Vacation was great, as my pictures will attest. Here’s just one sample from the Grand Tetons. The scenery was gorgeous, but boy, did I overestimate the temperatures and needed to have brought warmer clothes. I knew Yellowstone could have freak snowstorms in ANY month, but not that average temperatures were 50-60 degrees. So I had a perfect excuse to buy some longsleeved tops. There was still 3-4 inches of snow up along the continental divide–snow in June! We saw so many buffalo in Yellowstone we got quite jaded, and some elk, but where were the bears that are always pictured begging for food at the cars passing through? I can certainly say we got our money’s worth out of our Yellowstone pass, since you can’t get anywhere in that end of Wyoming easily without passing through there–and it also works in the Grand Tetons. We went on from there to Cody, and I can’t say enough about the Buffalo Bill Historical Center. It was so much more than about Buffalo Bill–it’s also a natural history museum, Western art and Indian museum, and has an AMAZING gun collection. I’m taking my husband’s word for that, since by that time my legs had given up and I sought comfort in a chair. Old Trail Town was worth the visit too, having the grave of the real Jeremiah Johnson, Indian Scout and mountain man, and the cabin of the Hole in the Wall Gang, as well as a reconstructed trapper’s cabin, a school, a saloon, and a general store. We went on to Jackson Hole from there, and shopped till we, or rather I, dropped, and drove through the Grand Tetons. Wish I was one of these hardy soles who could hike or bicycle through there and Yellowstone. But I’m a great car tourer! 
I wish I had taken advantage of the opportunity to take a stagecoach ride around Jackson Hole. Even for the outrageous fee, it would have been great research for this historical writer.
I was pleased that all the hotels I picked were pretty good. The one in Cody looked like it hadn’t been remodelled since the 1960’s, being of the old trailer-court style, but at least it had free internet. The Elk Country Inn at Jackson Hole was my favorite stop, though the Comfort Inn and Suites back in Salt Lake City, our last stop before home, had the best breakfast.
Of the books I took, I only got to completely read NEVER LESS THAN A LADY, and it was well worth it. Kudos, Mary Jo Putney.
I’m home now, and back to the writing life. I did edits on THE DOCTOR TAKES A WIFE–which were very enjoyable, thanks to ace editor Elizabeth Mazer of Steeple Hill, and am now in the thick of my new proposal, COURTING CARO. I’ve ordered my IPAD at long last. I’ve got the case, I’ve got the IPAD FOR DUMMIES book, so NOW I WANT MY IPAD!
Blessings, Laurie
One of my favorite parts of going on vacation is planning which books I’ll take with me. These are my picks for our upcoming vacation to Wyoming. First up is Mary Jo Putney’s latest Regency-era historical romance, NEVER LESS THAN A LADY, which the author, a longtime friend, sent to me because I answered some medical question for her in its plot. Thanks, Mary Jo! I know it’s going to make that flight to Phoenix and on to Salt Lake City go fast! Then there’s Tricia Goyer’s WWII inspirational novel from Moody Press, ARMS OF DELIVERANCE, which I’ve had for awhile. The only reason I haven’t read it before this has been the number of books I’ve been review-blogging and the need to read other Christian western romances since that’s what I write. And lastly, a book I bought at last year’s ACFW conference, LOVE FINDS YOU IN POETRY, TEXAS, by Janice Hanna, my first read of the Summerside Press “Love Finds You” series. Three books seems about the right number for a week’s vacation; most of my reading is done in the air since I also take a laptop to keep up with email. Maybe by next vacation I’ll have an IPAD–but I’ll still have to take along one print book, at least, since the airlines won’t let you use electronics till they reach cruising altitude.