It was an eager pair of travelers who set out for Dublin in the middle of August – myself and my 16-year old son, both first timers to Ireland.
We stayed at an airport hotel, and the next day we met with the rest of the gang. 
Our first stop: the waterfalls near Powerscourt – much more impressive in person than it looks like in my pictures! The water falls from the cliff sides in a valley that looks like straight out of a fairy tale – green and luscious and so, so beautiful. Definitely a must see in this region!
We had lunch at Powerscourt, indoors as it started pouring. There were so many rain showers when we were at Ireland – no wonder they have stories about rainbows and Leprechauns!
Onwards to our castle, Wilton Castle 
This was such a lovely place, quiet and peaceful and perfect as a writing retreat.
I want a shed like this in my garden! (there’s a wheelbarrow inside the shed/tower)
A castle of our own would also be nice!
Boardgames, impromptu disco, walking at Glendalough, lots of conversations and happy times
People brought with them specialties from their home countries. We brought Fazers Blå, Finnish milk chocolate. One of the Americans treated us to chicken & waffles – a real meal, despite how outlandish it sounds! Fried chicken with syrupy waffles…!
The castle was just perfect for a large group of people.
Some people even got some writing done! (not me!)
We went and saw Hook Lighthouse – saw this odd shed there ”Detonator store”. Kind of want one of those in my garden too! Would be nice to blast away at roots or something 🙂 (need a bigger garden for that though! And not live in the city! But a girl can always dream…)
…and we saw so many rainbows!
Then off to Bunratty Castle – which was so small some of us first didn’t even believe we were actually seeing the real castle! Noel and I decided to skip that so we just sat and had some tea and cake at a nearby pub.
Then onto the Cliffs of Moher – Ireland’s number one tourist spot. And boy, were there many tourists there!
Too many people for my taste – you can’t perhaps see it in this picture, but all those tiny dots along the ridges are people!
Many cows too – I love that there was cattle almost everywhere we went!
The cliffs look really beautiful in the pictures, but in reality we had to stand there with thousands of other people.
Then we were off to Inis Mor – one of the best parts of the trip. 
The landscape there was just amazing!
Rugged terrain, the wind, the sound of the ocean – it was a place that soared through your soul and made its mark.
We stayed at a lovely B&B with lots of cows nearby!
One of the sitting rooms.
Dun Aonghasa was just a short walk from the B&B – an amazing fort.
Then a bus ride and a train ride later we were in Dublin.
I love the design of this bridge, the Samuel Beckett bridge – it looks like a harp!
The CCD, the convention center where WorldCon was held.
We attended as many panels as we could – and the rest of the time we stood in line, hurried between places or went looking for a place to have lunch. 
The AirBnB that we stayed in was really lovely – a small apartment right in the Temple Bar district. I thought the noise of the nighttime revelers would disturb my sleep, but nope – it turned into background noise after a while, and became really comfortable.
The pub next door.
The Temple Bar district was really lovely. We didn’t have that much time to enjoy it though – most of our time was spent hurrying to or from the CCD.
The most Irish of scenes – the unloading of a Guinness truck!
Then it was time to go back home after a great trip to Ireland.
Bye, bye Ireland! Hope to see you again!