A favorite post from back in the days when we could travel…

Last week, my eyes took in the beauty of Ireland, and my ears filled up with the lilt of the Irish. My family and I spent several wonderful days there, starting first on the wild and rugged west coast and ending up in its famous city, Dublin. I came home with a thorough, surface-level knowledge of Irish history, a few souvenirs, and a couple of extra pounds from all that brown bread and fresh butter.

Why Ireland? Years ago, I visited Ireland for the first time for a wedding. I was six months' pregnant at the time with my daughter and quite large already. One of the flight attendants on the plane looked at me and casually asked when I was due. I assured her that I had three months left and my doctor had said I was fine to travel. Nodding, she smiled broadly, relieved that she wouldn’t be delivering a baby over the Atlantic.

Hours (or was it weeks?) later, when we got to the B&B, the innkeeper’s wife took one look at me and said, “Oh, LeAnne, you look a wreck.” I could only laugh at that point because I sure felt that way. Despite that rough beginning, she more than made up for her comment with her hospitality during our stay.

I fell in love with Ireland on that trip and have wanted to go back with my daughter and Mart so they could experience it too. So we started planning months ago and finally, the first week of June arrived.

On the first part of our trip (Sunday-Wednesday), we stayed in County Galway in the western part of Ireland on the coast. Our hotel was not far from Connemara, a wild region in the northwest corner of the county. We drove through or near places called—just listen to these consonants—Maam (Mam) Cross, Ballyconneally, Clew Bay, Killary Harbor, Clifden, Letterfrack, and even Leenane (no known relation to LeAnne, however).

On Thursday morning, we said good-bye to Connemara and left for bustling, historic Dublin, stopping along the way at a holy site known for its medieval high crosses.

I’ll be writing about our adventures in future posts but today I want to share with you a few of my favorite photos of the beauty there. If you follow me on Instagram and Facebook, you may have seen some of these already, but I couldn’t resist showing them here. Enjoy!