Parents Visit

My parents just spent 9 days travelling in Ireland. It was wonderful to have them here and also to join them on some of their adventures. They did some sightseeing in Dublin as well as Belfast in Northern Ireland while I was working. Then I took a few days off and went with them on a road trip around Southern and Western Ireland. My dad very accurately called it a blitz tour of Ireland. They saw as much of Ireland as possible in their limited time. They were able to visit my church in Dublin, see the Book of Kells, Grafton Street, Dublin Castle and Christ Church as well as my office and ride the train South to Dun Laoghaire and North to Howth.


I had a couple of surprises planned for my mom to celebrate her birthday, which was the middle of their time here. I had a few of my friends over for an appetizer party and had a birthday cake already baked and put candles on it and we sang. My mom was out on the deck and she came into the apartment singing happy birthday thinking that it was one of the friends birthdays. She was certainly surprised. As a birthday present, I got seats to Riverdance. It is incredible how fast their feet move. We sat right up front and got into the energy of the performance!

On our road trip allowed us time to see some of the Irish countryside and also some of the sites along the way. We went to several castles, Ashford castle, Ross Castle, and Kilkenny castle. I have to tell you that I can’t remember all the centuries and historical info, but Ashford castle is now a very fancy hotel. Ross Castle is very old and is a historic sight and Kilkenny castle has been refurbished to where it would have been in the Victorian Period. One of my favourite parts of our trip was a day touring around the Dingle Peninsula. It is the most western part of Ireland and it is very picturesque. It could explain why I took over 400 pictures while my parents were here!


We also made stops at the Cliffs of Moher, Muckross House, Charles Fort, Rock of Cashel, and Glendalough. My father was quite frightened to take my Mom and I to the Waterford crystal factory. We made it out of there with 1 crystal piece each and we didn’t completely break the bank. ☺ Our last stop was Powerscourt Gardens just south of Dublin. I had never seen flowers and gardens like these. My mom compared the gardens to Versailles in France. The gardens were not as large, but every bit as beautiful and amazing. I took over 140 pictures of just flowers. You have to love the digital camera!

It was an amazing blessing to spend time with my parents and to travel with them. They completely wore me out! They departed at 3:30am yesterday and they are now safely home in Colorado. I have only 4 nights to get ready for my next visitor. Bill arrives on Saturday and we also have a full travel schedule. Now I need to get the sheets and towels all washed and ready!