Ireland

Our first destination, Ireland has proven to be every bit as beautiful as the Irish would have you believe. Gorgeous green hills, a stunning coastline, and as many castles as Portland has coffee shops. We touched down in Dublin on Wednesday, and have been making our way around the country. My father joined us (and, in fact, suggested Ireland) for the week, and held up well to the steady pace of our itinerary. We´ve been to a brew pub with Irish music every night of the week. If the cost of anything in this country was reasonable, we could linger for a while... These photos are from the Rock of Cashel, Lakes of Killarney, Dingle Peninsula, Cliffs of Moher and Trim Castle.

Pre-trip hiccup

An aching jaw revealed the need for Ellen to have oral surgery this week. We're happy to have addressed this before we left, rather than trying to locate an surgeon in, say, Syria.

Please take time to enjoy this photograph, as I'm undoubtedly in much trouble for posting it.

The entire family is traveling

While not to the sunny beaches of Thailand or the mountains of Southern Chile, Mickey is traveling too. He'll be joining us on the first leg of our trip to the Midwest, where he'll be vacationing in Battle Creek, Michigan. As Mickey loves snow, and my father, we have no doubt that he'll be enjoying his retreat nearly as much as we'll be enjoying ours.

Tentative Route

Take a look at the tentative route via the link below. The itinerary is a work in progress, but it should be a bit more finalized soon. Pardon the poor behavior of the map - Google gets a bit confused with a route that circles the globe.

Link to Route Map

Trip Planning

Our dining room table now serves as the vagabonding command center - complete with all of the necessary guides. Thank god for friends with travel books, else the cost of reference material alone may have forced us to shorten the trip.