2014 Book Cover Trends in Contemporary YA

While surveying a list of upcoming contemporary YA  releases, I noticed some interesting trends. Gone are the girls with hair across the face (so 2013 y’all).  Since I’ve yet to read even a single contemporary YA released in 2014, I can’t tell you the popular topics (except romance, always). 

But here are some trends I gleaned while scrolling through hundreds of book covers. 

1. Maps, maps, maps. Whether we’re trying to go somewhere, or to leave somewhere, we need a map. I’m guessing we’ll see some road trip books.
2. Hearts. Maybe this never went away. But a ton of contemporary YA features hearts this year. Love.
3. Stars. Not the kindergarten-drawing type, but the glinting ones with purple galaxies around them (see Across the Universe if you don't know what I mean). This is a trend in YA lately, not just book covers. Books about space and aliens seem to be gaining popularity lately. Seems to be popular for titles too (The Fault in Our Stars, etc)
4.  Kisses. Yowza, it looked like the romance novel section of the library where I was embarrassed to go with my older sister when I was that age. Now, it’s all over YA covers. Most are a tad more tasteful than romance novel covers. (Found more than a few upside down kisses, too…thanks, Spiderman).
5. Threesomes. Not that kind, you perv. I’m hoping this isn’t indicative of a surge in love triangles, since I’m sick to death of those. But lots of YA covers this year have moved from the single face, to the kiss, and beyond. Crossing my fingers it signals an increase in friendship novels.
6. Cursive. Titles (whole or single words within the title) are turning to cursive just as schools are turning away. Will young people be able to read this strange new font? Lol…  
7.  Last but not least…there is always a random object that seems to pop up on covers, even when it has little to do with the book. And…this year’s random-object winner is…the dandelion! I know, it’s nothing new. But its popularity has only grown this year. Look for lots of dandelion fluff on covers this year.

Have you spotted any trends I failed to mention? Feel free to share!

Scrappy Sunday: Map picture frame (Pinterest Project #4)

Here is the very first project I ever made from Pinterest. It was so easy, how could I resist? Plus, I love maps. I love pictures. And I'd never decorated a picture frame before, though I'd always wanted to.

I didn't go look up the website and follow directions or anything. I just found a map I'd picked up on my travels to Florida, and used a picture from the same trip. I used mod podge to glue and finish the frame. I tore the map into pieces and kind of decoupaged them all together. Then I used some sea shells I picked up on the beach on the same trip to finish it out, and added a metal title and a ribbon.

#scrapbooking Pagemaps challenge: Sun and Sand

Another pagemaps challenge this week. I am still scrapbooking my Florida trip from a year and a half ago. I did take a year long scrapping break in there, but it's just about impossible for me to scrap trips because I take literally hundreds of pictures. But I'm doing my best.

This week, I followed the Pagemaps sketch and tried to do a layout pretty close to the sketch for their contest. Here is the sketch, and my take on it.

If you are looking for some great sketches, check out the pagemaps website. They run contests on their blog all the time, too. Usually a ton of people enter, but it's good motivation to get a page done. Head over there to enter the contest, or check out their website for tons and tons of free sketches.

For this page, I used the following supplies:
Pattern paper-DCWV and Target
Pen: Zig
Stickers: Miss Elizabeth's (Blue shell), ATD (Title), Making Memories (words), Jolee's (pink glitter shell), other (quote bubble, fish)

Scrappy Sunday? A few days early

Okay, I know I've been terrible about blogging, and really, I haven't had much time for the creative life lately. But, I did manage to do a few scrapbook pages while house sitting last week. Here is one I did for the contest over at one of my favorite sites, Pagemaps.com. I love using their sketches. Here is the one for this contest.

And here is my take on it. I used mostly the same product line for everything, ATD. There are a few exceptions, of course. Love, elsie did the embossed pine green paper, which I love. And the film canisters are from a photo-realistic pack I had. I didn't have many supplies, so I actually have to add a few extras, some brads and ribbon at least. But here's what I could do while not at home. I don't like exposed journaling, so it's tucked away in the envelope to the left of the campfire pic. I wrote on the three tags peeking out.

Scrappy Sunday (pagemaps challenge)

Okay, I'm a bit obsessed with Pagemaps lately. They have a newly resigned blog, too! There's a new challenge up that goes until September 2, so of course I had to do it. I'm a little behind on my pictures (probably a few years), but I'm scrapping my Florida trip right now. Here is the page I made for their newest challenge!

I used American Traditional Designs scrapbook bundle for this one, as well as a few of their stickers and embellishment kits. I have a lot of their travel stuff, and it all coordinates. Paper, border strip, tags, stickers, tabs, ribbon, etc, are all from their line. I also used SEI spray ink for the background, a brad from my stash, and Stampabilities ink.

I had a lot of pictures I wanted to use, so I made another page to go with it, also using one of the sketches at Pagemaps (August sketches). This page goes on the left side, the other on the right.

Minnesota heat-wave

We left home thinking Minnesota...nice break from the heat. Ha. Ha. Ha. It is 93 degrees here, hotter in the cities. And so humid you could slice the air with a knife...or a mosquito!

Phew. I'm standing here sweating as I write this, having earlier soaked my shirt in cold water to cool off, which did not work due to the humidity keeping all the moisture on me! Let's see...here is what has happened since my last blog.

On Saturday we were going to go to Duluth, but decided against it because we thought the crowds would be too bad. Marcia, Katherine, Craig and the whole crew of uncles and aunts were up. Instead of heading up to Duluth, we went to Sturgeon Lake. The water was clean and cool, and after Stephen and Deane fixed the dock, which had floated away in last week's rains, we jumped off the end and swam. I went for a little kayak ride, watched Gabe play and swim, and swam for a while myself. We had to stay out on the dock in the sun because all the mosquitoes swarmed us the moment we set foot in the shade.

That evening we went back to Deane's and Katherine cooked a wonderful meal of smoked salmon, dressing, mashed potatoes, bread, salad, beets, and zucchini. Matt and April joined our party and we played cornhole and bocce ball while dinner cooked. We had a wonderful dinner and then had strawberry cheesecake and carrot cake for dessert. Then some people played ping-pong and everyone else relaxed and hung out. Later that night we played Nertz! with a bunch of the relatives, playing in 4 teams of 2. It was really fun. Me and Deane almost won, but Elana and Craig pulled ahead at the last and beat us.

On Sunday we went out to the lake a little earlier. Rose and Anna stayed back because Rose had gotten sunburned and didn't want to be in the sun, and Anna wanted her to give her a pedicure. The rest of us went to the lake and swam a bunch of times. I tried to stay out of the sun by wearing a long sleeved shirt, but every ten minutes I got so hot I had to jump back in the water to cool off. The mosquitoes weren't too bad so we sat in the shade a lot of the time. Matt came to visit for a bit and then left. I took Gabe for a spin in the kayak, and Craig took him out in the canoe. But he did a great job kayaking around the dock on his own, paddling and steering and impressing everyone. He wanted to go out in the lake with Deane, but of course I made him stay where we could reach him easily if he tipped.

We went back that afternoon and had dinner, courtesy of Marcia. She had grilled a chicken, which we had with baked potatoes, grilled veggies, and black bean/corn salad. Later, Marcia and Craig had to leave, after a short "Tangled" watching moment with Craig and Gabe. Gabe took quite a liking to Craig, but once they left, he invited Steve to watch the rest of the movie with him. The rest of us talked and played Sudoku, rubix cube, and read. Before bed, we played a few hands of cards (golf). Then Katherine and Deane went to bed, and the four sisters stayed up playing Nertz! on our own until late into the night.

Today it was super hot and humid and we didn't do much. Took naps, ate, sat around sweating a lot. Now we are about to have Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes (Steve is on a potato kick this year), salad, and later, homemade strawberry ice cream for dessert, which is heavenly good!

It is 101 degrees in Stillwater, probably 93 degrees here, at 730pm. Craziness! Tomorrow we are going to Duluth to hang out near the lake and cool off!

Minnesota Day 3

This is the third day in Minnesota. This morning it was hot and muggy when we woke up. I got up and went for a quick run first thing, which left me hot and sweaty. We hung around for a while waiting for everyone else to get up. Then we had a big breakfast consisting of more of Steve's eggs, bacon, melon, juice, etc. Afterwards, Katherine was home but she had to work, so we hung around and looked at a lot of the pictures of all the beautiful houses she and Deane have designed and built.
Gabe played rockstar and the rest of us were his fans for a while. Then I scrapbooked while everyone else hung out reading, doing sudoku and lounging around. In the afternoon, Marcia showed up, making the family unit just about complete.
We went to pick strawberries at Hinke's farm next, which was really hot. But at least it was windy and the mosquitoes weren't too bad for once! We picked two buckets in about 20 minutes between the 7 of us in our immediate family. We went back to Steve's afterwards. I wasn't feeling very good, but I went out and took a short walk and made a phone call while dinner was cooking. We had venison chili, sweet potatoes, coleslaw, and sourdough bread with organic butter. I talked to Marcia all about the local beers she'd had at a beerfest a few years ago.
Now we are all hanging out and talking about Anna's wedding. Will we have more adventures tomorrow? You betcha!

Minnesota 2012

We are in Minnesota again for our somewhat annual visit to relatives, so as usual, I am chronicling my travels and adventures in the land of the mosquito bird.
This year, we left yesterday at 830am to go to the airport. At XNA, we had a leisurely hour wait for our plane. We took a direct flight, so no extra time connecting. The pilot was super friendly and said hello to Gabe when we got on board. The flight attendant was also very nice and had an awesome bracelet which I had to compliment her on. She gave Gabe extra cookies and juice and he had fun on the flight. I slept most of the way to Minnesota, where we waited on the curb for almost an hour in the muggy 90 degree heat and parking deck-esque smog. We got our rental car and drove out of Minneapolis in the early afternoon.
We went to Hugo to see Leroy in the nursing home, which was shocking and depressing. In the past two years, he has lost a ton of weight and looked shockingly frail, sickly, and disoriented. He couldn't seem to remember any of us except Liz and John. It was very sad to see him that way and think that soon enough we all go down that road.
When we left, we continued on our way very subdued. Liz and John waxed intellectual about aging and we didn't talk about the emotional impact of seeing such a strong, masculine, sturdy guy become so feeble. The usual route for us.
When we got to the farm, Steve was waiting for us. We helped a bit for dinner and heard about his newest dietary adventures. He made Shepherd's Pie and Liz made salad and we had dinner and then homemade banana ice cream for dessert.
Deane showed up late and we talked a bit and then went back to his house for the night, trying to avoid the swarms of giant silent-stalker mosquitoes that descended upon us the second we ventured outside the house. They are the worst I've ever seen them this year.
I slept like a baby all night, better than I have in ages. Towards morning, it cooled down a lot and I actually had to cover up with a light blanket. Quite a change from the 100 degree heat back home and the sweaty nights. I woke up early because it gets light so early here! I journaled a bit and then everyone else got up. We hung around and talked and then had a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, melon and juice. Afterwards, we looked at some pictures of Deane's awesome log cabins and other buildings. Then I scrapbooked a while, Rose played with Gabe, and we generally hung out and enjoyed vacation mode.
Later, we took naps and then went out to the lake. Deane and Stephen fixed the dock and we all went swimming and looked at old yearbooks and learned some interesting things about our dad's high school career as a beer maker. It was pretty amusing.
We came back and hung out at Steve's for a while. I talked to John about working at a chicken plant, classic literature, Lady Gaga, and the different definitions of success. I took a short walk and started a new book, The Concubine's Gift, which so far is pretty amusing (Look for review soon). Then we had a huge dinner of natural pickles, cauliflower, lamb curry, lamb hearts, and mashed potatoes. More homemade ice cream is in the near future.
Now Gabe is having a pillow fight and driving cars across the old treadmill and the rest of us are sitting around chatting, reading, etc.

Memphis in May, Day 3

Okay, so here's what happened on our last days in Memphis.

Sunday we got up late and Jon finished his paperwork. We hung out at the hotel a little while, even though we'd missed breakfast. I was feeling better that day, though. After a while we went downtown. I wanted to see Chris Robinson at 335, but Jon wasn't really crazy about them. He said he'd go if we got there on time, though. We went and ate lunch at Alfred's on Beale Street. It was pretty good, but not as good as Pig. Jon had a beer and then we left.
We walked around a little, but not as long as the day before. Jon wanted to get me a turtle necklace to go with the dress I'd gotten the day before, so he got one from a street vendor. Then we saw some girls on the street selling Jello shots, so he had to get one of those. We walked down to the festival after that.
It was sweltering again on Sunday, but I was wearing better clothes (no polyester!) so it wasn't too bad. We'd forgotten sunscreen, but by the time we got down there it was almost 5. We ran to catch the last ten minutes of Chris Robinson, but he'd already finished playing when we got there 10 minutes before he was supposed to be done. So we went right to Michael Franti and Spearhead.
We got up close, about halfway across the rubber mat, and thankfully, in the shade of the stage. We stood around for about half an hour. At first, we thought maybe the show wouldn't have many people there since we were able to get up so close and there weren't many people waiting. But the stage filled up by the time the band came on, and they had a pretty good audience. The band was AMAZING. I'd only heard a handful of their songs, but they were so great! Chill and groovy and cool, really fun and happy. The guitarist had this humongous grin on his face the entire time, and Michael Franti kept coming off stage and going through the audience. He pulled a bunch of people up on stage, gave a couple of them guitars, and let two little kids sing part of one of his songs. It was really cool, and I liked how appreciative of his fans he seemed and how he interacted with everyone so much. It was an amazing show--my favorite one of the whole weekend. The music was great, too.
After that, we went to get food and Jon got a chicken dish from the gyro place. We sat down and ate and waited for Herbie Hancock. But he must have been REALLY late coming on, because 20 minutes after he was supposed to start, he still hadn't come on stage. So we went down and listened to Bush for about 5 songs. Then we went all the way to the other end of the park and listened to the end of The Civil Wars, who everyone had said was one of the best bands there. They were pretty good.
After that, Alison Krauss was at the same stage, so we stayed for her. We got to the third row after the Civil Wars fans cleared out. But I was hot from dancing by then, and the crowd was pretty thick. I also got pushed by the first rude fan I ran into all weekend. Anyway, we stood around waiting for the band for a long time. Finally they came on. I've been waiting to see Alison Krauss for literally 10 years, so maybe it just couldn't measure up to my expectation. Or maybe I was just hot, and tired from standing and walking around in flip-flops for 3 days straight. Whatever it was, I just wasn't as into it as I'd expected. Jon, who hadn't really wanted to see her too much, ended up really enjoying the show, especially the rest of Union Station. After 40 minutes, I asked if he was ready to go see Primus. He said we could stay, but I really wanted to get off my feet for a while.
So we went to see Primus. On the way, we noticed all this lightning in the clouds off to the west over the river. We went and sat in the grass pretty far back from the stage. They were really loud even back there. Jon went and got a funnel cake, which they made right there while he waited. It was super hot and greasy, delicious and crunchy and gooey and sugary. I hadn't had a funnel cake in years, and it definitely beat the last one I had. We watched the lightning and listened to the band. I kind of wanted to get closer, but Jon was happy sitting back in the grass, so we stayed there. The band kept talking about the lightning. Finally, towards the end of the show, the lightning got a lot closer and the wind picked up and started blowing constant and cold from one direction. "Here comes the rain," the band said, and they went off stage without even saying goodnight.
Everyone in the entire park jetted out of there at once. The wind was gusting big clouds of dust everywhere, whipping wildly around. The last band was still playing in the blues tent, but we got out of the park as fast as we could along with just about everyone else. We walked back to the car and got in, watching the storm move in. Almost as soon as we got on the highway to go back to the hotel, the rain hit. It came down in giant sheets, washing across the car while the wind rocked us all over the place and the storm blinded us. I turned off the radio and sat there not saying a word so Jon could concentrate on driving. We kept hitting slick spots where the road was covered with water, and even going 40mph it was hard to see. It seemed like it took hours to get back to the hotel, but we made it safely through the driving rain and back to our room.
We got up in the morning and it was still raining a little outside. It took us a while to get on the road, but we finally did and headed back to Arkansas on Monday morning.

Sweatfest in May #bsmf12

So, I'm way behind on my trip, but here goes...This was Saturday at Memphis in May.

We got up kind of late, but not nearly late enough. I was still tired and felt really bad and sick in the morning. We ate hotel breakfast and then I tried to sleep while Jon did some paperwork. Eventually we got going and went down to Beale Street. It was really hot and sunny out. We walked around and decided to get lunch at this place called Pig. It was bbq, of course. I got a pork plate and Jon got a turkey sandwich. It was really, really good. The meat was super tender and great. They also had big-ass 32 oz beers for 5-6.50. We walked around on Beale after lunch and shopped at a few stores. I was wearing a jumper and decided that was a very bad choice of festival gear! I had to take the whole thing down every time I went to the bathroom, and you really don't want to spend any extra time in the porta-potties when it's 93 degrees outside. So we decided to go find a dress. Jon found one he liked for me and then we went to the festival. On the way we spotted a line of horse-drawn carriages and Jon thought we should get a ride.
Our driver was pretty cool and told us some crazy stories while we rode around downtown Memphis for half an hour. Neither Jon nor I had ever ridden in a horse-drawn carriage, so it was pretty fun. When we got back we went down to Tom Lee Park for the festival. We had missed a few of the bands we wanted to see (Son Volt and Kenny Wayne Shepherd) but that always seems to happen on Saturday. We went to see The Cult but didn't even attempt to get up close. We sat in the grass far away from the stage and rested. The show was okay but neither of us were too impressed. We walked down to see Al Green next, and caught a bit of Yo Gotti on the way past. We also did a little browsing at some of the shops and got a foot-long corndog (not too impressive).
Al Green was amazing! It was really hot out but I couldn't stop dancing for the whole show. It was tons of fun and he played a lot of old songs and some newer ones, too. The only downside was that the dress I'd gotten was polyester and stiflingly hot! It was definitely a sweat-bath that day.
After Al Green we went to see Jane's Addiction. They put on the usual epic rockband show, complete with wailing guitars, stripper/dancers, hanging devil creatures, TV screens with bondage videos, etc. It was a high-energy show, but about halfway through, the heat caught up with me and I was so exhausted I had to find a spot to sit for a while. I got back up and we stayed until the very end, after midnight, and went back to the hotel.
I was so tired I passed out cold about 1 minute after I crawled out of the shower and into bed.

Beale Street Music Festival, Day 1

In Memphis again for Beale Street Music Festival for the fourth time. This year, the only person I could get to go with me was Jon. We left on Friday and Jon drove. He'd driven almost all day, from Oklahoma City. I was tired, too, having only gotten 4 hours of sleep the night before. So we decided to get a taxi down to the show. We called and the taxi got to our hotel really fast. Our cabbie was really nice and dropped us off at the BP station near Riverside. I'd never gone into the park from the south side, so it was kind of strange going in that way.
We went in and caught Needtobreathe. They were more rock'n'roll than I'd thought from listening to their songs. I thought they were more indie. Jon wanted to see Three Six Mafia, so we walked over to that stage. I'd seen them before at the frat house in Fayetteville and it wasn't a very good show. They don't really sing, just put on their CD and dance around a little saying, "Yeah," and "Hey" a lot. We stayed for less than one song before Jon said, "This sucks, let's go."
We went and got giant gyros and went back to see the rest of Needtobreathe. Then we stayed at the same stage for Florence and the Machine. There were TONS of people there. I wanted to get up in the crowd, so we followed some people making their way forward. Jon and I are both short, so we couldn't see very well. Every time we saw people going forward in the crowd, we tagged along behind them. Finally we got on the rubber mat in front of the stage. We were still pretty far back, though. We tagged along with two guys and a girl and got pretty close. One guy took his shirt off and was dancing in front of me, sweaty and really into the show. I was surprised at how many guys were there really getting into the show, singing along and dancing. The shirtless guy hit me in the head with his elbow once, but he was really nice and apologized and kissed my head. Unfortunately he was really tall and we couldn't see much, although when he got going dancing and lifted his arms I had a perfect view of Francine right under his armpit.
Jon got really tired of the guy and wanted to go, but I convinced him to stay. I could tell he was sort of mad and wanted to get out of there. But I didn't really mind the guy, he wasn't gross or anything. And I enjoyed listening to the band a lot. Francine was really energetic and ran back and forth across the stage, jumping up and down and wailing away. She was wearing this black dress with sleeves like huge black wings and she looked kind of goth and really cool, with her haunting voice and flaming red hair.
Finallly the show ended and we plowed forward when people started leaving. We ended up in the second row next to a group of college guys who were tripping and high, completely sweaty and kind of annoying. By then we were packed in so tight it was hard to move around and pretty much impossible to dance. We were drenched in sweat because it was warm and muggy, no breeze at all so close to the stage. Luckily we had water with us. Some of the people around us were begging water from security whenever they walked past.
I'd seen My Morning Jacket once or twice, but last time I saw them, they were at a smaller stage at a festival and the crowd was really small. This time, there were TONS of people, a lot of them hardcore fans who had come and stayed through the past 2 shows just to get up close and see My Morning Jacket. We stayed at the front and listened to a couple songs. It was unbearably hot with all those people, and the music was so loud that I could feel it in my sternum, in my bones, blasting my ear drums even with ear plugs in. It felt like it was trying to redo my heartbeat to match the drums. Jon just lost it and freaked out. He was like, "Hey, I'm not okay, I'm gonna go." He turned around and bolted from the crowd, as fast as you can bolt through a tons of people packed in like cigarettes in a new pack.
I followed him because I was pretty hot anyway, and we didn't have a predetermined meeting spot. Our phones weren't really working again this year, since there were so many people there. Jon went out and collapsed in the grass. I sat down next to him and touched his arm, which was literally drenched in sweat. It felt like he'd just gotten out of the shower. The heat and the crowd were too much for him, so after we calmed down a little, we went to the back of the crowd. We'd run out of water, so we went and got another 2 bottles and lay down on the ground a long way from the stage. Even WAY back from the stage it was still vibrating my bones.
We stayed there the rest of the show and then got up and walked back to the BP station. We called our cabbie but he said he'd just gotten home. He told us to wait at the station and we'd easily get another taxi. But the only 'taxi' that showed up was a guy in an SUV with a handmade sign in the window that said, "shuttle." He said he'd charge us $75 to take us back to the hotel. Considering we'd gotten a ride to the show for $38 in a legitimate taxi, we said we'd pass. Then the guy said, "Come on, it's negotiable," opening his door and beckoning us to get in. We got out of there pretty fast. We called the taxi company and they told us to walk all the way back to Union Avenue. It was a bit of a hike, but we tried to stay with the other people walking around since it was dark and kind of creepy in the area. Finally we made it back to Riverside and Union and got a taxi right away. Despite the fact that the car had a loud knocking when we went around corners, and seemed like a wheel might fly off when we got on the interstate, we made it back to the hotel for another $38.
A shower never felt so good.

Day 1: $100 including tickets.

Lena & Gabe's Excellent Adventure (Days 7 & 8)

The last 2 days of our trip:




On Friday morning we woke up to the storm. Gabe and I cuddled up in the tent and had a long snuggle fest. Then we got up and went to the beach. Perdido Key is a very narrow strip of land, so if you stood in the right place, you could see the ocean on both sides. We’d been on the Gulf side up until then, but Gabe decided he wanted to explore the bay side. So we went to that side and walked along the beach. Gabe loved watching the sandpipers skittering along in their weird way, and the pelicans gliding over the water and diving for fish. It was all very nice until we came upon a dead octopus. Gabe thought that was just amazing, and I’d never seen one up close, so we went and looked at it. Then we noticed a big jellyfish in the water…and then we saw dozens more, all along the beach in the water and on the sand. They were humongous! We came across the behemoth one, about twelve inches across, and I had a stick so I opened up the ‘skirt’ and let Gabe see the tentacles. That sort of freaked him out, and he wanted to go back. He had lots of questions about jellyfish the rest of the day.

We swam a few times, jumping in the water for about ten seconds each time, which Gabe loved. Unfortunately, we both got sunburned that day, too. In the afternoon we walked the mile back to the car and went into town to get some hotdogs for our campfire. It was supposed to rain again that night, and it was cloudy off and on all day, but we were hoping for a little bit of time for a fire first. We walked back to the campsite, took a little nap, watched the most amazing sunset I think I’ve ever seen (of course my phone battery had died and I couldn’t take pictures, grrr). Then we dug a pit and tried to light a fire.

Okay, first of all, our wood had gotten wet in the rain the night before. Secondly, our paper had gotten wet TWICE and never fully dried from the rain the first night we camped at the state park. Then it had gotten damp again Thursday night. And if you’ve ever been to the beach, you know that nothing dries there. Nothing. Ever.

So we crumpled up our soggy damp paper and put our damp wood on top and about 5 pieces of kindling we’d found along the beach. I lit the paper about fifty times and every time it only smoldered and went out. I was getting really desperate. I hadn’t carried that huge bag of wood down the beach for nothing. FINALLY a piece of paper caught fire, and I lit about five others with the flame. They burned for about one minute and then went out. I was about to scream in frustration, but I moved some logs around instead, hoping that all the paper hadn’t burned and left us with a bunch of big, damp logs and nothing to start them with. And suddenly, a flame flickered up from the smoldering paper. We frantically fed pieces of cardboard into the flame, and eventually, our fight started up. It looked like the wood was burning really fast, so we started cooking hotdogs immediately. They kept getting charred, but we managed to eat a few. I put the last two pieces of wood on the fire and they lasted…for hours. We didn’t have any marshmallows, so Gabe decided we should roast dried figs on the fire, so we did that a while. Then Gabe looked at me and said, “This is the best night of my whole life.” And it was all worth it.

We threw a couple hotdogs on the fire so Gabe could see them turn black, which he thought was pretty cool. He also enjoyed poking them with his skewer stick, and lighting his skewer on fire and poking it into the sand to watch it extinguish. He sat in my lap and we huddled into the warmth when it got chilly on the beach. The fire lasted a long, long time, and I let Gabe stay up late until all the flames died out. He got to dump a bucket of water on the coals, which he also loved. And fortunately for us, it did not rain at all that night.

On Saturday morning we got up early and watched the most amazing sunrise while we packed up our stuff. I wanted to make it back to Arkansas that day, but it was such a long drive I thought we’d stop in Little Rock. But we left so early that we got back to Little Rock by 6pm, and it was so early that I thought I’d just stick it out. We drove 14 hours…remind me never to do that again. It was awful, and Gabe got bored, and we were both sore from riding so long. We got back late that night, ending our epic road trip. And we both survived.

Lena & Gabe's Excellent Adventure (Day 6)

I lacked internet access most of the last few days, so I'll try to catch up real quick.

Day 6 (Thursday), we drove the short distance from Destin to Perdido Key. For once, not an entire day spent driving! It was wonderful. We got to the beach in the early afternoon. The ranger took our money and told us the camping was "primitive."
I said, "Great!"
He looked at me like I was insane, and told me that we'd have to walk a mile down the beach to the camping area.
No problem!
And then he said that before we got to the beach, we'd have to walk half a mile down the road from the parking lot to the walkway to the beach.
Also, no problem.
I asked if we could have a campfire and where we could get some wood. Didn't want to repeat the camping experience from the prior night. The ranger told us to go to the local Winn-Dixie (I didn't even know those really existed anymore) and buy some. So, we drove down and got two bags of wood. Let me just say that 25lbs might not sound like a lot, but it's heavy. Really heavy. Especially when it's encased in tough plastic with a handle made of the same tough plastic that threatens to rip through your skin as you carry it.
We got back to the beach, parked, and began our walk. I began to wish I'd listened when the ranger stressed again that I'd have to walk a mile on a soft sand beach. While carrying two sleeping bags, a gallon of water, a bag of food, and 25 lbs of wood. And Gabe had the tent in his backpack and a bag of paper for the fire. It was a long, long mile.
Finally we saw a sign: CAMPING BEYOND THIS POINT ONLY.

I staggered up to the sign like a dying man in a movie who sees water, dropped my bags, and thought about collapsing on top of them. Instead, I went back to meet Gabe, who had fallen far behind. I carried his bag (so light!) and we looked around the camping area. It was basically a deserted white sand beach with dunes as far as you could see. It felt like we'd been dropped on a deserted island. Once we got our tent set up, we ran down and jumped in the water....for about 15 seconds. It was maybe 59 degrees. Maybe.

Gabe played on the beach while I napped and took pictures of the beautiful area. We watched the sunset (gorgeous), ate some of our food, and went to bed early that night. We did not burn that 25lb bag of wood. We left it beside the tent.

That night, it poured rain. The tent didn't flood too bad, and it was kind of nice and cozy lying there with the rain beating down and the tent threatening to blow away, listening to the waves smash against the shore and hoping it didn't turn into a hurricane.

Lena & Gabe's Excellent Adventure (Days 4 & 5)

It's been a busy 2 days and I have tons of stuff to write about! I didn't have internet or phone service most of yesterday or I would have given Day 4 its own post, which it deserves. But it will have to share.

Day 4 (Tuesday) we woke up in Perry, Florida and set out down the coast on Highway 98. We were going to meet up with Ryan that afternoon or evening. We didn't have a lot of distance to cover, so we dawdled through Suwannee Nature Reserve for a few hours, driving around on all the trails and looking at the cool plants. We stopped and looked at a salt marsh, where Gabe was fascinated by mussels growing in the water and the sound of palm leaves in the wind. Other than that, we only saw one young deer, a buck, that got spooked by the car and ran headlong into a fence. It was sort of funny, but awful, too.

We got tired of driving around and went down to Manatee Springs State Park where we planned to camp that night. Ryan said he would drive up when he got off work. My phone didn't get service out there, and the battery died soon after we arrived, so I couldn't contact him. Gabe and I walked on a trail and decided to pick up some dead wood to burn for our campfire. We were almost back to our campsite when a ranger accosted us and said that the state of Florida wouldn't let anyone pick up wood to burn. Huh? It wasn't like we were cutting down trees! Apparently the dead wood is part of the scenery and not supposed to be disturbed. So, he told us to go to the ranger station and buy some wood. We dropped our firewood and went up to the ranger station...which was closed. So, we couldn't have a fire. It wasn't terribly cold, but it was definitely chilly.

We went along the boardwalk and looked at the springs, but of course we did not see any manatees. We did see hundreds of vultures perched on the trees all along the water. We played on a playground for a while and went back to our fire-less campsite. We huddled in the tent for warmth and ate cold dinner by the light of our flashlight. The campsite had a plug, so I charged my phone and managed to get one text through to Ryan asking him to bring wood. Then, we huddled up to wait.

Gabe went to sleep and I napped a while. I got up at 930 and sat on the picnic table and watched the herds of deer wander through the clearings in the camping area, and listened to an owl hooting nearby, and looked at the millions of dazzlingly bright stars. Eventually, I went back to the tent to lie down. Ryan arrived at 11 bearing wood. We lit a fire right away and sat talking for a long time. The wood burned out way too quickly, so Ryan made another run into the next town. We stayed up until 330am talking and reminiscing and catching up on each other's lives.

The next morning (Day 5) we woke early to the sound of rain pelting our tent. It was cozy and warm inside, so I tried to sleep more. But that fantasy was rudely interrupted by rain dripping through the roof onto my face. Water had already pooled in the corners of the tent and wet our sleeping bags, pillow, and blankets. I broke down the tent in the rain, said goodbye to Ryan, and got out of there as fast as I could.

Since it was raining, we didn't have anything to do but drive. So we headed back up the coast. After a while, the rain tapered off and I saw a sign for a lighthouse. I love lighthouses, so we went to check it out. It was in St. Mark's State Park. We hiked along a short trail and looked at the Spanish moss hanging over everything and the marsh grasses. A few ponds had tons of birds, and we stopped and watched them for a while. Gabe was very interested in watching the sandpipers dip their heads underwater to get food, and with a little duck that ran across the water to join the flock.

After St. Mark's, we got back on Highway 98 and continued north. We stopped at Mexico Beach and stretched our legs and Gabe got to play in the soft, white sand. It was really pretty. I picked up shells and took pictures. We drove most of the day, stopping again at the beach in Destin to watch the sun set. It was perfect, but my phone died in the middle of the sunset and I didn't get pictures of the best part! Still, it was beautiful--the green-glass sea, the powdery white sand, the sun sinking into the water. The wind was cold, but it was worth getting chilled to watch the sunset.

We found a hotel that gave us a big double room for the price of a single, and here we are. The next two days will be camping, and rustic camping too. So, probably no blogs for a few days!

Lena & Gabe's Excellent Adventure (Day 3)

Yesterday entailed a whole lot more driving. But we did stop along the way a lot more. Even just little stops, like to go to Walgreens and get milk, or to get gas, or check my oil. For some reason, my oil-guzzling car didn't seem as thirsty yesterday, and I drove all day without having to add more oil.

In the morning, we got up and had the 'breakfast' provided by our hotel. Then we got on the road. I kept seeing things I wanted to take pictures of, but of course I couldn't while I was driving! It was frustrating to miss all those good sights. Anyway, we stopped at the Florida welcome center when we arrived and took a few pictures and looked at our map. Turns out the Florida panhandle is a lot longer than I thought. Plus, we got on Highway 98 so we could drive along the coast, which was pretty but ended up being really slow because of all the traffic and going through towns every 5 minutes.

At one point, we'd been driving for a few hours without stopping, and Gabe saw the ocean and said, "Can we go there?" So I just pulled over and we walked down to this tiny stretch of beach behind a restaurant. The water was nasty and full of seaweed and floating....stuff...but the sand was clean and white and Gabe loved playing in it. We drove through Ft. Walton and Destin, where we stayed last time. The sand was so white it looked like dunes of snow as we drove past. We stopped and got Gabe some sand toys and a hoodie.

Ryan was going to meet us, but we didn't make it close enough to Sarasota, so he didn't want to drive up. But he told us to stop in Apalachicola, which he said was supposed to be nice. We got there just before sunset. Gabe and I were both tired and grumpy from traveling so much, but we got out and ran down a long wooden dock to see the sunset. The dock extended out into the water, and we met a disabled Vietnam veteran who sits on the dock fishing all day. He talked to us a lot and let Gabe reach in his bait bucket and touch his bait fish. The sunset was beautiful, and we'd stretched our legs, so we went up to a tiny playground and played until it got dark.

Then we set out again. Gabe was hungry for some real food, so we looked for a place to eat. We were driving along this dark empty highway, and even the tiny towns were closed up when we drove through. Then, randomly, we came upon this cantina all lit up in the middle of nowhere. I wasn't sure it was a restaurant, so I checked it out. It wasn't a bar, so we went in and I got a giant fajita thing, and Gabe got a giant cheeseburger and enough fries to feed 8 people...for only $3.75. Then we got fried ice cream and left stuffed.

The highway was almost deserted after dark, winding along the coast and smelling like the ocean. I opened the window and let the cool air in and cranked Fleetwood Mac until Gabe fell asleep. We drove a couple more hours and stopped in Perry around 9. No all-night driving for me. Plus, the driving made me really nervous because every couple miles I'd see a herd of deer on the side of the road. None of them ran, they just looked at the car. They didn't even look nervous. Still, it made me paranoid driving, so I was glad to see a town big enough to have hotels. And here we are.

Today, we're going to find a beach to camp on, and we're going to meet up with Ryan. I'm excited!

Lena & Gabe's Excellent Adventure (Days 1 & 2)

Okay, so I was going to post every day of our trip, but that probably won't happen since some of the nights we'll be camping. So I'm just going to go with it...and post whenever I have internet access.

Here's the trip so far.

On Saturday, I got a late start. So, I didn't end up packing until about 10am. Oops. It didn't take too long, and since I'm not really stressing about this trip, I just figured if I forgot anything, I'd buy it on the way. We took a long walk/run to get some exercise before starting out. Our goal was to leave at noon, but after the exercise, I decided a shower would be nice. So we set off clean and refreshed at about 1pm.

Jason's folks had agreed to give us a place to crash on Saturday night, so we didn't have to look for a hotel, which was a relief on the first night. We got in a little late, since we left late, right before 8. Jason's mom was super excited to see Gabe and have a kid in the house. He was super hyper and ready to get out of the car. She made him hot cocoa and he had some cookies with it, and proceeded to act like a sugar-hyped monkey for the next hour. He'd had a late nap in the car, but I hadn't gotten much sleep and was exhausted. Patti played with Gabe a little and read him a story, and gossiped with me a while before we went to bed. I let Gabe stay up and watch a bit of a movie on the laptop, but I was so tired I just crashed.

This morning we got up and Patti had made breakfast, so we had orange danish rolls, coffee & juice, bacon & sausage...It was a splendid morning in Shreveport, cold but nice. We walked down to the dock and looked at the lake a bit before heading out. We got a late start again (left at 10 or so) and it took us longer than planned. We drove pretty much all day, and not much happened, which is probably a good thing when you're on a road trip. Gabe stayed up late last night, but still didn't take a nap. Still, he was an excellent traveling companion once I told him whining was not allowed in the car. We only stopped a few times, but he did much better than yesterday, even though the trip was longer. At about 7, I gave up on getting to Florida tonight. We were both tired of being in the car, and I didn't want to stress about how far we drove. We decided at the beginning that we'd just take it as it came, and get as far as we got, and that would be fine. We have vague goals, but nothing set in stone. So, we stopped in Gulfport MS and got a hotel room.

Since we'd been cooped up in the car all day without any exercise, we brought in the Rusted Root CD from the car and had a little dance party in our hotel room. Gabe got to jump on the bed for once, so he was pretty excited and made the most of it. And I won't lie, I might have joined him for a bit.

So that's our trip so far. Nothing too exciting, but it's fun to be on an adventure. Gabe has a little US map to look at in the car so he can follow our progress and track his journey. I'm excited about tomorrow, and looking forward to seeing the ocean again. It's been way too long.