She's Baaaa-aaack!

It's been a month since I last blogged?

Seriously?

*checks calendar*

Dang.

*checks calendar again*

Oh, of course. That was the end of the school year. Makes perfect sense now.

Since then, I've:

1. Spent time with the family (all home for the summer);
2. Gone on vacation across the state;
3. Traveled to Oklahoma City for a day-job-related conference;
4. Read some great books;
5. Taken up golf (with the hubs);
6. Written!

...and there's more where that came from, with a camping trip and various day excursions planned for the rest of the summer. But I'm adding blogging back in, both because I've missed it and because I've got some exciting stuff coming up.

Including a new interview that's in the works! I think you'll be as excited as I am once you see who I get to chat with next. :)


In the meantime, here's a great deal I found out about yesterday. My Siren-Bookstrand erotic romance, Hooked, has been selected for their Retro Romance promotion, which means it's on sale here for only $1.99 until August 2. Pretty cool, huh?



Stop by tomorrow for a new Inspiration Friday post, and next week I'll be sharing some of my summer vacation pics, including one with me standing next to a giant metal chicken.

See you then!

I'm Not A Cowgirl...

...but I play one on Labor Day Weekend.

Yep, I'm back from the yearly trek to the rodeo, and I've got lots to share! Pics, excerpts, and a sneak peek at my rodeo-based WIP. Stop by all week to see what's up!

Today, here are a few pictures from the weekend. Hope you enjoy!

Leaving On A Jet Plane

I'm in love.

My husband isn't worried, though, because he's in love, too.

We've discovered our new favorite thing – Mauna Loa macadamia nut Hershey's kisses.

Perhaps not unrelated, I'm writing this on a Hawaiian airlines flight. Weird coincidence – my ob/gyn is about ten rows behind me. (A great woman – it was fun to see her outside the office!)

Anyway, I'll be spending spring break on a beach, slathered in SPF 50, taking a little time to relax and enjoy family time together.

I'll be back in a week or so with pictures and maybe a present or two, so be sure to stop by the blog for my afterparty. In the meantime, I'll be posting updates to Twitter when I can (translation: when I'm able to slip away from the family long enough to post), so if you're interested be sure to follow me at http://twitter.com/kate_davies.

Enjoy the week!

Travels With Kate - National Park Heartbreak

So last year we bought an annual pass for the National Park System. With the Grand Canyon and Arches both on our itinerary, it seemed like the prudent thing to do. A year flies by, as they tend to do, and it's due to expire at the end of the month. What do we decide to do?

Visit some National Parks, of course. Want to get some value out of that thing! (Of course, just seeing the Grand Canyon and Arches would have made it worth it, plus supporting the parks system, which we love.) So Saturday we head to the Klondike Museum in downtown Seattle, an urban park smack dab in the middle of the city. We walk up to the counter and flash the card.

"Oh, don't worry about that. This park has no entrance fee."

Dang. Oh well, better luck next time.

(It was a fabulous museum, full of interactive stuff for kids and plenty of info for all of us.)

Next day, we decide -- Mount Rainier! Why not? We'd been meaning to hit Rainier since we got back from last year's road trip, so it was the perfect opportunity. A beautiful, warm day, excited kids, an annual pass that expires in two weeks...brilliant!

We get to the entrance, flash the annual pass again. "Oh, you don't need that today. It's one of the three free weekends this year for National Parks."

You have GOT to be kidding me. Not only do we save NOTHING, everyone and his mother is on the mountain taking advantage of the free admittance.

(And yes, even though we didn't find any parking at the visitor center, we trundled down partway and walked a few easy trails with the kids. Fun was had, and the views were spectacular.)

Okay. It's starting to get serious. How can we save money when they refuse to charge us anything?

Two days later, it's over to the coast and the Lewis and Clark National Park. We stop at some heritage markers, check out the winding road along the Columbia river, and reach Fort Clatsop. Park, gather kids, enter visitor center. Haul the pass out of my purse with a sense of dread.

Victory! We've saved the admittance fee! (And no comments about how the kids would have gotten in free anyway. I'm busy basking in the moment.)

So that's the story of my run-in with the National Park system. And despite the comedy of errors trying to "use" the pass up before it expires, each park was fabulous and I highly recommend them.

A Change of Plans

Sometimes, all you can do is laugh...

A couple of days ago, I posted that I'd be away from the computer for a few days, without internet access. We had camping reservations, and were going to enjoy our new pop-up trailer for the first time. No internet at the state park, so I was leaving the computer at home. We spent most of the weekend outfitting the camper, buying and packing stuff, and preparing to head out of town.

Monday arrived. We packed the camper and the van, hooked the pop-up to the hitch, and stepped back to take a look.

Was that low, or was that my imagination?

Uh, no. The trailer we'd purchased based on the assurances of the RV dealership, the place that installed the tow package, and the car dealership that it was the right size and weight for our vehicle, was almost in a "V" formation -- front of trailer and back of van almost dragging on the ground, the front of the van and the back of the trailer hitched way up in the air.

Dubious, we headed down to the closest RV dealer to have it looked at. The guy at the dealership took one look and confirmed our suspicions. We couldn't take it camping without risking damage to the hitch, the trailer, the van, even the spare tire.

Home we drove, slowly, to unhitch the trailer, unpack it, put everything away, and cancel our reservation. All of us were bummed. Any future camping experiences will require either a new tow vehicle or some weight-distributing modifications on the one we currently have.

So no camping. Instead, we're taking some day trips with the kids. And except for this brief hop on the computer, I'm keeping the promise to my family and staying away from the internet. Hopefully, it will be a time we can still remember happily, whether at a campground or a waterslide park. I should be back online sometime next week. In the meantime, I hope you're enjoying this season as well!

The Winner! And Heading Out...

Congratulations to Chey, who won last week's random drawing for Knight Of Desire. Chey, please send me your address off-list and I'll send the book along to you!

Thanks to everyone who commented, re-tweeted, and e-mailed about the book as well. It's much appreciated!

Just so you know, I'm heading out for a few days and will be sans internet, so don't expect any postings until later in the week or next week. Have a great week and I'll chat with you when I'm back!

Road Trip Report -- Photo Edition

You know what? I think I'm going to let the pictures do the talking on this post, because I just don't have the words to match these views. Absolutely breathtaking. And the pictures really don't do them justice, either. (At their first view of the Grand Canyon, the kids kept saying, "It's like a painting!" For me, it was the *depth* of the view, which just can't be captured in a photo. But I tried.)

Enjoy!

THE GRAND CANYON




























MONUMENT VALLEY

ARCHES NATIONAL PARK, UTAH

Freebie Friday Winner!

So here's the Disneyland-themed prize for this week -- a trio of cute Disney gifts! Included is a tin of Disney mints, a magnetic notepad, and a Mickey magnet. And the winner of this prize is:

Jane!

Jane, please contact me off-list with your address so I can send it your way.

And stay tuned for more road trip reports next week!

Road Trip Report -- California Adventure

When people say they're going to Disneyland, California Adventure is often wrapped up in that statement. After all, it's just across the plaza from Disneyland proper, so why not refer to the whole shebang as Disneyland, like Walt Disney World in Florida encompasses everything from Magic Kingdom to Epcot to that Animal place. :)

Why not, indeed? I dunno. I just wanted to separate the two in my posts because the Disneyland-titled ones were threatening to eat the blog, they were getting so danged long.

My youngest had been itching to hit DCA (Disney's California Adventure) since the minute we turned onto South Harbor Boulevard. See, last year said child was a quarter-inch too short for Grizzly River Run, a fact that was heartbreaking at the time.

This year, the kid topped the required 42 inches by almost two extra inches. And wanted to test out the ride NOW!

So, midway through our second day of the four-day pass, we headed across the plaza to DCA.

Now, DCA is smaller than Disneyland, so it can be a little more manageable. There are a few really popular rides -- Tower of Terror, Soarin' over California, the aforementioned Grizzly River Run, California Screamin', and the new Toy Story Midway Mania. All except Toy Story have the FastPass option, which is lovely. (Although what is it with new rides and no FastPass? Argh, the lines, the lines...)

We did the FastPass tango right away, picking up tickets for Soarin' before going on the ride, and then heading to the far end of the park where California Screamin' is -- right next to Toy Story. Amazingly, Toy Story only had a forty minute wait, so we got in line. (Later, I noticed that the line is set up to hold people in a queuing area across the walkway, which I thought was overkill -- until the next morning. Oy!)

Loved, loved, loved this ride. I'm only sorry it wasn't FastPass-enabled, because I would have been on that thing many times over. It's a 3D ride based on midway games, from balloon popping to plate smashing, and the ride moves from game to game at a really fast pace. It's fun, easy to do (unlike Buzz Lightyear, which frustrates me to no end because I can never tell which little red dot is mine), and a kick in the pants. Big, big thumbs up.

Once done with that, we got FastPasses for California Screamin' and headed over to Grizzy River Run for FastPasses/first ride, too. As expected, youngest child LOVED it.

Hint of the Day, part one: If you have anything in your possession that can't get wet, they evidently have lockers available for short-term use. I didn't know that until it was too late to make a difference. A good alternative is to carry ziplock baggies to put your camera, phone, etc. in so they stay dry, even if you don't. And you will get wet. After one ride, my DH and I didn't fully dry out for about five hours.

The next day, we went back to DCA at opening, which is later than Disneyland -- 10 am at the time we were there. We got there at about 9:15, hoping they might let us in early even if the rides weren't open yet. Sure enough, they opened the gates, then told people to follow the signs to Toy Story if they were interested in getting in line.

We wanted to give it another go, so we got in line, fairly close to the front. A cast member led us through the park, along paths I'd never seen before (someone joked that they were just yanking our chains, making us take the longest possible route to see if we'd follow), and then made us stop for about fifteen minutes.

Right before "opening", they led us to the ride itself, weaving the line through the many twists and turns to get to the entryway. At one point I looked back and the line behind us stretched over the bridge and past the point of visibility. We guesstimated there were over a thousand people waiting at that point.

Very, very glad I didn't wait to get in line.

Had another great day at DCA, skipping the shows for more time on the rides (though if we go again in the next year or so, we'll definitely make time for Aladdin. It's a great show.). At about five that evening, we decided to head to Tower of Terror for our last ride. It was so empty, we rode it four times in less than an hour. Walk in, go on the ride, walk out, go around the corner and walk in again. It was great.

Tip of the Day: Multiple rides in a row can be great fun. If you're lucky enough to happen upon a favorite when there aren't many people waiting, go for it!

And to that cast member who singled me out in the front row the last time through during the "no photography or videotaping" spiel, staring at me and saying he didn't want to see anything about the ride on my MySpace page, here's a message:

Nope, no MySpace. But you never said anything about Blogspot. So there. ;)

Tomorrow -- first Road Trip Report winner!

Book BIN Tuesday -- The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland

Yes, I'll post part two of the Disneyland report sometime today (maybe late -- kids are still home for the summer, but DH is back at work!), but I didn't want to neglect Book BIN Tuesday, either. So in keeping with the theme of the week, my recommendation today is The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland.

I've used this book on every trip to D-land (three in the last four years!), and it's a lifesaver. Want to avoid long lines? Wondering what rides will make you toss your cookies? Trying to find a hotel you can walk from to the park (instead of driving or taking a shuttle)? This is the book for you.

One big help I learned about from this book -- the Baby Pass. Do you have a kid too short to go on one of the rides? Or a youngster who trembles at the thought of going in the Tower of Terror? Here's the scoop -- get in line as a family. At the first Cast Member, tell them you need a Baby Pass. (Or Kid Pass if your little one might get offended at the title.) You'll receive a slightly-larger-than-index-card-sized form good for some serious line-skipping. One parent goes on the ride with any/all child(ren) tall enough to participate. As soon as that parent is done, the second parent can jump ahead, either by getting in the Fast Pass line or going up the exit ramp or whatever the form tells you to do. It's good for up to two people, so if you have one child that's not riding and one that is, the one who is can go twice in a row. Bonus!

That way, you don't have to stand in line twice to get everyone on the ride who can/wants to go, and the kid who can't/won't ride doesn't have to stand around twice as long waiting for everyone else to get done. Pretty cool, huh?

So if you're going to D-land, pick up a copy of this book. They update it every year or so with new info. You may not need to Buy It Now, but if/when you have a trip in the offing, be sure to Buy It, er, Then! :)

Can You Keep a Secret?

That was our challenge this year for vacation. See, we took the kids to Disneyland. And didn't tell them until we got there.

Yeah, they noticed that we were planning a trip -- kinda hard to hide something like that -- but we'd always wanted to surprise them with Disneyland and knew this would be our best year for that. So while the DH and I were on our way back from a much-needed couple vacation early in the month, we were brainstorming how to get them all the way to southern California without tipping them off.

"I know!" One of us said. "Let's tell them we're going to the Grand Canyon!"

Not that Anaheim is truly on the way, but it'd work. Eventually, though, we realised that we'd have to do better than just come up with an alternate, fake destination. No, we'd have to really take them to the Grand Canyon.

With a five-day detour along the way.

No hardship, really. I've never been to the Grand Canyon, so I was pretty excited about heading there as well. But it was funny to see our jaunt to CA turn into a twice-as-long road trip throughout the Southwest, all for the opportunity to surprise the kids.

And the surprise? We made it to South Harbor Boulevard, the road running right in front of Disneyland, without any of them figuring it out. Once or twice they'd say something like, "Hey, isn't this the hotel we stayed at last time we drove to Disneyland?", but it would be quickly forgotten in the grand scheme of things. In fact, we had the kids hunting for a Cold Stone Creamery as we took the exit to D-land, and the older two missed the visual clues at first because they were searching for ice cream. It took the four year old to yell out, "Isn't that the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror?", to which we replied, "Surprise!"

The looks on their faces were totally worth it.

Next up: The Disney Report

Travel Travails

I'm back!

And very, very tired. After a long day in the car, the DH and I are back from a just-the-two-of-us vacation. We had a great time, except for the hotel room saga.

Now, if you're a reader of Lucy Monroe's blog, you know that she has stories to tell about all of her trips, with at least one thing going wrong on every vacation. Our room saga fits right in with that theme.

We had a nice room to start with. About halfway up the tower, with a nice view and decent accommodations. But the second day we noticed that the door wasn't latching consistently.

Door that won't shut or lock? Um, no. We called and asked for someone to come fix it. The maintenance guy showed up right away, took a look at it, and said it'd take a while to fix, so we should probably be moved to another room.

Five minutes later, we're shoving things in suitcases while a bellman stands outside the door ready to take us to our next room. We get there, tip the bellman, unpack, and discover that 1) the toilet is close to overflowing and 2) there's no hot water. At all.

Another phone call, another fast pack job, and the same bellman is waiting to move us yet again. Room three, another tip, we unpack, and there's a knock on the door. It's the same maintenance guy, clearly confused to find us in a different room than the one he'd set up for us earlier. We explain the problems with room number two, and he shakes his head. He'd been sent to THIS room on a work order for the air conditioning, which is spewing water all over the carpet. We, of course, hadn't noticed this yet. Nor had we noticed the missing night lock, which the maintenance guy pointed out as well.

"That's it," he said. "You guys deserve a suite." He sets it up, get us our room keys (the fourth set of the day), and helps us carry the luggage up to the top floor so we don't have to call the bellman yet again. Which was a good thing, because I was out of cash for the tip.

Oh, and did I mention that I'd left a library book in the first room and had to run back there to get it, luckily running into the housekeeper who'd just put it in the storage room?

Or the fact that during this time frame the elevator was out of service for almost an hour while the fire department investigated an alarm, which turned out to be two wires touching accidentally?

On the bright side, we got a huge two-room suite with a fabulous view and lots of space, for the same price as our original hotel room. And all it cost us was three moves, several panicky pack jobs, and a handful of tips.

What's your favorite (or funniest) vacation story?

Blog Party -- Home For Christmas Blurb!

Home for Christmas is a bit of a departure for me -- set during the holidays, older hero and heroine, and taking place on a cruise ship. But all those elements add up to a story I really enjoyed writing, and hope you'll enjoy reading!

Here's the blurb for the book...

She left everything familiar behind – but love found her anyway.

Sophia is determined to spend Christmas on her own terms this year. Her daughter will be spending the holidays with her boyfriend's family, and Sophia has no intention of staying home alone with her memories.

She knows Ethan would be more than happy to keep her company. But he's her business partner – and her late husband's best friend. It's past time to stop leaning on him and learn to stand on her own two feet. A cruise to the Caribbean might be just the ticket to discovering who she is now, and what she really wants.

Ethan is stunned to discover that Sophia has decided to go on a cruise for Christmas – alone. He'd thought that something more was finally developing between the two of them. If she's ready to move on after the loss of her husband, he'll be damned if he lets her move on without him!

On the spur of the moment, Ethan books a stateroom, determined to prove to Sophia that what they have goes far beyond friendship. The romantic atmosphere of the cruise sparks a passion the two had only dreamed of before – but can their fledgling relationship survive beyond the vacation of a lifetime?

Warning, this title contains the following: explicit sex, graphic language (but don’t tell my mom).

Setting the story on a cruise ship was great fun--I got to dive into an enjoyable research topic, and do a little daydreaming at the same time. I've never been on a cruise, especially for Christmas, but I'd sure love to go sometime.

If you could spend the holidays anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Thursday Thirteen #22 -- Thirteen Things I Learned on My Vacation

Yes, I promise, it's my last Disney-related post for a while. I just couldn't resist spending my TT this week on the trip!

In no particular order, here are thirteen things I learned on my vacation to Disneyland:

1. Do your early admission day first. Since we had multi-day parkhopper tickets, we had one early admission day. We chose to use it on our first day, and it was the best decision of the trip. Later on in the week, we would have been too wiped out to get moving early enough. Do it right away, while you're still fresh.

2. It pays to get up early. On our early admission day, we were up, dressed, and out the door before six a.m. With three children. It was brutal, but so worth it. We were the second family in line at the bag check, first in our particular line to get in, and ended up being chosen as the family to "open" Disneyland. Basically, we got to go in first, do a countdown, and wear "Honorary Disneyland Citizen" buttons all day.

3. If the gates open at eight, be there by 7:20. The lines will already be crazy.

4. Do Finding Nemo first thing, or not at all. It's a cute ride, and the younger kids loved it, but there's no way I would have stood in line for two-plus hours just to go on it. We were lucky enough to hoof it down Main Street that first day and get in line in time to be on the first round of subs going out. By the time we got off the ride, the line was almost two hours long. At 7:30 in the morning.

5. If you're *not* going to wait hours for Finding Nemo, you'll love mornings. All the other rides are easier to get on, because everyone else is waiting in line for FN. We walked on Space Mountain, Star Tours, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Splash Mountain -- all within the first two and a half hours of the day our first day there.

6. My almost-four-year-old is an adrenaline junky. We were a little nervous about taking the kid on some of the faster rides -- would they be too much? Ha! No fear. Hands in the air, all the way. Even on the big drop on Splash Mountain.

7. My husband couldn't talk me into trying the Maliboomer (shoots you straight up in the air 200 ft, then drops you back down), but my eight year old managed to convince me.

8. Don't miss Aladdin. Broadway-quality show in under an hour. And if you can swing it, try to get a seat in the mezzanine or balcony. Some of the special effects are amazing from there.

9. The food is insanely overpriced, though to be fair you'd get pretty decent portions. Our older two wore fanny packs they got to stock themselves from a box of snacks I'd put together before vacation. Note: goldfish crackers do not travel well. Stick to cereal bars, fruit snacks/fruit leather, rice krispy bars -- things that either hold their shape or it doesn't matter if they get a little squished. Water bottles are also a good addition, though if they don't have dedicated pouches on the fanny pack, they're liable to fall off.

10. California Adventure is not as much fun for shorter people. My youngest missed out on several of the rides because of height restrictions. Some rides/events that worked for the whole family -- Turtle Talk with Crush, Aladdin, Monsters Inc, Muppets, Soarin' Over California, the Electrical Parade.

11. The California/Oregon coast has some of the most spectacular scenery I've ever experienced. If you're not in a hurry to get anywhere, hop off the Interstate and take 1 or 101 all the way up. But be warned -- it'll take you three times as long to get where you're going, and if anyone in the car tends to get motion sickness, spring for some Dramamine. All those twisty coast drives made me a little woozy.

12. Do not -- I repeat, do NOT -- attempt to drop in on a town on the coast expecting to find a hotel room. On a Saturday. In the summer. Make reservations in advance. And don't expect to call from the road to find a place to stay. If you're taking the coast highway, you won't have cell coverage for a good portion of the drive.

13. I am physically unable to work on the computer in the car. At least, for anything requiring me to read what I'm working on. Writing totally new material without worrying about typos? Possible. Revising or editing? Fuggedaboutit.

And on that note, I'm jumping back to my revisions so I can turn them in. Soon. :)

Book BIN Tuesday -- The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland

Yep, I'm back! Still buried in laundry and waaaay too many e-mails, I'm slowly digging my way out. But I didn't want to miss Book BIN Tuesday, so I thought I'd suggest my favorite Disney planning book --

The Unofficial Guide to Disneyland, 2007 Edition! (Of course, if/when you go, be sure to get the most updated version.) This book is full of tips and tricks to help make your visit to Disneyland as smooth and worry-free as possible. We didn't use the suggested maps (three kidlets were FAR too opinionated to make that work!), but there were lots of ideas that helped make our trip the best vacation ever.

I'll be posting more this week, including the winner of my giveaway, so be sure to stop by!

On The Road Again -- and a contest!

Yes, I'm almost out the door, but before I head on down the road to The Happiest Place on Earth (tm), I wanted to make one last post.

I won't be blogging from vacation, mostly because our hotel has a business center instead of in-room WiFi and I don't know the hours yet, so this will be my last post until Monday July 16. But instead of leaving the blog totally dark until then, I thought I'd pass the responsibility on to you.

Yes, you.

Here's the deal -- stop by once in a while and post a quick message. Have you read a great book recently? Seen a good movie? Have news to share? Post it in the comments so I'm not totally out of the loop when I get back.

Then, on my return, I'll pick one poster at random to win a guaranteed authentic Disney souvenir!

(No, I don't know what it'll be yet. Half the fun is in the shopping, right?)

See you in a week or so -- and good luck!