Photo Credit: Kathy Miller at Ireland
“I had been talking about it for years. And it was just perfect,” Kathy Miller says as she reflects on the trip she and her husband Dick took with her niece, Jill, and nephew-in-law, Randy, in September 2018.
The occasion? Dick and Kathy celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2018 and their recent move to Garden Spot Village in May 2018 made traveling even easier than before.
Dick and Kathy love to travel; a trip to Ireland was on their wish list for many years. While they had crisscrossed the United States several times, they had never traveled internationally. Jill, knowing Kathy’s dream to visit Ireland, found a great deal on airfare and offered to make all of the arrangements as a gift to them.
The quartet landed in Dublin on September 27 and rented a car, determined to experience Ireland. They spent the next ten days meandering the highways and byways of the country. They embraced the challenge of driving on the opposite side of the road and maneuvering roundabouts. Kathy laughs, “Dick’s job was to just keep saying ‘stay left, stay left.’”
They enjoyed stops in Kilarney, Kilkenny and Galway, as well as, smaller villages. Dingle was a particularly memorable stop. “Dingle is a quaint little fishing village. We saw the most beautiful scenery… so many different colors of green,” Kathy says.
They stopped at the Cliffs of Moher to enjoy the breathtaking views and the Rock of Cashel to view medieval ruins dating back to the 12th century. A stop in Adare introduced them to Ireland’s traditional thatched roofs.
Throughout their travels, they enjoyed the beauty of Ireland’s patchwork of green meadows and fence rows. Kathy says, “You just don’t understand the vibrancy of green until you visit Ireland.”
They frequently stopped at castles, which dot the landscape. As a direct descendent of the O’Donoghues, Kathy especially enjoyed their visit to Ross Castle, the ancestral home of the O’Donoghue family.
Which memories will Kathy especially cherish? “The people are so friendly. It was like being in an Irish Garden Spot Village. They went out of their way to help us feel welcome. It was a once-in-a-lifetime, dream trip. I am so thankful we had this opportunity.”
