Roots [Cape Cod Lifestyle Photographer]

I have always been fascinated by our family history.  I love the stories of my grandparents and great grandparents as immigrants from Poland establishing a new life for themselves and their families in the United States.  I have an extensive family tree on Ancestry.com, thanks to contributions by family members, and my parents were also available to fill in the blanks .  My husband, Scott, however, was not as fortunate.  His parents passed away years ago, leaving photos but not much else in the way of written history.  Scott wanted to know his roots, too.  So this year I decided that it was time to find them.  I signed up for the trial subscription for Ancestry.com, and we began our search for the McMahon family from South Dakota.  We didn't sleep much during the next 2 weeks as we uncovered clues leading us to  Scott's great great grandfather from Tralee, Ireland.  This new information inspired us to travel to Ireland so that we could explore and experience a little family culture. 

Stone walls galore...

Phenomenal clouds...

And quaint villages

One of our favorite stops was Cohb, the port where Patrick McMahon, 14 years old, took a ship to the United States in 1875.   This was also the last port of call for the Titanic in 1912.

 As I was contemplating a category to submit to for this year's Tri Club competition I was inspired by one the photos that I took of the Colman Cathedral in Cohb.   The category was "steeples".   This beautiful building was perched atop the highest hill with a full view of the harbor.

I was so pleased that it was selected by our club as our entry and it placed in the show!

In our travels we had many adventures off the beaten path.  Fabulous food and so many breathtaking vistas.  And wonderful people everywhere we went.  Scott not only found his roots, he felt them. 

And that is a wonderful thing.