Book Releases

Holding On (Colorado High Country #6) —
The Colorado High Country series returns with Conrad and Kenzie's story.

A hero barely holding on…

Harrison Conrad returned to Scarlet Springs from Nepal, the sole survivor of a freak accident on Mt. Everest. Shattered and grieving for his friends, he vows never to climb again and retreats into a bottle of whiskey—until Kenzie Morgan shows up at his door with a tiny puppy asking for his help. He’s the last person in the world she should ask to foster this little furball. He’s barely capable of managing his own life right now, let alone caring for a helpless, adorable, fluffy puppy. But Conrad has always had a thing for Kenzie with her bright smile and sweet curves. One look into her pleading blue eyes, and he can’t say no.

The woman who won’t let him fall…

Kenzie Morgan’s life went to the dogs years ago. A successful search dog trainer and kennel owner, she gets her fill of adventure volunteering for the Rocky Mountain Search & Rescue Team. The only thing missing from her busy life is love. It’s not easy finding Mr. Right in a small mountain town, especially when she’s unwilling to date climbers. She long ago swore never again to fall for a guy who might one day leave her for a rock. When Conrad returns from a climbing trip haunted by the catastrophe that killed his best friend, Kenzie can see he’s hurting and wants to help. She just might have the perfect way to bring him back to the world of the living. But friendship quickly turns into something more—and now she’s risking her heart to heal his.

In ebook and soon in print!


About Me

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I grew up in Colorado at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, then lived in Denmark and traveled throughout Europe before coming back to Colorado. I have two adult sons, whom I cherish. I started my writing career as a columnist and investigative reporter and eventually became the first woman editor of two different papers. Along the way, my team and I won numerous state and several national awards, including the National Journalism Award for Public Service. In 2011, I was awarded the Keeper of the Flame Lifetime Achievement Award for Journalism. Now I write historical romance and contemporary romantic suspense.

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Seductive Musings

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Fall Vacation, Part I: Ithaca really is gorges


A view of Buttermilk State Park in Ithaca, NY

(Mira debajo de la traducción al español.)

Howdy! Miss me?

Sorry to have been gone so long. I've been doing as much nothing as I possibly can — while still working and ghostwriting. I'm going to finish the ghostwriting assignment this weekend for certain, so that will give me some real downtime, which I hope to use to refill my creative well, sleep — and clean my so-called house. (It's actually a junk pit.)

I spent the weekend of Oct. 14-19 in Ithaca and Fort Edward, NY, visiting my younger son, meeting his very cool friends and communing with MacKinnon's Rangers. It was time I so desperately needed, but it wasn't without it's own stresses.

The flights out and back were miserable, turning into an almost unbelievable saga. Sure, these things happen. But in a single trip?

On the way out, both flights were delayed, giving me ten hours of waiting in airports. Then I managed to lose my driver's license in the Philly airport, where extremely useless and rather rude customer service people provided precisely zero customer service. That left me trying to rent a car at 11 p.m. without a driver's license. No sooner had I pulled out of the parking lot, than a deer jumped in front of the car. I slammed on the breaks and managed to avoid crashing into it with the car I was renting without a license. Well, that was a blessing, anyway. I will admit, though, to using the f-word approximately a dozen times at that point.

I stayed in the dorms at Ithaca College, which was both fun and strange. I never stayed in dorms as a college student, so this was my first time in a college dorm. I slept pretty darn well, actually. Which is good, because after that awful trip — which started at 4 a.m. in Colorado and ended at 1 a.m. in NY — I really, really needed it.

The next day, I spent the entire day with Benjamin and his friends: his lovely girlfriend Lucy; his roomie from last year, Del; romance novel fan Anna; and filmmaking buddy Tyler. We went to breakfast at a place that served great lattés and eventually went in search of the gorges for which Ithaca is so famous. We found two, thanks to Anna's iPhone.

With all of us piled into the rental car we stopped first at Ithaca Falls. There's very little signage and no parking, so it wasn't easy for this out-of-towner to find. But it was breathtaking. It was raining and pretty chilly, but the running water and all the fall foliage were unbelievably lovely.

Fortunately, Lucy is a very talented photographer, and she snapped some photos for me to share. I almost never think to take a camera. Remember you can double-click on an image to enlarge it.



Above, Benjamin and I take in the beauty of Ithaca Falls. It's always mind-opening to stand in a place like this and think that it was crafted over many hundreds of thousands of years and has been there for centuries. For me, it was just so wonderful to be with my son, whom I miss horribly when he's away.


(Back, L to R: Me, Benjamin, Anna, Tyler. Front: Del.)

After that, we went in search of Buttermilk Falls, which was easier to find and had lots of parking. By then it was getting dark and was very chilly, but I enjoyed it. I love fall best of all four seasons, and there's nothing like fall in New York and New England.

I'm not sure why I didn't download an image of Buttermilk Falls by itself. But it is just as lovely as Ithaca Falls, though not as steep. There's an open park area with informational signs about how the gorges were formed. Then there's an area at the base of the falls where, based on the "No Swimming" signs people regularly go swimming. I took off my shoes and waded in the water a bit.



Then there are bridges that cross the "No Swimming" swimming area and lead to a trail that heads up the hillside — sorry, this Colorado girl can't say "mountainside" — alongside the water. I really love the photo below, because the layering of the rock and the stairs create interesting and similar patterns. Lucy is so fantastic at seeing little moments like this.



We stopped a fair way up the hillside at an overlook, where Lucy took the photograph at the top of this post. She snapped some photos of Benjamin and of me with Benjamin.



Then I insisted she let me get some pictures of her with Benjamin.



Benjamin and I agree that Lucy is quite adorable and wonderful herself. Not to mention, she's beautiful and smart and has fantastically thick hair.



Aw. Isn't that sweet?

After this, we made our way back down the trail and went out for pizza. It was a truly wonderful day.

Now, here's the fringe benefit of being my son's close friend. Both Anna and Lucy have read Naked Edge... Anna finished it in eight hours (!), and Lucy finished it likewise very quickly. Meg, another close friend, was away the first day I was there, so I missed here, which was a bummer. Meg was about halfway through the story before I left. No word from her what she thought of it yet.

Anna, as it turns out, is quite a romance reader. We talked Twilight and such, which was fun.

Next: Walking with MacKinnon's Rangers

En español:

¡Hola! ¿Me extrañaste?

Lo que se ha ido tanto tiempo. He estado haciendo nada tanto como me sea posible - mientras seguía trabajando y escribiendo bajo la firma. Voy a terminar la tarea escribiendo bajo la firma de este fin de semana de seguro, de modo que me dé un tiempo de inactividad real, que espero utilizar mi creatividad para rellenar bien, dormir - y limpio mi casa llamada. (En realidad es un pozo de basura.)

Me pasé el fin de semana de Oct. 14-19, en Ithaca y Fort Edward, Nueva York, visitando a mi hijo menor, de la reunión a sus amigos muy fresco y en comunión con los Rangers de MacKinnon. Ya era hora que tan desesperadamente necesitan, pero no sin que se destaca propia.

Los vuelos de ida y vuelta eran miserables, convirtiéndose en una saga casi increíble. Claro, estas cosas pasan. Pero en un solo viaje?

A la salida, tanto los vuelos se retrasaron, y me da diez horas de espera en los aeropuertos. Entonces, me las arreglé para perder mi licencia de conducir en el aeropuerto de Filadelfia, donde muy inútil y bastante personal de servicio al cliente siempre grosero precisamente cero de servicio al cliente. Eso me dejó intentar alquilar un coche a las 11 horas sin de un conductor de licencia. No bien se retiró del estacionamiento, que un venado saltó delante del coche. Cerré las rupturas y logró evitar chocar con el coche que había alquilado sin una licencia. Bueno, eso fue una bendición, de todos modos. Debo reconocer, sin embargo, a la utilización de la F-Word aproximadamente una docena de veces en ese punto.

Yo me quedé en los dormitorios en el Ithaca College, que era a la vez divertido y extraño. Nunca me quedé en los dormitorios como un estudiante universitario, por lo que esta fue mi primera vez en un dormitorio universitario. He dormido bastante maldito bueno, en realidad. Que es bueno, porque después de ese viaje terrible - que se inició a las 4 am en Colorado y terminó a la 1 am en Nueva York - realmente, realmente necesitaba.

Al día siguiente, pasé el día entero con Benjamin y sus amigos: su encantadora novia Lucy, y su compañera de cuarto del año pasado, Del, novela romántica del ventilador Anna; cine y amigo Tyler. Nos fuimos a desayunar en un lugar que sirve café con leche grande y, finalmente, fue en busca de las gargantas de Ithaca, que es tan famoso. Encontramos dos, gracias a iPhone de Anna.

Con todos nosotros se amontonaron en el coche de alquiler que se detuvo primero en Ithaca Falls. Hay carteles muy poco y no dispone de aparcamiento, por lo que no fue fácil para este fuera-de-towner de encontrar. Pero fue impresionante. Llovía y bastante frío, pero el agua corriente y todo el follaje de otoño fueron increíblemente hermosa.

Afortunadamente, Lucy es un fotógrafo con mucho talento, y ella rompió algunas fotos para mí compartir. Casi nunca me vas a acordar de una cámara. Recuerde que usted puede hacer doble clic sobre una imagen para ampliarla.

Fotos:
Benjamin y yo disfrutar de la belleza de las Cataratas de Ithaca. Es siempre la mente la apertura de pie en un lugar como este y creo que fue elaborado durante cientos de miles de años y ha estado allí durante siglos. Para mí, era tan maravilloso estar con mi hijo, a quien echo de menos terriblemente cuando está lejos.


Después de eso, nos fuimos en busca de mantequilla Falls, que era más fácil de encontrar y había un montón de aparcamiento. Para entonces ya estaba oscuro y era muy frío, pero yo lo disfruté. Me encanta caer mejor de las cuatro estaciones, y no hay nada como la caída en Nueva York y Nueva Inglaterra.

No estoy seguro de por qué no descargar una imagen de las Cataratas de mantequilla por sí mismo. Pero es tan hermosa como Ithaca Falls, aunque no tan pronunciada. Hay una zona de parque abierto con carteles informativos acerca de cómo se formaron los barrancos. Luego hay un área en la base de la cascada donde, sobre la base de la "Prohibido bañarse" la gente signos regularmente ir a nadar. Me quité los zapatos y se metió en el agua un poco.

Luego están los puentes que cruzan el "Prohibido bañarse" zona de baño y conducir a un sendero que sube la colina - lo siento, esta chica de Colorado no puede decir "montaña" - junto con el agua. Me encanta la foto de abajo, porque las capas de la roca y las escaleras de crear patrones interesantes y similares. Lucy es tan fantástico de ver pequeños momentos como éste.

Nos detuvimos un modo justo por la ladera en un mirador, donde Lucy tomó la fotografía en la parte superior de este puesto. Ella rompió algunas fotos de Benjamín y de mí con Benjamín. Luego insistió en que déjame algunas fotos de ella con Benjamín. Benjamin y estoy de acuerdo en que Lucy es muy adorable y maravilloso a sí misma. Por no hablar, ella es hermosa e inteligente y tiene el pelo increíblemente gruesa.


Después de esto, hemos hecho el camino de regreso por el camino y se fue a comer pizza. Ha sido un día realmente maravilloso.

Ahora, aquí está el beneficio adicional de ser íntimo amigo de mi hijo. Tanto Anna y Lucy han leído Naked Edge ... Anna terminado en ocho horas (!), y Lucy terminado también muy rápidamente. Meg, otro amigo cercano, estaba ausente el primer día que estuve allí, así que se perdió aquí, que era un engorro. Meg estaba a mitad de camino a través de la historia antes de irme. Ni una sola palabra de lo que ella pensaba de ella todavía.

Anna, como resulta, es un buen lector de novela. Hablamos de "Twilight", el cual fue muy divertido.

Siguiente post: Caminando con los MacKinnon's Rangers

Noticias para mis lectores en español: En cuanto tengo tiempo, tengo previsto iniciar una única versión en español de mi blog. Que contendrá la misma información que este blog, pero usted no tendrá que buscar a través de todas las palabras en Inglés para encontrar el español.

Sé que mi español es muy pobre, pero espero que tenga sentido basta con que usted es capaz de disfrutar de ella y que podamos comunicarnos un poco.

Muchas gracias por tu apoyo!

8 comments:

Sounds like a wonderful trip, Pamela. Glad the ghostwriting will be over soon. You are lucky to have such a great son, and his friends sound fantastic. They read romance? Bonus!

Hi, Linda — Yes, apart from the travel it was a wonderful trip. I can't wait to share the Rogers Island portion of it with you all. And, though I am very biased, I agree that I have a wonderful son. His friends are lots of fun. And you're right about the bonus. I could talk romance novels all day every day — and not just my own, mind you. :-)

Debbie H said...

Look at you! You look so relaxed in the pics and as beautiful as ever! Benj has really grown into a handsome man and I know you are ever so proud of him! His girlfriend is a doll!

I'm glad you had a chance to relax a bit. It will do wonders for you and your health.

Hugs!

Mary G said...

What a wonderful post! We did miss you. Your son sounds like a cool guy. Nothing freaks out my son more than me having stuff in common with a girlfriend or his friends LOL.

Lucy said...

Aww, glad you enjoyed the trip & the photos. :) You make me blush!

Jane said...

Upstate NY is beautiful. I'll have to make a trip to Ithaca.

Hi, Debbie — Thanks so much! You're very sweet. I desperately needed to get away, and I loved every moment I was there. Yes, Lucy is a doll. :-)

Hi, Mary — Thank you! My son is very unusual. I walked up behind him once at his high school, where I was giving a talk. Some other kid said, "Oh, your mom is coming today? How embarrassing!" And without knowing I was even in the building, Benjy said, "I'm proud of my mom and what she does." I almost burst into tears. And THAT would have been embarrassing. LOL!

Hey, Lucy! So glad you dropped by to see the accolades for your lovely photos. You really are fantastic with the camera. And everyone's right. You are an absolute doll.

Hi, Jane — It is amazingly beautiful. Before I came here, if someone said NY I thought of NY City, which has never done anything for me. But upstate New York is like a giant park. So beautiful!

JennJ said...

Hey Girl so glad you had a great trip minus the awful start to it eek lol. The photos are goregous!!! And I know it was great for you getting to be with Benjy (so happy for him and his new girlfriend she looks very sweet and they look so happy)!!! Wonderful post and I'm off to read more! :)

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"I am an artist. I am here to live out loud."
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—the character of Chaucer in
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