Sunrise At The Beach

/

What a glorious start to the day! I woke up at twenty of six (one of my roommates was snoring--names omitted to protect the innocent) and hurriedly dressed, grabbed my room key, banana, notebook and pen and slipped out.  I walked out to the beach and was the ONLY person out there.  I was both thrilled and saddened. I loved having the beach and the sunrise to myself, but felt sad that there was a whole town of people who had the beauty of the beach and sunrise at their disposal but chose not to be there.  Maybe every day is so beautiful they just get used to it.

Or it could be the cold.  It was just warm enough that you couldn't see your breath--just barely. But I stood on the beach and looked from one pier far down the beach on my left to the other pier far down the beach on my right, and I was the only person. The surf crashed and foamed and flocks of sea birds circled the water. Every now and then one of them would dive bomb the water and come up with a small fish.

There was a quarter moon high in the sky and then the sun appeared at the far edge of the ocean.

It was this beautiful neon-pink color. As it rose (which was rapid -- maybe a minute before it appeared as a full round circle above the ocean) it turned to a neon-pink/red, then a neon-pink-orange. The light reflected on the surface of the water, the birds called to each other, the water crept nearer where I stood.  Just a wonderful start to the day.

So far it's been a great weekend. We wrote for hours yesterday in our room, taking a 30-minute break at one point to watch a pod(?) of dolphins feeding and playing in the water.  They were close to shore and from our 5th floor room we had a perfect view of them. We could see their tail fins as they dove and one time 3 of them rode in toward us on a wave. They were stunning. And, as Maggie said, good luck. We all three had a strong writing day.

I'm a little nervous about keeping up today.  It's exhausting to write and write and write. Yesterday I free-wrote on my story.  Not trying to write scenes in order, but rather just writing scenes as they occurred to me. They may or may not make it in the final book, but it's a way of staying in touch with your characters and exploring their personalities and seeing what they do in various situations. Also, it keeps my pen moving.  It's more important to just keep writing then it is to write "good." Writing good is what the editing process is about.

Okay, it's 7:20 AM and I'm hungry. I'll go see if there's any sign of life from Bernie and Maggie and if not, eat breakfast on my own.

England/Scotland Trip - Can't Wait

/

The prospect of our upcoming trip to England/Scotland has me chomping at the bit.  It's given me back some perspective that there is more going on in the world outside the narrow confines of my daily interests.  Our last extended vacation was three years ago to Hawaii.  That's just far too long a period to stick around rural NC <grin>.

I curled up last night in bed with my 2006 Fodor's guide to Great Britain. With a pencil I checkmarked all the sites I want to see. Right.  Cancel the two weeks and make it two months.  Do I want to see castles? Yes. Stately homes? Yes. Pubs? Good God, yes. Hiking/Walking trails? Yes. Moors and cliffs? Yes. English gardens? Yes.

The wonderful thing about Blair is that we are a perfectly matched traveling pair. We move at the speed of light, racing from ancient ruin to ancient ruin, but never feeling rushed. We're both up before dawn and are typically the first people in line for the opening of any site.  Did you know, when we went to Paris years ago we were at the gates of the Eiffel Tower right as it opened and we were the only ones there? So we climbed the Eiffel alone--a very cool thing.

We also get hungry on the same schedule and neither of us are much for the nightlife, preferring to knock ourselves out during the day with sites, than to bed early to study the itinerary for the next day.  

The only major travel difference I say we have is that I like to stop and sit at little cafes, which I think Blair doesn't enjoy as much.  France was just filled with little bistros and sidewalk cafes, begging you to stop and enjoy a coffee and pastry. And England with its tea and scones is going to keep me very busy.

We're going to start looking at hotels and B&B's on the web, figuring out where to stay. I prefer to stay in a central area and drive everywhere.  Not so wild about having to pack and unpack multiple times during a trip. I'm hoping for this trip we'll get by with no more than 3 different hotel stays.

I must say, as I sit at my desk working, if it becomes too much, it's lovely to glance up and out the window and just remember that in a couple of months, I'll be roaming moors and hills in Scotland, stuffed on scones.

Overpacking & Unprepared - England Bound

/

I envy the backpacking friends in my  life.  I have them, you know. Those carefree souls who stuff three tee-shirts, a pair of jeans, 2 pair shorts and a comb in a backpack for a four-week trip.  Unlike me, they don't spend hours pouring over electrical circuitry sites for whatever country they plan to visit in order to ensure hair dryer compatibility with foreign outlets. And they don't just accept, as I do, that their bags will all exceed the 50 lb. maximum at the airport weigh in. (By this time I know better and just build the overweight luggage fees into the budget.)

In short, I am a travel coach's worst nightmare.  I pack crap I don't need, pack way too much of it, then spend hours between hotels counting bags to make sure we haven't left a fifty-pounder behind. 

All of this a long way of saying, look out world, Dena & Blair are preparing to travel again.  We laid down yesterday afternoon to discuss our travel plans which proved to be a mistake as we both promptly fell asleep. But we talked early this morning and it looks like a England/Scotland tour is in the works. 

England is one of those places where we always plan to visit but never quite get around to.  It's like California - yeah, yeah, it'll still be there when I'm ready. But while we both want to get away, neither of us feel up to the task of visiting a non-English speaking country (lazy Americans).  We love history, museums, churches, and architecture, plus hills and countryside, so England seems a good fit for us.  Plus, Blair's brother has been there something like 8 times, and has tons of tips on where to stay, eat, shop, etc.

We are the classic American tourists.  Map and tourbook in hand, video recorder slung around the neck, and tennis shoes on the feet, we don't even attempt to hide the fact we're not from around these parts.  We also do all the cheesy tourists things which this trip will include visits to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and the like.  Again, I wish I were like my cool traveling friends who manage to find out where the locals hang out and then go there and blend in.  But I'm an uneasy traveller. I haven't done it enough to be good at it, so I'm always thinking we're being misled or ripped off.  I prefer to stay in areas with other tourists and get ripped off there.

But this trip, who knows? Some writers I know through the Cat Writer's Association live in England, so maybe I'll get some insider tips on little known towns or places to visit. Now we just need to pick a date and commit and start practicing posh English accents.

I'm sure we will totally be able to fool everyone.