Things I Learned on Vacation

It's been years since I've gone on an old fashioned road trip. The last one was to visit Clare nine hours away in Northern Wisconsin. My daughter was only two years old or so, so she was pretty good in the car. Taking a three and a half year old, though . . .I was a little worried. She did great, though. I really should stop worrying about how she travels. I stuffed her on a plane at 18 months old. Of course, now she'll have to prove me a liar.

We spent a week in the mountains of Virginia--the Blue Ridge and Allegeheny Mountains. I'm quite certain, even after a week there I spelled that wrong. It's beautiful. So many deer my brother would have been having seizures reaching for his compound bow. Woodchucks and groundhogs foraging right on the other side of the balcony. Little bright yellow birds, falcons, one eagle, and an owl I heard, but couldn't see.

You learn things when you travel. I know I did. Here's a few of my lessons, some are personal and others are more on the history of the place I visited!

1. Riding in the car and reading, even a Kindle, still gets me carsick. I was hoping, but Dramamine is still me friend.
2. Ohio is HUGE! Seriously, every hour I thought, we need to be through Ohio and we weren't.
3. We passed through 7 states on our little more than 700 mile trip: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia. Pretty cool.
4. I realized that in another country I wouldn't have passed through several states in 700 miles, but several countries. Puts it into perspective doesn't it?
5. Monticello was beautiful and Jefferson was odd. Really intelligent, but definitely suffering from some sort of OCD.
6. I visited Michie Tavern, a real 18th century tavern, and realized that I really used A LOT of poetic license when writing RIBBONS OF MOONLIGHT. Whoa!
7. The mountains are beautiful, but my ears hated them. I don't think I could live somewhere where my ears would pop every time I had to drive to the supermarket. Apparently I am a flat lander.
8. Apparently, tiny flying buggies found me irresistibly delicious. Ouch.
9. We visited the Luray Caverns and they really had me rethinking my previous view of the Underdark. How long will it be before they wind up in a story of mine? I foresee a new fantasy . . .
10. I love to travel. I love history. I am sentimentally patriotic so seeing the Old Dominion, home to so many presidents, one of the cradles of our democracy was really cool. However, there's nothing like coming home either.

Safe travels to everyone out there still wandering. May you all come safe home.

Comments

  1. KendallJuly 25, 2011 at 9:17 AM

    Rebecca, your blog is very well done! If you write the same way as you do on here in your books, I will have to give the book a try. I'm not much of a romance novel reader or fant. fict. either unless Harry Potter series counts. :P Keep writing! Oh, and I like chick lit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJuly 25, 2011 at 5:12 PM

    You will like the book and I won't spoil it for you, but I told Becky I wanted a different ending. And no I don't usually read Chick romances, But I am her Dad.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJuly 25, 2011 at 5:13 PM

    And I don't have a profile so quit asking

    ReplyDelete

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