Snowdonia
I’m Coming Home
Driving through Snowdonia was nothing short of magical.
My father was from this region, and when I took an Ancestry.com test, it confirmed I was 50% Welsh—traced directly to this very corner of Wales. After his recent passing, I knew I needed to come here. It didn’t feel like a vacation. It felt like a calling.
I had studied this land from afar: guidebooks, maps, and a rabbit hole of YouTube travel vlogs. By the time my car hit the road leading into Snowdonia National Park, it felt like I already knew it. Every bend in the road and rise in the hills greeted me like a memory I never knew I had.
I travel mostly in the off-season—just me, the road, and the kind of silence that lets your heart talk back. On this particular day, the park was nearly deserted. I stopped at anything that pulled my attention. And then I found it.
A Stone Church and a Still Moment
Tucked off a bend was a small stone church down a quiet private road. I pulled over. The cemetery beside it was filled with ancient headstones, some etched with crosses, some too weathered to read. I thought of my father.
Something made me stretch out my arms and slowly turn in place—just letting the space wash over me. That’s when I saw it: a single sheep on a hill, watching me.
It wasn’t grazing. It wasn’t moving.
It was just… staring.
Its white coat popped against the muted greens and greys of the countryside. I stared back. Twenty minutes passed. Neither of us blinked. It felt oddly sacred. Eventually, we called it a draw.
I took a few photos, then walked back to the car. One last look—still staring.
As I drove away, I checked my rearview mirror. The sheep had turned, now facing the direction of my car. Watching me leave.
I don’t know if it was my father saying goodbye. I don’t even know if I believe in things like that.
But I don’t know how it could not have been.
It was the most meaningful moment of my entire trip.
Villages of Snowdonia
Scenes from the park
St. George
St. George is a quint village in the county borough of Conwy, Wales and is close to the coastal town of Abergele. It was by pure happenstance that we found this place but isn’t that how you find really cool places sometimes? This town is a gem and I felt lucky to have found this place.
If you make it here the ”Kinmel Arms” is a great hotel, restaurant and bar and I highly recommend it. http://www.thekinmelarms.co.uk
Scotch in Wales?
Single malt Welsh whiskey…before arriving to Wales our travels began in Scotland so the expectation on the whiskey front was high. I ate dinner at a restaurant/bar and the owner came and we talked at great length. As our friendship bloomed he went behind the bar and pulled out this beautiful bottle of Penderyn and he said this is the crown jewel of Wales as far as drinks are concerned. He was not wrong, this is perhaps one of the finest whiskies in all the world.
Map of Wales
Courtesy of: https://ukmaps.co.uk
