I cannot Thank Gerry Regan, Michael and Trish of Wild West Irish Tours and the staff at WOW Airlines enough for the trip of a lifetime!  I've been without Internet access, and will be getting together with Dan again over Thanksgiving to retell the trip to family and friends and get our pics together ... I was able to get some great shots before my camera quit, and luckily Dan was able to get what I did not. I'll also be showing him how to upload and attach pics to e-mail!

BUT THE TRIP!  I was up at 4:30 a.m. the Wednesday morning of and was SO excited.  Did not arrive in Dublin until 10 a.m. Dublin time. 5 a.m. our time on Thursday. The Hotel was full, so they put us up at a lovely B & B nearby.  We crashed for a few hours and then ventured out to see what Dublin is like.... For one thing SO HUGE compared to Richmond!  We really just had time for dinner, and a stroll around the neighborhood. 

Friday was a leisurely morning.  Martin Byrne had to do some juggling of vehicles to accommodate us all, then he collected the others from the airport, and then Dan & Me from the B & B.  It was amazing to me that we crossed from Dublin to Sligo in just 2 1/2 hours.  I was just so full of joy I could hardly take it all in! There's no way to describe how vibrant the greens are there!  I was having fun with the place, and road names in Irish, and every round-a-bout has a name!  I can't for the life of me remember the Irish word for roundabout, but there was Bó Rua The Red Bull roundabout and Uisce Tómás, Tom's Whiskey Round-about...  We stopped for lunch at the big hotel in Carrick on Shannon, and then Martin stopped at the Statue of the Celtic Warrior to show us the pass that was the crossroads for most of the major battles in the West Coast of Ireland.  He spoke of Red Hugh O'Donnell, and The Battle of the Curlews having taken place here, and that all of the castles of Sligo, except for Parke's Castle, had been dismanteled either during or after battles with the English.  I will stop here, because this is where my pictures begin, and I will finish the story with pictures as early as I can in the week!