A Chaotic 3-State Family #Vacation - #BethanyBeach #HarpersFerry #Chesapeake

So, I've been living out of a suitcase for eight days now, staying at three different houses in three different states.  Of course I feel very fortunate to have been able to take a 10-day vacation full of stops to see family and friends.  But I'm starting to miss my house and my pets!  We've had a lot of fun so far, with many adventures along the way.  For most of the week, we've been with our best friends and their kids, combining two families of four into a chaotic group of eight.  At the beginning of the week, my girlfriend stumbled across an article in the Huffington Post that had us all rolling with laughter: Vacation or Trip? A Helpful Guide for Parents.  We had to all agree we were, most definitely, on a "trip".

The kids in the ocean at Bethany.
We all were in at some point,
trying to beat the heat.

But it's been a trip full of adventures, and long drives, with plenty of family memories forming along the way.  We began Sunday evening in Bethany Beach, Delaware, a beautiful town with a great book store that hosts me for annual book signings.  We stayed over on the bay side, packing our eight, one friend, and one dog into the house.  The weather was sunny and very HOT...a heat index of 104 degrees one day.  That was, of course, the day the air conditioning broke.

So our trip to take the kids to the Rehoboth Boardwalk was delayed one day, due to an emergency repair on the AC, but we did get them there, returning home with a ton of candy and cheap prizes from the arcade games.  In a strange coincidence, my younger son woke up the next day with a very upset stomach and threw up all morning.  Thankfully, it was not a stomach bug that traveled through the group!  He was on the mend by the time we arrived Wed. afternoon in Leesburg, Virginia, the beautiful hometown of our friends.  Aside from enjoying the pool and restaurants, we went into wine country to antique one day.  Oh, and we decided a visit to Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, would be a good opportunity to try our hand at white water tubing.  We should have learned our lesson after our previous visit to the same area for what's now known as the "Zip Lining Disaster of 2013".  All I can say is it's nearly impossible to keep eight people together without ropes, which are not permitted, on a river with strong currents and a mind of its own.  There was some panicked moments of missing the correct path, some frustrated moments of getting stuck, and a lot of hilarious moments involving trying to get back into tubes we'd abandoned after one of those panicked or frustrated moments.

One of my favorite stops - an antique market near the
setting of my YA novel DIVINE FALL

By Sunday, we were stopping in Potomac, Maryland, for lunch with more family members before heading to my sister's neighborhood on the Chesapeake Bay.  I get to enjoy time with my little nieces and try to sneak in a little bit of relaxation.  My sister and I love spooky ghost movies (and they help inspire the haunting mysteries in my novels) so we'll marathon a few (we watched "It Follows" last night).  Then our "trip" will be capped off tomorrow with a big soccer game at FedEx Stadium - Chelsea (my oldest son's favorite team) will play Barcelona (my younger son's favorite team), and I'm not really sure where we can safely sit with the boys wearing jerseys from opposing teams.  Wednesday will bring us back to Cape Cod...the end of the journey will be a little sad, but coming home is always a wonderful feeling as well!  Until I have to start on that giant bag of laundry...

Deer Instead of Disasters! #Ski Trip #skiing in Canada

Followers of my blog may remember the (in retrospect) hilarious details of my traumatic ski weekend--the trip that made me decide to hang up my downhill skis forever.  I gave it a fair shot, I improved enough to make it down the mountain in one piece most of the time, and kept it up for a few winters.  And then, after that last run, I decided that throwing myself down an icy mountain in subzero temperatures is just not my idea of fun.  But, I live in New England now, and this winter has been nothing if not snowy (see: blizzards).  So, when my husband expressed a strong desire to return to our their favorite ski resort over February break, I had to bite the proverbial bullet for the sake of my family's fun.

To be honest, I was fine with the thought of spending every day sleeping late in the comfort of our hotel, followed by more lazing around in my pajamas with a cup of coffee in one hand and a book in the other.  After all, I certainly needed to wind down after the first half of February--the beginning of the month was a crazy and sometimes stressful ride: Not only did I finish my fourth manuscript, HAUNTED SOULS, I also signed with a literary agent!  I was exhausted after all the hard work and excitement.

As wonderful as doing nothing sounds, though, eventually I needed to move.  In addition to writing, fitness is my other passion (and job).  And a member of the gym where I work happened to be at the same Canadian ski resort as we were...her family goes every year.  So she suggested we try cross-country skiing on one of the days.  I'd done it once before, and although it was two years prior, I seemed to recall it being much more my speed.

First of all, what a workout!  That part I did remember.  Despite the very cold temperatures, I was sweating after the first 5 minutes.  And the best part was that it was a fun workout!  Once I got the hang of it, I could glide along without fear of a collison, chatting with my friend while admiring the pristine, peaceful woods of Domaine Saint-Bernard.

The trail eventually led to a clearing with a little covered shelter, complete with benches and a firepit.  Strung along the trees were dozens of birdfeeders.  As we approached, my friend suddenly whispers, "Kathryn...look to your right."

So beautiful!

A deer was walking along side of her!  When we slowed, gaping at the close proximity of a wild and usually timid creature, the doe gazed back at us with expectant brown eyes.  I quickly put it together--this deer knew the drill--and pulled out the sunflower seeds we'd picked up at the lodge.  Supposedly, they were for the birds, but it was apparent the deer had decided to get in on the action.

No one else was around.  The deer came closer and closer as we tossed the seeds, and only the birds overhead broke the cold, still silence.  My friend held out a hand filled with seeds, and one of the birds landed on her hand and began to eat.  We felt like we were in a Disney movie!  The only things missing were colorful pastel gowns and uplifting songs.

I LOVE animals, and as I shared the experience with my family over dinner, my enthusiasm convinced them to give cross country a try, too.  The next day, they took time off from downhill and we all went together.

It wasn't quite as magical...this time, the clearing happened to be filled with people.  But the deer were there, and some of them were bold enough to eat from our hands!  One actually seemed ready to search my coat pockets once I'd run out of seeds!

Me with a bird on
my hand!

So, a happy and memorable skiing trip this year, with something for all of us.  And I still had most of the days to myself...peace, quiet, and good books.  If you need a winter escape, try one of my steamy romances...they are spiked with suspenseful ghost mysteries to keep the pages turning!  GULL HARBOR is set on the spectacular beaches of Cape Cod, and SILVER LAKE is set by a sparkling lake in Fairfield, Connecticut.  And BOTH novels take place in the sultry summer months...which seem far off in this never-ending winter...maybe the snow will have melted here by then!

Memories of Blizzards Past #blizzardof2015 #Snowmageddon2015

So far, here on Cape Cod, at my house anyway, we've been spared any major damage from Juno, also known as Stormageddon 2015.  We haven't lost power, just days of school and work. My husband is outside snowblowing, so I can't really say how he feels about the storm at the moment, but I've been happily typing away in my writing cave all day.  Coffee's hot, fire's burning, and my kids are entertained because we got friends over here to keep them company before we were snowed in.  So, yes, there are a few extra people in the house, but they're having fun.

Our tree took down
the entire neighborhood's
power and started a fire.

Since I started this blog in 2012, shortly after my first novel, SILVER LAKE, came out, I've written about a number of memorable storms and blizzards.  There was a Nor'Easter that hit us right after Hurricane Sandy did so much destruction further south.  This particular storm hit our area worse than Sandy had and also started a fire in our tree.  It also happened to be the day of my very first book discussion and signing at a local library--you can imagine how that turned out.

In December of 2013 there was the storm that hit while we were on a ski trip, contributing to a series of events which led to one of the most disastrous "vacations" we've ever had.  While I can laugh at most of the things that happened now (see: faceplant off the ski lift) and I've recovered the feeling in my finger (it took a year), that weekend did convince me to hang up my skis forever.  Seriously, I'm done.  No great loss for the skiing community--I was never very good.  So, actually, the mountains are a safer place with me inside the hotel room, writing novels or catching up on my own reading list.

Me shortly before I gave
myself a frostbitten finger.

After this momentous decision, we chose to head south for February break in 2014.  But of course a huge blizzard rolled in the night before we were supposed to leave for Disney, adding an enormous amount of stress to the usual drama of going away for a week.  Would we be able to get to the airport?  Would our flight even still be scheduled?  Was it safe to leave the house with no power or heat in the middle of a blizzard? Would the poor kitty be okay in the cold?  And, if we didn't make it to Orlando, would any of the parks refund our money for the tickets and events we'd scheduled and paid for already?

But the one blizzard that sticks in my memory the most happened well before this blog existed--right after Christmas, in December of 2004.  My kids were 2 and 5.  We lost power for days, and with it heat and hot water.  Neither my husband or I had anything resembling a Smartphone, if they were even around then.  Since we have so many pets and the kids were so young, a hotel didn't seem like a good solution...not that any rooms would have been available anyway.  One night, we managed to drive to the YMCA, which had power, and we stayed there almost all evening--took the kids swimming, and finally took hot showers.  On the way home, we found an open store that actually had a few battery-powered lanterns left, so that was a big night.  Being thrown into total darkness at 4 pm each afternoon makes for very gloomy days.

But when our power finally returned, we learned the horrible news that had stunned the world: the Indian Ocean tsunami had decimated coastal areas across South Asia, killing 227,898 people.  It was the single worst tsunami in history, and the destruction was devastating.  The news coverage quickly put my perspective in order: we had been cold, smelly, and frustrated, but we were alive and well and safe in our home.  I felt terrible for every complaint I'd uttered during our storm.

So my hope is that no tragic consequences result from this historic blizzard of 2015.  Right now, the communities closer to the water are getting pummeled, and the news is reporting that Nantucket is "off the grid".  I don't know what that means, but it doesn't sound good.  My thoughts are with everyone affected by Juno--stay warm and safe!

Our disastrous skiing weekend - Vacations gone wrong

I'm writing this blog post from the safety of our hotel room, because I refuse to go back out there.  Typing is a little difficult, since the fingertips of my right hand are numb with frostbite blisters.  And I can't move my upper body much, since my neck and shoulders have locked up.

Last night, as my friend cried in my arms in the hotel lobby, she said, "why do I think this is going to end up in your next book?"  I had to laugh, but so far both my novels take place in the sultry summertime, not at a freezing ski resort in Vermont on the coldest weekend of the year thus far.  But maybe if I set one in the winter in the future, I'll bring in some of the events of this past weekend. 

I'm not a huge fan of skiing to begin with.  My perfect vacation involves a great book, a warm beach, and a blender drink.  But I live in New England, and my husband and sons like to ski.  My husband and younger son are especially good.  We are friends with a ski-loving mom with two boys, and she suggested we all go together to their favorite ski resort.

Our first indication of trouble was the weather report.  A huge storm was predicted for Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning.  But we'd purchased lift tickets and rentals in advance, and it was too late to cancel our reservations without a fee.  We decided to just go.

We had to leave home on Friday evening, somewhat late since my husband's work scheduled a Christmas get-together for the afternoon.  I frantically packed, telling my 15-year-old son to make sure he had his winter coat.  Most of the time, he refuses to wear one.  But he found it (after pulling out a windbreaker and saying "is this it?") and I told him it was his job to bring it.

Four and a half hours later, we're unpacking the car at 10:30 at night.  My teenager is not wearing a coat, and it's negative 4 degrees outside.  When we tell him to go get it, he returns looking very upset.  He's forgotten it.  For a ski weekend.

My sons, after the borrowed gray coat arrived, before
the frost nip on the cheek appeared

Luckily our friend was leaving early in the morning, and she brought him an extra coat.  We could all laugh.  For a while.  The ski conditions were not good - icy and absolutely frigid.  The temperature at the top of the mountain was negative ten degrees.  After each run, we had to get inside to warm up.  My younger son had a suspicious-looking ribbon of red across his cheek which the medic deemed "frost nip".  We told him he was done for the day.



Why I didn't decide I was done for the day was beyond me.  I don't really like skiing.  It was bitter cold.  But I'd only had one run at that point (because I gave up my jacket for my son until the extra one arrived), and I wanted to get my money's worth.  I also wanted to do better, since my first run had been somewhat out of control.  Jokingly, I said I needed to "conquer the mountain" (from a green circle standpoint).

Me, still believing I was covered up enough
to head back to the top one more time

The ride on the ski lift was pure torture.  The biting wind cut through every layer of protection we had on.  We stopped at the halfway point and skied down.  Success - much better on my part.

Did I end it there?  Oh, no.  Because I wanted to take a picture from the very top.  A flipping picture.  One more run, I said.  My husband accompanied me all the way up, and I could barely feel my fingers, even inside my gloves, with hand warmers, by the time we got to the top.  I was so cold I had trouble grasping my poles.  At least that's what I'm going with, since what happened next was so absurd.  Somehow, I missed actually exiting the lift.  My husband pushed off, skied away, and I was still sitting on the lift, now looking at several feet between me and the snow below.  I only knew I didn't want to stay on that lift one more minute.  I panicked and jumped.  Yes, that's right, I threw myself off the lift, into the packed snow, and I faceplanted in what must have been hilarious from anyone else's viewpoint.  (This probably explains my locked neck muscles today).

Once I was up and my skis were back on, I said this is it, picture, down the hill, done with this.  Possibly forever.  My hand were already so cold, and what do I do?  I take off my glove to snap the picture.  My flesh froze so quickly I couldn't move my fingers.  I had trouble putting my phone back away, and I honestly couldn't close my fingers around the zipper of my pocket to zip it up.  My fingers simply didn't work.  Somehow I got my glove back on, got to my husband, and together we got the zipper up.  But the damage was done.  My hand was immobile, and I still had to get down the mountain.  Somehow I made it with no further spills.

Here's the picture that cost me my fingertips.  Worth it?

At the bottom, I raced right into the lounge and practically pushed everyone out of the way of the fire.  I tried to warm my hand, which is probably not the right thing to do.  My fingers burned with searing pain as blood tried to return to the damaged tissue.  We put in yet another call to the medic, but left before he got there.  Why, you ask?

Because my phone started ringing--it was my friend, calling from the mountain.  With the ski patrol.  Because her son had fallen off his snowboard and broken his arm.

She took him to the ER, we took her other son and went to dinner.  There was only one restaurant open in the resort, and it was very, very cold.  The manager came over and apologized profusely; it seemed the boiler had broken down.  Outside, the wind was whipping itself into a frenzy as the storm bore down on us.

Back in our room, I googled frostbite.  It seems I had a first degree case, blisters on my fingertips.  Reversible, thankfully.  I waited to hear from my friend, on her way back from the hospital to the resort.  She sent me a picture of her son, wearing a cast up to his shoulder.  He's a trooper, he was in good spirits.

However, her car is not 4-wheel-drive, and she began slipping along the back roads to the hotel due to the storm conditions.  She was getting very scared, and then she came upon a flipped SUV on the other side of the road.  Another car had stopped to help already.  Somehow she managed to keep her young son from seeing it, since he'd once seen an accident occur and had been traumatized for quite some time.  But once she got here safely and got him into their room, she called and asked me to meet her in the lobby.  There, she was free to cry without scaring her sons.  She's one of the strongest women I know, but the events of the day had taken their toll.

Aside from injuries, we were all safe and alive, though.  The emotions needed to come out so we could eventually try to laugh.  Which we did, over a glass of wine.  We don't know what happened with the flipped SUV, but someone had already stopped to help, and those cars are tough.  I'm praying everyone was belted in and that airbags deployed.

This morning, the storm is over, and conditions are perfect.  Lots of powder, no ice, and the temperature is up to a balmy 20 degrees above zero.  But I refuse to go back out there.  So here I sit, happy to have warm coffee in my damaged hand and a hot shower in my future.  Our friend's son with the cast is of course confined to his room as well, but he has his phone and a tv, and he's okay. 

I'm at my computer, working on the very last chapter of my third manuscript.  Which, ironically, I started last February on a ski vacation in Canada.  I'll probably finish ten months of hard work today.  So, in addition from some crazy incidents that will become funny memories, I'll have a completed Young Adult Paranormal Romance manuscript.  I'll take the good with the bad, and be grateful that our two families emerged with minor injuries that will heal, as well as some hilarious shared stories to eventually look back on.

Have you ever had a vacation turn into a disaster?  Feel free to share!

Adventures in #ZipLining - #HarpersFerry #WVA #Travel

I love being scared when the actual risk of danger is relatively small: riding roller coasters, visiting haunted houses, reading (and writing) ghost stories, watching scary movies, etc.  So when my best friend suggested we take our families on a 3-hour zip line “Canopy Tour” in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, I agreed enthusiastically. 

My two boys have inherited this adrenaline-rush-seeking gene from me, and my husband is usually game for anything athletic.  My friend’s husband and her two daughters were on board as well.  After all, the 8 of us had visited the Atlantis resort in the Bahamas together and all tackled the steepest, longest waterslide I’ve ever seen.  If we could do that, we could do this.

We did ask our 19-year-old lead guide if anyone had ever died on the course.  He assured us that had never happened; if it had, the park would no longer exist.  The safety measures they had in place were very impressive.  But once you started that course, you were up in the treetops for the duration—there is no way to get up or down.  So we were told that everyone needed to use the bathroom before hand, because if they have to rappel you down, you are done. 

He and our other guide went through all the possible scenarios and procedures with us, and he probably thought he’d covered any situation.  He said he’d seen it all…but we ended up proving him wrong in the first 15 minutes!

The view from the treetops - 3 states visible: MD on the left, VA in the middle, WVA on the right

Throughout the course, each group has 2 guides with them, one who goes first to help catch you and unclip you as you land, and one who is at the start platform before you go, hooking you onto the line.  In the meantime, you are ALWAYS hooked to a tether on the platform.  So you are always hooked to something, either the center of the platform or the line.  There are 8 tethers plus 2 for guides and that’s the max that can go together.

There I go!

Our group got through the first 2 stations, and then there was a wooden suspension bridge you have to cross, since you’re headed up to a higher platform and a zip line alone won’t work.  So it’s shaky footing but your zip lines are attached to a cable above.

They space you out as you cross.  My friend was well ahead of me when she lost her footing.  She started flying backwards because she was so far uphill at that point.  She could have grabbed any of the stationary ropes along the sides of the bridge, but instead she grabbed her zip line, which of course was moving backwards with her.  Not helpful.  So she was yelling, “I can’t stop” and dragging her heels across the boards to try.

BOTH her shoes came off in this process and fell about 50 feet to the ground.  I had to catch her with my legs to stop us both from continuing backwards.  When we managed to finally get over, the guide asked, “Where are your shoes?”  My friend, who now had only socks and torn up heels, was worried she would hold the group behind us up.  So she said, “Forget it, I don’t need shoes.  I’m fine.”

They never told us we weren't allowed to lose our shoes along the way

But the lead guide said he could not let her continue without shoes.  Since this had never happened, he had to figure out what to do.  In the end, he opened a trap door and rappelled down to the forest floor.  He found her shoes, then had to run back to the start of the course, since there’s no other way up.  He had to zip though (literally), going ahead of others to get back to us.

Meanwhile, we were stuck.  You need 2 guides to move forward (and shoes).  The second guide said the next group might pass us, but I pointed out there were only so many tethers on the platform.  No way could another group of 8 come onto our platform and fit, let alone be tied safely to the platform.  They were stuck too, as was anyone behind them.  So, we held up the entire course for nearly 30 minutes.  Slightly embarrassing.  

Let’s just say we had a lot of laughs, finished the course, and made sure we got out of there before the group behind us made it to the ground.  And our guide got a huge tip.