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Donegal Country: Travel Goals
It is our first trip into County Donegal. I am not sure what to expect after hearing songs and reading travel advice. For me the reality is both lovely and underwhelming. Donegal is beautiful without question. But it is not substantially different than other areas of Ireland. It has unrelentingly beautiful scenery and yet perhaps…
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Along the Cladagh: Travel Goals
Sitting at home this morning and arranging photos from a recent trip to Ireland, I sorted pictures taken from County Fermanagh. We stayed within a few miles of the border with Northern Ireland and found ourselves in Fermanagh several times during our trip. It rained a lot during our stay so the grass was green…
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Derry Girl: Travel Goals
I love the television series “Derry Girls”. The sitcom follows the antics of five friends during the 1980’s in Derry, Northern Ireland. It makes light of coming of age in a town rocked with sectarian violence. Five friends rely on each other as the struggle to make sense of a world that makes no sense.…
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Pilgrimage: Travel Goals
From a modern perspective, it is hard to envision a time when religion completely dominated the landscape. Yet in Ireland the past is everywhere. It is hard to cross a field without noticing some remnant of religious life. From Neolithic tombs to abandoned monasteries, religious architecture is hard to miss. As a historian, I understand…
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What I learned from TV Westerns
I grew up watching Westerns. My grandparents fed me a steady diet of John Wayne and Gene Autry. But I loved the television series westerns like The Lone Ranger, Gunsmoke, The Big Valley, Bonanza, and the rifleman. In one hour, a community is faced with a crisis and then larger than life characters with outsized…
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Zoological Meandering: Travel Goals
I love zoos. Where else can you go to see animals frolic, listen to children laugh, learn science, and also help conservation efforts world wide? I especially love zoos that take wildlife management and animal quality of life seriously. Today’s zoo have come a long way and are continuing to evolve. We like to visit…
Prisoner of Hopes: a blog about Hopeful Living and Finding Adventure in the Everyday Things of Life
Prisoner of Hopes 