I cannot blame it on the desire for warm, green grass after such a crazy, cold winter or even upcoming St. Patrick's Day - I think about Ireland ALL THE TIME...especially our trip last summer to Dingle, Ireland. It became our home away from home for a short while and we found it to have everything anyone could hope for: great restaurants, great hikes, great shopping, great locals to share a pint with, great whiskey, great music…the list is endless.

Seated on the Dingle Peninsula…you guessed it, Dingle!

For such a small town, Dingle offers a large number of places to stay. We chose the B&B Castlewood House. You should, too.

Out Of The Blue - best seafood chowder in town. And that's saying something

Downtown Dingle. See that light blue building tucked in the middle? That would be Murphy's. Best. Ice cream cones. Ever. And I'm from the Midwest…I know my dairy.

May we suggest Dick Mack's for a pint? It also happens to be a fine haberdashery. Because why not.

Yeah. That's a rainbow that landed in the middle of Dingle. Because Dingle is amazing, that's why.

The Little Cheese Shop. We put together a lunch from here to eat while hiking. Took me 30 mins to eat the cheese sandwich because I never wanted to stop eating it. Cash only.

The Dingle Way - totally amazing hikers can do this full hike in 8 days or so. We being average hikers that had a half day on our hands, simply did the first 5 miles. Looking forward to finishing the last 7 and a half days!

View along the Dingle Way.

An opening in the trail found us these two beauties.

Ventry Beach was as far as we got on the Dingle Way. If here, skip across the street to The Skipper for some oysters and a restorative pint.

Dingle Distillery. A perfect place to tour (and sip) after a long hike. Seek out Joe if you go!

Pretty Dingle Harbor

Bee Forts everywhere. Pull over and honor the work that went into making those!

The Conor Pass - potentially treacherous what with all the blind curves and no pull over space but you don't got to Ireland to watch other people have adventures, am I right?

Also, sometimes you do find a space to pull over and hike up rocks only to find secret lakes. ADVENTURE.

Ruins at A Riasc Monastic Settlement.

Any short drive out of Dingle will lead you to all sorts of wonderful sites.

The Half Door, Dingle. Our last meal in this wonderful town. Amazing and cannot recommend more.