Washington, DC

A favorite place of mine to visit has always been Washington, DC. It is so full of cultural diversity, history, lots of wonderful museums and it is virtually a FREE place to visit. I've lost track of how many times I have been there. My mother will undoubtedly recall the time I flew the two of us there as a Mother's Day gift for her. We walked until she could only hobble! But she got to see some things she had always wanted to see. I love going to the museums. My favorites are the Natural History Museum, National Air and Space Museum, the American History Museum and the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. I also enjoy visiting the National Zoo. And not to be missed are the Vietnam Memorial Wall and Daniel's Place. Arlington Cemetry is nearby and is another place to see. Over the years I have made many trips to DC and enjoyed it each and every time. When we lived in Maryland and Pennsylvania we were only a couple of hours away so we drove down every now and then. Below are some photos we took on one particular visit when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom.

Linda is all smiles standing in a grove of cherry blossoms

the Jefferson Memorial framed by cherry blossoms

the Washington Monument on another trip to DC

this is an older picture of me standing on the mall with the Capital in the background

Ireland

Going to the emerald mine naturally got me to thinking about my trip to Ireland. One of the places I had always wanted to visit was Ireland and a few years ago I had the opportunity to go. I had enough airline miles for a free roundtrip ticket to Europe so flew to France to visit some friends then off to Ireland for 10 days. I was with 2 French ladies. Francoise was the mother of one of my French friends and Monique was a friend of Francoise’s. Neither of them spoke English and I don’t speak French. We rented a house in Birr, County Offaly, Ireland and split the costs. The house was located within the castle walls and we had the freedom to walk around in the world class gardens and visit the museum located within as well as the giant telescope that at one time was the largest in the world. Luckily for me I met William Dumpleton, an Irish astronomer who was at the museum the day I was there and he took me on a private tour of the telescope. This is totally off limits to the public so this was a rare treat. Today the castle is the private home of Lord and Lady Rosse. I didn’t have the opportunity to meet them as they were out of the country when I was there, however, I did have correspondence with Lady Rosse to rent the house and she was so kind to us and had everything ready for our arrival. We used the house as our base and took day trips either by train or driving the small car I had rented. We took one extended trip to the beautiful southwest and rented a second house there for 2 nights. (It was too far for a day trip and we had several places to visit in that area). I packed in all I could fit into my time in Ireland. One day was spent in Galway and we took a bus tour of the Burren and visited the Cliffs of Moher. We had the best tour guide in the world who extended our tour and gave us a complete visit to that part of Ireland. We also visited the Blarney Stone, and yes, I kissed the stone! Cork, Tipperary, Killarney, Limerick, Adare, and every place in between. One day we took a train tour of the bog in Clonmacnoise. That was really interesting. Another day we took the train to Dublin and rode the double decker jump-on jump-off bus tour (my least favorite part of Ireland). We took another day long tour bus to visit the Ring of Kerry. Absolutely the most beautiful place I have ever seen! We were in Kenmare on the summer solstice and it was amazing to still be daylight at midnight. I loved everything about Ireland except for the fact it was so cold there. Probably my favorite of all was visiting the many stone circles and Newgrange. The driving experience was new for me… driving on the left side of the road and driving a stick shift and having to shift with my left arm was a challenge at times but gave us many opportunities of humor. Ireland was everything I had hoped it would be and more. I will always cherish this trip as one of my most favorite ever. The friendliest people on the planet live in Ireland!

Birr Castle, private home of the Rosse family

Birr Telescope, for over 70 years it was the largest in the world.

Linda at the Cliffs of Moher on a cold, cold windy day!

a beautiful scene along the Ring of Kerry

Linda standing at the entrance to Newgrange

Emerald Mine

We spent the day on Saturday in Spruce Pine, North Carolina at an emerald mine. One of my cousins was celebrating his birthday and a bunch of the family got together to spend the day mining for gems and celebrating with him. There were about 3o or so of us. We spent the morning digging in the rocks and searching for that priceless gem. Unfortunately no one found anything of high value but there were some emeralds and rubies and a few other gems discovered. We all had a picnic lunch then afterward some people dug some more while others just visited. It was such a fun day with family. Below are some of the many photos I took during the day.

Lindsey, Rusty and Debbie dig in a pit

Mom stops digging long enough for a photo

David enjoys his lunch break

after lunch chit-chat

these pretty white cows grazed on the hillside near the mine

an uninvited guest showed up at the birthday celebration

a wild turkey struts in a field nearby

the beautiful scenic Blue Ridge Mountains ... this was the scene from the mine

Baltimore

We lived for a while just outside of Balitmore, Maryland and visited the Inner Harbor on many occasions. It was a fun place to go and just hang out on a Sunday afternoon to listen to musicians there or to go visit the Baltimore Aquarium. Camden Park is near the harbor and we have watched the Orioles play baseball there. Baltimore in 1816 was the first city in the US to light its streets with gas laterns. The first gas light still stands in the city today. We took a tour of the city one time and I picked up that tidbit of info then. We’ve also taken the water taxi’s from the harbor over to Fort McHenry. Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the Star Spangled Banner while looking at a flag flying over the fort. And Edgar Allen Poe is buried in Baltimore. I tried to snap a picture of his grave while on the tour but as you can see it is not the best shot.

Linda and David stroll around the Inner Harbor

the National Aquarium in Baltimore's Inner Harbor

David in the Inner Harbor

the grave of Edgar Allen Poe