April and May were filled with unforgettable memories with friends, family, and those who feel like both. After a month of visitors, we flew back to the states for birthdays, graduations, open houses, college moves, reunions, a funeral, Mother's Day, a baptism, a baby shower, and cicadas--lots and lots of cicadas. These will each need their own posts.
___________________________________
Let me start with the 1st week of April. My darling friend, Laura, kicked off our month of visitors. For the first few days, we enjoyed walks by the sea, feeding the seals in Howth, exploring old castles and abbeys, train rides, bus rides, and more fish 'n chips than I care to admit.
Our trip to the West coast of Ireland offered so much adventure, we could barely come up with a word to describe it! Unbelievable, Incredible, Unforgettable, Spectacular, Unmatched...all very good descriptions, but still not fitting enough for this trip that just kept getting better each day.
Galway and The Salthill Promenade were dreamy. The food, music, dancing, shopping, and people each offered the best sensory overload we could ask for.
When we finished our Evil Knievil antics, we found a grassy patch overlooking the ocean and we sat in silence for the next 20 minutes. We were struck with wonder. It was then we decided that the only word to best describe this experience was "EPIC!"
From that moment on, everything was epic! We had epic taxi rides with Shadrack and Matthew (the Christian Matthew), epic kayaking in Dublin Bay (complete with our superhero wet suits), epic walks through the woods, an epic encounter with Jack (the Shetland pony), epic pastries, epic bands, epic (and not so epic) street musicians, and a super epic inspirational moment over a bowl of seafood chowder!
The next day, we took the train back to Dublin and ended up in a streetcar full of doctors and gypsies (don't ask). Even THAT was epic (in a different kind of way!)
On Laura's last day in Ireland, we found ourselves in a small shop in Enniskerry, a small village in the WicklowMountains where they filmed Disenchanted . The owner of the shop was a friendly, yet modest woman (who just happened to be one of the few who have swam the English Channel in 2021. Sarah Mortimer
After a tour of the village, we headed to Powerscourt to enjoy the house and gardens (named 3rd best garden in the world). THEN...if the day wasn't already a grand enough, we were treated to a full rainbow-- a true symbol of happy endings. It was the perfect promise of good things to come. All too soon, our exploring was over, and we were saying goodbye.
The week was unmatched! We could never duplicate it and we could never forget it! Suffice it to say, it was an E P I C week !!
