and gorgeous landscapes, we just had to look harder than I expected to find them. Many of the towns we drive through lacked the charm that the English towns have. In general, there was more litter, graffiti and places in need of maintenance than I expected to see. That being said, we went to several destinations that were very pretty and helped Ireland earn more points in our book! 

Killarney National Park, County Kerry, Ireland

Ross Castle, Killarney National Park

Killarney National Park and The Ring of Kerry are very famous destinations and scenic areas.  We spent a couple days in this area. We really enjoyed seeing the waterfalls and Autumn colors on the trees. We toured the Ross Castle and learned some very interesting things about how the people lined in that time period.  If you get the chance, be sure to ask the kids about how the people would "sanitize" their clothing in the days of the stone tower castle living. Very interesting and eye opening about the realities of life at that time. 

The last place we went in Ireland was definitely a good one.  After several cold rainy days, we spent a beautiful sunny day at the Cliffs of Moher. It was verrry windy, like brace yourself and don't get blown off the cliffs, windy. But it was beautiful and it felt so nice. The Cliffs were everything I imagined. Very majestic and beautiful!