When Shannon Casas, Managing Editor at The Gainesville Times, was 13 her grandparents took her abroad; a tradition shared with each of the grandchildren.
“I spent three weeks with them touring Ireland, and I fell in love — so much so that I planned to move there when I grew up,” she said. “Fast forward about 10 years, and plans to move changed, but I still wanted to go back. Another 10 years later, I finally made it.”
Shannon and her husband planned the trip to Ireland to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary.
“We spent two weeks in July mostly on the northwest coast in small towns, and it was just what I imagined. We hiked the green hills, kayaked along rocky caves and ate fish and chips listening to traditional Irish music. It was incredible,” she said.

“We spent our first day walking the Cliffs of Moher before checking into our Airbnb in a tiny town on the coast called Fanore.”

Fanore, Ireland

Fanore, Ireland

“The sun sets around 10 p.m. in Ireland. We drove up a narrow road and waited, with cows munching on grass nearby and nothing but the sounds of the wind.”

“We drove through the most beautiful valley on our way to Connemara.”

“We made a terrifying hike, or hill walking as they call it, to the tip-top of Diamond Hill in Connemara.”

Strandhill: “At a beach outside the larger town of Sligo, we explored an ancient church where St. Patrick is said to have visited. The graves were later period, though, mostly 1800s.”

Kilkee: “We spent our last full day back on the coast after a few days inland. We kayaked and jumped into the ocean off these rocks. The swells were serious that day, so we didn’t get to do as much coasteering as I had planned. Coasteering is a trend in the British Isles in which you swim and jump off rocks into the ocean.”

Hall County Travels is a blog series from the Abernathy Cochran Real Estate Group to highlight adventures taken by Hall County residents. If you have taken a trip of a lifetime recently, or know someone who has, please email: babernathy@gonorton.com.