Ireland is always advertised as the Emerald Isle, the country with the thousand shades of green.  But, on this day, we saw at least a hundred shades of gray.  The Burren is an alien land.  Mountains are covered with purple-gray stones, and growing in between the stones are pale green and pastel plants and flowers.  Megalithic tombs built out of these stones emerged as we drove, and shafts of light changed the colors of the land from slate to heather.  As we reached the Cliffs of Moher, clouds rolled in, and the dark cliffs imposingly jutted out from the mists.

Every year, on Saint Patrick's Day, I like to look back at our trip to beautiful Ireland in 2006.  It's been six years since we were in Ireland, but the place still haunts us.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!