this was pretty much our last day in Ireland, but we still wanted to try and see as much as we could. so, we decided to take our time driving back from the castle to Dublin.

We came back through Galway but there was not nearly as much going on there as had been the day before…so, we hung out for a bit but then headed out

we decided to stop off in the city of Athlone, which sits on the River Shannon, for a bit to get some lunch and fill up on gas. however, we ended up walking around for a bit b/c the town was gorgeous and i was digging the harsh sunlight creating all the shadows and reflections

finally, we headed back to Dublin, checked back in to the same hotel we had stayed in the very first night, i left the camera in the room, and we headed to downtown Dublin for one final night out. we hit up a little Italian place right along the river and just talked about our favorite parts from the trip and where our next destination would be…

like i said at the beginning of all these posts, words can’t express everything we saw and experienced. people keep asking me, “what was the highlight of the trip?”…my answer is that despite how gorgeous the landscape was and cool the cities were to walk around, the best part was spending such quality time with my best friend
my wife Jenica has supported and encouraged me in so many things in life…when she was talking about surprising me with a vacation without telling me where, we first said we would just keep saving money and eventually take it hopefully in 2011. however, after some great advice from one of my closest friends Stuart, i figured why wait when we don’t know what next year will look like for us. and, if she has really been so supporting and encouraging to me over these past years, why not show her how thankful i am for her now and allow us to take this time together now….so we did

that was the best part for me. spending quality time with my best friend and incredible wife – thanks love for everything