Where does a writer get her ideas? A road trip is just the ticket … A few weekends ago, DH and I meandered our way to a fiber festival near Viola, Idaho. Our path followed the general area that Lewis and Clark followed as they crossed the Bitterroot Mountains and … Read More

The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck My rating: 5 of 5 stars We stumbled across the Oregon Trail at Scotts Bluff this past summer and it really took hold of my imagination. I quickly learned this was the one book to read. I couldn’t imagine how … Read More

Several years ago, DH and I managed to see three different types of elk in one trip: Rocky Mountain, Roosevelt, and Tule elk. The last are common primarily in Point Reyes National Seashore. We didn’t see them up close though, because we managed to get there when the fog was … Read More

Several years ago DH and I went on a fall trip that had been recommended by Sunset Magazine. The trek took us down the “Loneliest Highway in America” (Nevada’s Route 50), to Great Basin National Park and to the small town of Boulder, Utah. It was peak color for the … Read More

First of all, prayers to all in the Houston, Texas coast and Louisiana coast. Recovery is going to take a long time, and it will need the contribution, in some way, of every American. It will also need creativity. Speared by a free pass into the Canadian parks (Happy 150th … Read More

As I write this, our southeast coast is bracing for Hurricane Mathew.  It will be another test of how much we can love one another. Not romantic love–although that’s always possible–but the human being to human being caring. We’ve seen it before. Times like when the towers came down, earthquakes, … Read More

Travel to Yellowstone–Not without Adventure My DH and I had been looking forward to our camping trip to Yellowstone National Park for months. It’s the 100th anniversary of our national parks, and we were eager to travel to one before the year ended. Two years ago our trip had been … Read More

In my life, I’ve been blessed with many opportunities to travel. It’s a good thing, because I inherited a very itchy foot from my maternal grandfather. Caesar (Carl) Weideman made his living as a waiter and his favorite type of waiting was on cruise ships. So off he’d go for … Read More

After I explained our recent vacation to him, a friend asked, “Why don’t you just stay home? It would be easier.” Because then there would be no stories. This one began on a mid-July Friday morning. We headed northeast, over a mountain pass, through Great Falls, then down into the … Read More

Yesterday, I started my new story, tentatively titled, Montana Christmas Miracle. The hero, Logan, comes to Montana to visit his uncle. The heroine, Julie, is the assistant in the sweet shop in Sweet Montana Christmas. How important are the settings of romance novels? These two people play their story against … Read More