road trips – Gwen Hernandez

Anniversaries

March 21, 2018Gwen HernandezRandom, Writing Life2 Comments

partially blurred clocks flying over gray background January marked nine years since I started writing. February was 10 years since I quit working for someone else. March means I’ve been married to my awesome man for 23 years (!!). And in May I’ll have been teaching Scrivener for seven years. (April is, apparently, worthless.)

Every time these anniversaries roll around, I’m shocked at how much time has passed.

And yet, if I look back, tons has happened. Contest wins and finals. A nonfiction book deal. Three training platforms. Four novels indie published. Two kids in college. Five moves. And so many new friends. Whew!

I’ve grown immensely as a writer and businessperson, though there will always be more to learn. In fact, that’s part of what keeps it interesting.

There are things I miss about having a “day” job—the camaraderie, the ability to leave work behind at the end of the day, a steady paycheck—but I love being my own boss.

Unlike many of the jobs I’ve had over the years—being a military spouse either means having a long resumé or no resumé—writing never ceases to be a challenge. You don’t “master” it and then get bored. (Or realize how repetitive it is, have a blast learning how to automate it, and then get bored. Oops.)

In addition to improving the craft of writing and storytelling, there’s always a new storyline to develop, a plot problem to solve, or a character to understand.

And no matter how many manuscripts I write—and there are way more in various stages of never-to-be-completed/published than the four novels I have out—each one presents its own struggle. Usually the good kind. Like solving a puzzle.

(Please remind me of that next time I’m pulling out my hair over my current work in progress.)

And when I want a break from writing, I get to teach people how to use my favorite program. I talk to real live humans, and help them solve a problem. Two activities I adore. 😉 Plus, the need to keep up with Scrivener and all the technologies I use to provide online courses and private training ensure I’ll never be bored.

(Side note: If your kids ever tell they could never be bored if they had a dog, I’m here to tell you they’re lying.)

So, basically, I’m happy.

Last weekend we celebrated our wedding anniversary with 36 hours in Seattle. Below are a few pics.

Fresh flowers at Pike Place Market

utility cover stamped with flowers and "CITY LIGHT CITY BRIGHT" repeated around the edges

Every utility cover I saw in Seattle was different. This one was across from the Seattle Art Museum.

Camellia bush in front of pond with pine trees in background

Washington Park Arboretum Japanese Garden

vine-covered pergola in pond with mostly bare willow and greenery in background

Washington Park Arboretum Japanese Garden

tall bridge over lake in early morning, with dock and boathouse in front and smaller boats in back

George Washington Bridge over Lake Union looking East from the Fremont Bridge

Center for Wooden Boats on South Lake Union

What big milestones or anniversaries are happening for you this year?

Fun and adventure in the western C States

June 1, 2017Gwen HernandezRandom10 Comments

By now, you probably know that traveling/exploring is my thing. As much as our budget will allow, anyway. After our Boston-to-Sacramento move last summer, we’ve slowed down a bit, but here are a few of our latest adventures in sightseeing.

In April, we celebrated a belated anniversary (22 years!) in Stinson Beach, California. This little town—population 600—is nestled in a gorgeous cove on the Pacific Ocean in Marin County, about 20 miles north of San Francisco on Highway 1. It backs up to Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods.

Stinson Beach, looking northwest toward Bolinas

view of the mountains from a park in town

A view of the mountains from a town park near the beach

The cozy cottage we rented up the hill, with a view of the ocean

Stinson Beach after the weather cleared

While there, we drove up the coast a few miles to the adorable town of Bolinas, which sits just off the northern tip of Stinson. You could wade across, but there's no bridge, so the drive is about 20 minutes around the inlet, where we saw seals lounging on a sandbar.

Homes in Bolinas

An inlet in Bolinas, just off the northern tip of Stinson Beach

Bolinas, just up the coast from Stinson Beach

Mid-May, we flew to Colorado for a friend’s retirement from the Air Force. Colorado Springs never disappoints, with its towering peaks, thick forest, and red rock. We even got snow! On Friday, we ran through our little rental home's neighborhood and happened upon a back entrance to the Garden of the Gods (GOTG) park.

Garden of the Gods, camera facing southwest toward Pikes Peak and Manitou Springs

More Garden of the Gods

On Saturday, we hiked through Red Rock Canyon Open Space with friends, only a mile or two from GOTG, with fabulous views.

A view of GOTG (top right on horizon) from the Red Rock Canyon Open Space

Red Rock Canyon Open Space

Last summer, while waiting to close on our house, we hung out for a week in Redding, California (among other places). Since my oldest son had gone back to college for the summer term, he missed out. So, during his short pre-internship stay at home at the end of May, we took him north to see the amazing volcano that rises 14,179 feet above sea level at the southern end of the Cascade Mountain Range (i.e. Mt. Shasta).

Mt. Shasta peeking over the hills around Lake Siskiyou

Closer to Mt. Shasta on a hike up Spring Hill

Shasta framed by pine and manzanita from Spring Hill

We also checked out the impressive Sundial Bridge over the Sacramento River in the heart of Redding at Turtle Bay.

Looking west toward the Sundial Bridge (taken July 2016)

On the Sundial Bridge, facing north (taken July 2016)

Spire of the bridge from below

Looking west from the bridge, up the Sacramento River

Been on any cool trips lately? Have any fun travel plans for summer?

A day in Berkeley

October 26, 2016Gwen HernandezRandom

Oxford Street across from the Berkeley campus

As a writer who works from home full time, it's easy to let inertia set in and never leave my house except to fill my cupboards. But I’m an explorer at heart—as is my husband—so we made a commitment to spend at least one day a month sightseeing or hiking somewhere within a few hours’ drive of our house.

Last weekend, we chose Berkeley. A few years ago, when I was visiting to give a workshop to the San Francisco Romance Writers, I ran along the water to the Berkeley Marina—and had lunch and dinner…somewhere—but I hadn’t been downtown since I was seventeen.

It was definitely time to go back. The decision was helped by the relatively short drive—about 75 minutes when the traffic is good, which it happily was earlyish on a Saturday.

I’m certain there’s lots more to do in this fun, pretty college town, but we started and ended with food—there are plenty of options for plant-based eaters like us (we chose Saturn Cafe and Flaco’s)—and spent the time in between visiting UC (Cal) Berkeley’s pretty campus, and exploring Tilden Regional Park, which borders the campus up the hill along the east side.

The park's botanical gardens have native plants representing California's wide variety of climates, and lots of quiet, green spaces to wander.

These are a few of my favorite shots from that day.

I love the colors on the peeling trunks of the eucalyptus trees! Blue and gold are especially fitting since they're the University of California colors.

Sather Tower is hard to miss

View of the East Bay and San Francisco (across the bay on the right) from Grizzly Peak in Tilden Regional Park

View of San Pablo Bay from Grizzly Peak (facing NNW)

At the Regional Parks Botanic Garden

Redwoods in the botanic garden

Found this guy hiding in the ferns at the botanic garden

What are some of your favorite places to visit near you? (Or me, for that matter. I’m always looking for gems. 😉 )

Check out this page for more travel/road trip posts. Also, many of my small trips end up on social media instead, especially Instagram.

Oh, Montana (and Wyoming)

September 29, 2016Gwen HernandezRandom8 Comments

Pond above the resort as the sun crests the mountain

Oh, Montana. On Sunday, my husband and I—empty nesters that we now are—traveled to southwestern Montana to meet up with old friends, some of whom we haven’t seen since before the turn of the century. (I’ve been waiting for an excuse to use that phrase…)

Catching up was great, and doing it in a wild and beautiful place like Montana and northern Wyoming made it fabulous.

Here are a few of my favorite memories from our trip.

Stars

I don’t think I’ve seen so many stars since my parents drove us into the mountains in Utah at night and we lay in the back of our little pickup truck on the side of the road.

Out in isolated Chico Hot Springs (about an hour’s drive southeast of Bozeman, and maybe thirty minutes from the northern entrance to Yellowstone at Gardiner), there is little light to interfere with the view.

The stars. Were. Incredible.

Billions and billions of them filled the sky and the Milky Way looked like a band of gauzy clouds. We sat outside in the growing chill for hours, following the path of anonymous satellites and catching sight of shooting stars.

Absolutely breathtaking.

Mountains

I adore the mountains and ocean in almost equal measure, and one of my regrets is that Sacramento doesn’t have either the low mountains that cling to California’s coastline or the tall peaks that hug its eastern border.

In Southwestern Montana, on the other hand, the mountains roll in seemingly endless waves across the land. Some soft and green with pine trees, some brown with long grass, others barren or snow-covered with gray rock jutting toward the clouds like blades of a knife.

Chico Hot Springs Resort, Montana

Yellowstone

I haven’t been to Yellowstone since I was eight. Pretty much the only thing I remember is Old Faithful and bears. On this trip, we hiked into northern Yellowstone—crossing into Wyoming after entering the park—to visit Hellroaring Creek, a clear, rock-strewn flow that feeds into the Yellowstone River.

The Yellowstone River from a suspension bridge on the Hellroaring Creek trail

Hellroaring Creek

Here there be bears. Luckily—though some in my party might have disagreed—we only saw paw prints. And a bison!

Afterwards, we returned to Mammoth Hot Springs near the park entrance and walked around the mounds built up over the years by the (literally) steaming springs. The landscape is like something you’d find deep in a cave or on some imagined, hostile planet.

A mound at Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming

Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming

We ended our day trip watching elk eat, bugle, and even lock antlers, both at Mammoth Hot Springs and in the town of Gardiner, just outside the park’s Roosevelt gate.

Elk hanging out in Mammoth Hot Springs, Wyoming

Writing

I try not to worry too much about work when I’m on vacation, but my goal is to look at my story for at least a few minutes every day so I don’t lose my momentum. With Scrivener for iOS and a new hard-case bluetooth keyboard for my iPad, I managed to stay immersed in my manuscript while sitting on the lodge porch in the cool morning air, sipping hot tea, and soaking up the view of the turning trees.

View from the lodge porch at Chico Hot Springs Resort, Montana

Honestly, that’s not even work. That’s the dream.

Oh, Montana.

What are some cool things you’ve seen on vacation? Where would you like to visit next?

A graduation, a retirement, and a(nother) move

June 16, 2016Gwen HernandezRandom10 Comments

If it seems like I've been a bit distracted lately, I have. Life's been busy at Casa de Hernandez, pretty much for the last year.

In March of 2015, my husband was preparing for a September deployment to Afghanistan for six months when the Air Force said, “Never mind, we need you in Florida in three weeks instead.” Cue the scramble, and the complete upending of all of our summer travel plans. And, of course, a small celebration that he'd be staying Stateside (though I'm pretty sure some part of him was disappointed at the location change).

We're good at adjusting course on short notice, finding adventure in the unexpected. Some people are adrenaline junkies who find their joy by jumping out of planes, climbing Meru, or surfing 30-foot waves. We like to travel and explore, and move. (Good thing, right?)

And, while it's been fun letting the Air Force pick where we go, exploring places we might never otherwise get to know, we're finally in a position to choose for ourselves.

This month, our youngest graduated from high school and my husband retired from the military. So, we're off to California. Sacramento, for now, while my husband goes back to school, with an eye toward moving to the coast in a few years.

Yes, I'm still working on my next two Scrivener courses. Yes, I'm still working on Men of Steele #3. All are coming along slower than I'd planned, but the classes will be live by the end of summer, and I intend to have MoS3 out before the end of the year.

For the next few weeks, though, I'll be filling up my Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook pages with pictures from our cross-country trip and some new adventures. Feel free to follow along and share your own.

Got any fun plans for summer?

The study of Mass (Cape Ann, Cape Cod, Concord)

May 13, 2016Gwen HernandezRandom15 Comments

Rockport, MA (Cape Ann)

I’m an explorer at heart, so living in such a history- and beauty-rich place as Massachusetts has been fabulous. But now that I only have five weeks (!) until we hit the road for our post-Air Force adventure in California, I’ve been trying to visit a few more places on my must-see list before we leave.

Last weekend my husband and I jogged around Cape Ann (part of our training for an upcoming half marathon) through Gloucester and Rockport. I loved the seaside views, the inviting and walkable main streets, and the beautiful homes. Unfortunately, we didn't get a lot of pictures because I didn't want to stop every three minutes (because running) and it was drizzling most of the time.

Gloucester, MA

Rockport beach access

Lobster traps on the roof are a thing on seafood restaurants around here…

On Sunday hubby and my youngest son took me to Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod for Mother’s Day. So much fabulous ocean time in one weekend! And New England—parts of it anyway—is just so darn quaint. That’s one thing I’ll definitely miss.

Provincetown

Provincetown

Pilgrim monument in P-Town

Are you sensing a theme yet? Pier in P-Town.

Provincetown

At Herring Cove Beach

Cape Cod National Seashore

Another example of a nice downtown is Concord. On Tuesday, my writer friend Maura Troy came up from Connecticut for the day and we walked the town. Since I’ve already been to the Thoreau and Alcott homes and Walden Pond, we toured Old Manse (Ralph Waldo Emerson’s family home) and the Old North Bridge battle area where “the shot heard 'round the world” marked the first victory for the colonists on the opening day of the Revolutionary War. (The “shot heard 'round the world” was coined by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the Concord Hymn, a poem that’s engraved on the statue “Minute Man” at Old North Bridge, which was in his family’s backyard.)

Nathaniel Hawthorne and his wife Sophia rented Old Manse for three years early in their marriage, and literally left their mark on the place. Sophia liked to record interesting moments by inscribing them into the glass window panes with her diamond wedding ring. Seems kind of rude to me—especially for a renter—but it's cool from a historical perspective. Hawthorne was inspired to write Mosses from an Old Manse here, which inspired the home's name.

Emerson's desk, which he often took outside to write

Hawthorne's desk facing the wall. It ratchets up and down to change height.

Hawthorne's desk facing the wall. It ratchets up and down to adjust the height and angle.

Sophia Hawthorne's writing on the window

Every family had to have their own fire buckets and respond to a neighbor's fire or risk a fine

Old North Bridge looking west across the Concord River, and the Battle of Concord monument

View across the Concord River from the backyard of Old Manse

Statue “Minute Man” by Daniel Chester French (sculptor of Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial in D.C.)

Up next before we move: Whale Watching! And a few other adventures.

Are there any places near where you live that you want to/really should visit? Make a plan to do it this summer!

Sightseeing in the suburbs: Thoreau-ly interesting

June 25, 2015Gwen HernandezRandom, Writing Life11 Comments

Thoreau Farm

Living in the Boston suburbs is cool because I’m close to the town of Concord—location of “the shot heard round the world” in 1775—which boasts the homes and gravesites of Thoreau, Alcott, Hawthorne, and Emerson.

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery

I plan to see all the authors’ homes while we’re here, but last weekend I visited Thoreau Farm. I had hiked around Walden Pond a couple of months ago—and visited the family gravesite last summer—so I wanted to finish the Thoreau “experience.”

Walden Pond

Thanks to a very enthusiastic and friendly docent, I learned a lot.

Thoreau spent only eight months in the home of his birth, but Thoreau Farm is still significant because he was inspired by his mother’s stories of the place, and he returned often to walk the lands. It’s also the only Thoreau home open to the public, so there’s that. 😉

Thoreau Farm is not a typical restored homestead, but rather a place to learn more about the man, his life, his contemporaries, and why he’s important.

Thoreau Farm-west side with kitchen gardens

You might be surprised by some of the people who were inspired by Thoreau, in person or in writing, whether with regard to the environment, or transcendentalism, or his thoughts on civil disobedience.

A few names you might recognize: Mahatma (Mohandas Karamchand) Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., John Muir, and Jack Kerouac. Not a bad legacy, eh?

Thoreau family portraits upstairs at Thoreau Farm

Some fun facts:

– Thoreau (along with his brother and two sisters) never married, though he and his brother both offered for the same woman. Her father turned them both down, deeming the family unsuitable for his daughter.

– He was born David Henry Thoreau, but switched his first and middle names after graduating from Harvard. Without a legal name change, of course.

– His careful observations about the weather and timing of various plants and crops have provided valuable historical data for the area with which to compare modern conditions.

– You can rent the upstairs room in the Thoreau house for a writing retreat.

Be inspired by Thoreau

Quotes:

Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Walden (so far). {I’m reading in e-book, so I can’t offer page numbers, but all are from “Economy.”}

– “The great part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior.”

– “I also have in my mind that seemingly wealthy, but most terribly impoverished class of all, who have accumulated dross, but know not how to use it, or get rid of it, and thus have forged their own golden or silver fetters.”

– “And when the farmer has got his house, he may not be the richer but the poorer for it, and it be the house that has got him.”

– “…the principal object is, not that mankind may be well and honestly clad, but, unquestionably, that corporations may be enriched.”

If you travel to Boston, be sure to step off The Freedom Trail for a day or two and make your way to the suburbs!