By now, some of you have probably seen the little commercials running on KMBC, inviting you to take a trip to Ireland with me, the Baron of Blarney. There is something very fitting about sending a weatherperson to a place called Blarney. I've gotten a few e-mails and phone calls asking for a review of the specifics of the trip, so here goes: The trip is from August 27 to September 5 and includes visits to Dublin, Killarney and many spots inbetween. For a free KMBC/Holiday Vacations brochure call 1-800-826-2266. It sounds and looks like a beautiful trip and, if you can forget that you have to be around me for ten days, it should be great fun. My wife is coming along and she is a much better travel companion than I am, so you can always chat with her and totally ignore me.

Ireland is one of those places that people have strong feelings about, usually rooted in family heritage. I'll be honest, when it comes to ethnicity, I'm a mutt. Some German, a little Swedish, a bit of English, a dash of Danish, a sliver of French. Also, according to family lore, there maybe some Native American thrown in for good measure. When it comes to Irish, I did have a great-grandma named Hennigan, so that qualifies, although, I regret to say I have no idea where her family was from on the Emerald Isle. Maybe we'll run into an Irish morning weatherman with little or no clue and that will be evidence of a genealogical connection. When I was a kid, I really thought our family was big-time Irish because of that great-grandma. On a couple of elementary school St. Patrick's Days, I dyed my hair green. It didn't show up very well in dark hair but if the sun hit me just right, you could see it. (Frankly, going to school with green hair, it wasn't just the sun that would hit me just right.) I know what you're thinking: "Try coloring it green today...you don't have as much of it and, what you do you have, is not nearly so dark! At least the white and silver hairs would green up nicely!"

We've all heard it said that "Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day!" If that is true, then actually setting foot on the enchanting spot of green, must make you Irish for life whether you have a great-grandma named Hennigan or not. So, I hope you will call 1-800-826-2266 and consider joining us for our August journey. But, if you can't, you still get the benefit of not having to look at me doing the weather for a couple of weeks! Everyone wins!