Tag Archives: Vacation

Yellowstone Arrival: Flash Fiction Friday Post

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In June of 2017, my husband and I traveled up to Yellowstone National Park to visit a friend and see the sights. This describes the entrance to the park.

A Bison studies us as we pass by on the entrance to the park. A Bison is the size of a sedan.

We left the sun-baked desert and entered a world of green.

Flat and green, it seemed to run forever.

Crops and houses and schools.

Tame.

Safe.

It was a surprise when we entered the tunnel.

It ran for miles.

Lodgepole pines small and great.

Once in a while they opened and before us ran rivers and meadows,

dotted with great hulking brown shaggy behemoths,

placid in the impermanent sunshine.

Wild.

Dangerous.

Boiling mud, steaming water, birds and fish, elk and bison, cliffs and meadows, rivers and streams.

Our hearts beat quicker.

This is where we’re meant to be.

Not hemmed in.

Not scheduled by mere clocks, but by the sun and moon.

I take my meeting on a wind-blown hilltop,

The earth spread below me in a cloud-dappled wonder,

The way the first human saw it.

It is good.

 

Thank You!

139 Words

Find more of the Forward Motion Flash Friday Group here: http://www.fmwriters.com/flash.html

Monday Blog Post: Vacation Part 3 of 3

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Lake, Fog, Sunrise, Sacandaga, Northville, NY,

The Great Sacandaga Lake, Northville, NY, Sunrise through the Fog

We began the third and final part of our vacation last Thursday. The morning we left Northville (N.Y.), the temperature was 35 degrees F. As we drove by the lake, I saw that the water was steaming, creating a huge fog bank over the warmer water.  The sun was just coming up and shone through the fog. You can see a picture of it above. It was just a magical and lovely farewell to the area.

Thursday was a short driving day as we stopped just outside of Harrisburg, PA to visit my hiking friend, trail name, Sherpa.  We originally met years ago as part of a group getting together to hike the Appalachian Trail (the AT!). We hit it off immediately and became instant friends. We had many hiking adventures on the AT and still get together, despite now living on opposite sides of the country. We talked and talked Thursday night. It was so nice to reconnect.

The rest of the trip back to Arizona has been relatively uneventful. It was generally an interstate highway slog but Sunday we crossed the western half of Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle and made it about 650 miles to Santa Rosa, New Mexico to spend the night. Here’s my serendipitous story. I used Santa Rosa, NM as the home place of a character in a short story I just sent off  to a magazine. It was wonderful to see the actual area, the Pecos River, which I mentioned in my story and unknown to me, something called the Blue Hole. In my research, I never heard of the Blue Hole. So, since we arrived about 4:30pm, we decided to find this Blue Hole and check it out. It’s pretty cool. A deep, spring fed hole, about 50 feet in diameter and according to the sign, the outflow is several thousand gallons of water per minute of crystal clear water. It’s an amazing thing to find in the middle of a desert area.  The town allows diving in the hole, about 80 feet deep, with the proper permits.

Anyway, I love driving cross country. The landscape between upstate N.Y. and Payson A.Z. is so varied. Farms and fields, cities and villages, cattle, deer, antelope, mountains, rivers and lakes, it is so beautiful and better than TV!

I loved travelling in October–the fall colors in the north-country made it worth the trip.We expect to be home tomorrow afternoon. I’m posting this early, before I get there, so you have your regular Monday post from me.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

I published my September newsletter. Did you miss it? Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website blogs. If you like the content, please encourage your friends to sign up, too. Don’t delay. The October newsletter is coming out soon. Sign up now so you don’t miss out.

Mystery at the Fair released July 15th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com, Books tab. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. I am also now on GumRoads.com/conniecockrell where you can buy my books directly from me. (Note: I’m still loading that site. Right now there are two books listed there.)Thanks in advance.

Monday Blog Post: Happy Columbus Day

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At the book signing

At the book signing

The vacation has gone well. After Missouri, we headed to Canada to meet friends and spent two nights there. Reg and Maureen have a lovely home just outside London, Ontario and we had a wonderful time there. Thursday we drove to Northville, N.Y. Mom is now staying with my second brother and has already reconnected with her old friends.

My book signing in Gloversville, NY at the Mohawk Valley Cooperative was a big success. Several people I grew up with, went to school with or worked with in 4-H came by and we had a chance to catch up. It was lovely.

I did get my phone to work, finally. For some reason, the wifi was turned off. After much button pushing and experimenting, I finally found where to turn it on. Yay! Phone service.

TONIGHT! I’ll be on the January Jones Sharing Success Stories this evening at 5pm Eastern time. (2pm Arizona time). It’s an hour show and I’ll be on with my author friend, J.A. Marlow. It should be a fun show. Here are some links so you can tune in.

Talk4Media.com 
iHeartRadioTalk – Clear Channel Communications
1.5+ million listeners to date 
BlogTalkRadio.com 24/7 Featured Host
Over 2.2+  million listeners to date 
 
January’s Books Now Available at amazon.com
 

No Author Shout-out today since I’m on the road.

So, I’ll still be on vacation next week but I’ll post a short blog on the 19th, just to keep you all up to date.

I’m totally up on conniesrandomthoughts.com.  I’ve put a notice up on my WordPress blog so my readers can find me. Be sure to follow me at my new website. I stopped posting to the WordPress site (www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com) after Friday August 7th.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

I published my September newsletter. Did you miss it? Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website blogs. If you like the content, please encourage your friends to sign up, too. Don’t delay. The October newsletter is coming out soon. Sign up now so you don’t miss out.

Mystery at the Fair released July 15th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com, Books tab. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.

Monday Blog Post: Vacation First Days

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Mohawk Harvest Co-Operative Store in Gloversville, N.Y.

Mohawk Harvest Co-Operative Store in Gloversville, N.Y.

We left Payson AZ on Saturday the 3rd. We left at 5:30 AM! Yep, wasn’t even daylight yet. We stopped after sunrise in Holbrook at a little neighborhood diner for breakfast. It was pretty good. What I found, though, was that my phone wasn’t uploading. I didn’t want to fool with it over breakfast so I put it back in my purse and enjoyed my food.

Later that day I tried again. Still couldn’t get on. Annoying, right? No FB, Twitter, intenet, couldn’t post status or pictures. It was a puzzle.

That evening we were in Amarillo TX after an afternoon spent driving through the rain. Went to the Big Texan Steakhouse. My mother had never been so we wanted to show it to her. She’d seen it a few times on the Food Network and elsewhere. We had a great time but still, cannot get my phone to post.

Back in the room hubby and I try several things. His phone has full bars, mine has barely one. Argh!  Frustrated but I said, “Forget it. I’ll check it in the morning further down the road.”

Sunday, no service, all day. I tried calling tech support. They wanted info I couldn’t supply since I was on the road. I hung up. So, Now we’re in Springfield Missouri. I’ve turned my phone on and we’ll see what’s going on now that we’re not actively moving. Wish me luck!

While we’re in upstate NY, I have scheduled a book signing in Gloversville, NY at the Mohawk Valley Cooperative on Main Street. That’s a picture of the store front at the top of this post. I’ll be there Saturday, October 10th from 9am to Noon. I hope to see you there. Bring one of my books or buy it there and I’ll be happy to sign it.

No Author Shout-out today since I’m on the road.

So, I’ll still be on vacation next week but I’ll post a short blog on the 12th, just to keep you all posted about how my book signing went.

I’m totally up on conniesrandomthoughts.com.  I’ve put a notice up on my WordPress blog so my readers can find me. Be sure to follow me at my new website. I stopped posting to the WordPress site (www.conniesrandomthoughts.wordpress.com) after Friday August 7th.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

I published my September newsletter on Saturday. Did you miss it? Click here to sign up for my newsletter. I make special offers to my newsletter people that I do not make on the website blogs. If you like the content, please encourage your friends to sign up, too. Don’t delay. The October newsletter is coming out soon. Sign up now so you don’t miss out.

Mystery at the Fair released July 15th! I’m pretty excited about it. You can buy it and my other books at: Apple, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or Smashwords today! You can also see all of my books on www.ConniesRandomThoughts.com, Books tab. If you’ve read any of my books, please drop a review on the site where you bought it. It’s a big help to me in the book rankings each vendor uses to promote the books on their sites. Thanks in advance.