What I Learned On Vacation

As many of you know, Hubby-pants and I enjoyed a brief vacation in the mountains of Pennsylvania for our two-year anniversary. I had a few um, observations.

This is referred to as the “Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.”

• Cell phones become paper weights in rural communities. On our way up to our Inn, our internet signal cut out and we lost our GPS instructions. We would have called the Inn, as we were close, but without an internet signal, we couldn’t look up the number. Hell, even if we had the number, we didn’t have a cellular signal to make a phone call. Useless. We stopped somewhere and while Hubby went in to ask for directions the old-fashioned way, I quickly realized that everything I do on my phone for entertainment requires an internet connection. Very frustrating. The Inn we eventually checked into had WiFi, but that’s using the term generously. It was spotty at best.
• We always look into moving wherever we vacation. When we honeymooned in Tahiti, Moorea, & Bora Bora, Hubby and I asked one of the tour guides how much it would be to build a house by the beach. ($400K, in case you’re curious. The USD is much stronger than theirs. So, if I ever get famous off this writing thing, that’s where we’re heading.) Last year, we vacationed in the Outer Banks in North Carolina. We fancied some of the houses for sale, but good heavens, it’d be cheaper to live in Tahiti. And less hurricanes. Then there was this year. The beautiful Allegheny Mountains, just starting to turn with the colors of autumn. The air was so crisp. The coffee shop was so quaint. We looked up a simple rancher accompanied by almost 100 acres of land, just out of curiosity. It was $300K. Mostly because of the land. But the most jarring part was that the online listing included three pictures of the house and about 45 pictures of slain deer the sellers had hunted on the property. Hubby-pants and I aren’t hunters. Perhaps we wouldn’t fit in? Though he said he’d be willing to give it a try. But me? Not so much…
• I feel really bad for blind people. There was one point when we driving through the country to one of the state parks. There were rolling corn fields on either side, the stalks just barely turning yellow. The sky was a perfect periwinkle. And even the double yellow lines in the center of the road complimented the scenery. It was absolutely breathtaking, and it was so simple. And it really made me thankful for the gift of sight and I don’t care if that’s cheesy. (Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of that particular scene. It was gun country and we were scared to get out of the car without good reason.)

And now I’m home. Back to revising Blood in the Paint, the first full-length novel in the Blood for Blood Series. It goes to the beta readers next week and I’m terrified. Perhaps I should have scheduled the beta readers before the vacation, huh?