Adventures in Éire

I am back from my epic adventures in Ireland! I am still recovering from the nine hour time difference, but have managed to edit my photos of course! We packed so much in for the 2 weeks we had on the island. Our travels included stays in Dublin, Galway, and day trips all over with our rental car(which was truly a roundabout crazy experience in itself!). Although the island is not that big, compared to AK standards at least, each county had it's own very unique terrain, food and even sometimes beer!  We also had a night in Portlaoise for the night before the midlands marathon. The race did not disappoint, winding through country roads complete with sheep and rolling green hills. It was even a mile and a half longer than it was supposed to be--lucky us. We experienced the traditional rainy weather during our stay, but were also so lucky to have some sunny hot days too--finally my summer weather! Here are some of my favorite memories from Erin ( I love the my name is another way to say Ireland!) and    the over 500 pictures I took :)

Spent a sunny day on  Inis Mor, on the Aran Islands, biking, hiking and lunching:)

Seaside town stop on the first day of road tripping.

Some sort of ancient castle or something :)

Loved these stone rock fences everywhere!

Ancient tomb surrounded by limestone in County Clare.

Loved these gardens at the Dublin Castle.

Another Castle-ish stop along the road.

A morning jog by the water in Galway.

Walking the donkey--this just cracked me up :)

Overnight stay in the seaside town of Dingle and the Rainbow hostel.

Spent a day driving the Ring of Kerry, which includes Killarney National Park.

One of my favorite days of the trip!

A long way down!!

Kylemore Abbey(Castle)

The St. James Gate Brewery--floor after floor of Guinness history, memorabilia and tasting!

We saw beautiful hydrangeas everywhere we went!

Found lots of funky trees many of the places we went.

The Leprechaun Museum

My favorite restaurant--local chef and food--modern spin on Irish food---yum!

The whole gang!

Race day!!!!!

On the Shannon Ferry!--Sunburn in progress

Temple Bar District in Dublin

The Central Park of Dublin

More gorgeous country on the way to Kylemore Abbey--reminiscent of the AK:)

Post race milkshake at Supermac's!