Image: keepcalmandtravel.com
Welcome to week 17 of the MFRW 52-Week Blog Challenge. It's an opportunity for authors to tell a little bit more about themselves. Any author with a blog can participate. Click here to find out more. This week the topic is 'The Top 5 Places I'd Like to Visit.'
New Orleans, LA (French Quarter)
My all time favorite place to visit. Whenever we visit, which is every other summer, we stay in the Quarter. I love riding the trolley from one end of the French Quarter to the other and never tire of the sights. The French Market on N Peters St is a fun place to shop. My family and I never get tired of browsing the shop windows on various streets, touring old buildings such as the St Louis Cathedral on Pere Antoine Alley, U.S. Mint on Esplanade Ave and the above ground vaults of St. Louis cemetery no.1 on N Claiborne Ave. This is the cemetery where the famous voodoo queen, Marie Laveau is buried. (as of March 1, the cemetery is closed to free public access due to vandalism and assaults on visitors, however, you can take a guided tour). The food at little hole-in-the-wall restaurants is to die for as well as coffee and beignets at Cafe Du Monde. It's relaxing to sit at outdoor eateries and watch the sea of people stroll by. A lively place where people play musical instruments, sing, and dance on the street corners.
A few of my favorite paranormal authors have stories within their series situated in New Orleans: Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunters, Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark, and Jeaniene Frost's characters, Cat and Bones, visit New Orleans a few times.
Hilton Head Island, SC
Another favorite location is Hilton Head Island. While the French Quarter is my lively place, Hilton Head Island is my quiet place number 1. It's relaxing to sit on the beach to watch the waves roll in and out, smell the ocean, listen to the waves crash and feel the sun and the wind on your skin. I usually like laying on the sofa and reading a good book, but for the next trip, I plan to visit a few museums like the Harbour Town Lighthouse and Museum. I have a few story ideas about lighthouses.
Gatlinburg, TN
Quiet place number 2 is Gatlinburg, TN. When asked if I wanted to accompany my parents to Gatlinburg in 2000. My mom had just retired and instead of a retirement party, she chose to invite her family to Tennessee to celebrate. I immediately said no. I'd just ended a long-term relationship and didn't want to go to a city where couples married in little wedding chapels interspersed throughout the city and walked hand in hand up and down the streets all starry eyed. My folks hounded me until I relented and agreed to travel with them. The Fall Festival was in play and I love it. The browns, oranges, reds and yellow colors of autumn were everywhere. We toured a small area in the mountains called Cade's Cove. It was peaceful, quiet, breath-taking and I vowed I'd return as many times as I could afford. We changed seasons from Fall to Christmas in 2011 and try to visit whenever there's a vacancy. (Since the fire in 2016 that destroyed much of the city, we've decided to choose a random destination for Christmas 2017.)
England, UK
England is on my bucket list. I've always loved this place and secretly consider myself an Anglophile. I want to visit Trafalgar Square to see Nelson's Column and the National Gallery. Next, the Tower of London where Anne Boleyn was held and beheaded for treason and her daughter, Elizabeth I, was held because she posed a threat to her half-sister, Queen Mary. (Elizabeth I is my favorite British queen.) Stonehenge, because it's ancient and mysterious and Manchester because my cousin lives there and because of the football club, Manchester United.
Scotland, UK
The second location on my bucket list is Scotland. The land of breath-taking castles, wide sweeping landscapes that resemble the hills of Kentucky, William Wallace and of course, Nessie. The home of two of my favorite fictional drool-worthy heroes--Connor and Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod. The home of distant ancestors on my maternal side. I feel the pull of Scotland calling to me. As much as I'd like to one day visit England, I yearn to live in Scotland, at least for a few months.
There are a few authors with Highlander series that I've enjoyed reading: Karen Marie Moning, Julie Johnstone, Eliza Knight and Hildie McQueen.
So...out of my five dream locations, I'd live in French Quarter-New Orleans or Scotland. What places would you love to visit? Tell me in the comments.
Don't forget to cruise by the other author blogs listed below to find out the dream locations they'd like to visit.
No comments:
Post a Comment