My Favorite Vacation

July 12--Talk about a favorite vacation you have taken.

Definition of SERENDIPITY:  the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for; also : an instance of this

Examples of SERENDIPITY

1. They found each other by pure serendipity.
2. As they leapfrog from South Africa to Singapore in search of local delicacies, the authors prove again and again that serendipity is the traveler's strongest ally: many of their most memorable meals issue from the hands of generous strangers … —Sarah Karnasiewicz, Saveur, June/July 2  

Origin of SERENDIPITY: from its possession by the heroes of the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip. First Known Use: 1754

 Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Why am I going on about SERENDIPITY when this is supposed to be a blog about vacations? Because yesterday I had the urge to blog about our trip to Ireland, and that has been my favorite vacation. So it was serendipitous that I already have a blog to post for today. Yay! I'm not only caught up, but I got ahead. 

Trip of a Lifetime Part 1

Blarney Castle in Ireland

An acquaintance on Facebook asked where would I like to go, and without hesitation, I responded, "Back to Ireland!" We had so much fun on our first visi t in June of 2007. The trip included myself, my husband Mike, our son Colin, and our daughter Molly.

Mike, Molly, and I took the train from Albuquerque to Chicago where we met up with Colin. He was attending the Illinois Institue of Technology on a scholarship. We planned to spend the night in Chicago and catch the plane to Shannon the next day. Some friends that we had known forever came to our hotel and we all ate Chicago-style pizza.

One of Chicago's Cows on Parade

We arrived at the Shannon airport where we rented a car to begin our travels about the island. Mike had booked rooms for us, and our first stop was a bed and breakfast on the southern coast. On the way, we stopped at Blarney Castle. I couldn't manage the steps so Mike and I toured the ancient garden while the kids hopped-skipped-and-jumped up the stairs and scouted out the castle's rooms. Yes, they kissed the stone.