Bears!

So last week my family and I went on adventure.

We took an airplane to the tiny town of King Salmon, AK, and from there a float plane to Katmai National Park.

While there, we camped in an electric fence enclosed compound, for reasons you'll understand later.

We hiked into the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, where the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century occurred.

My daughter was a straight up adventurer. She's also freaking adorable.

Like I said. Adorable.

Also, we saw bears. Because that's what you do at Katmai.

Lots of bears.

Lots and lots of bears.

We were very close to these bears.

Fortunately, they were distracted by other food. Also, there were pretty strict rules in place around the camp that helped. Bears have the right of way throughout the entire place, which means they're often wandering through the middle of camp (only the campground itself has the electric fence). It was crazy.

This cub was not happy with his sibling.

B was often oblivious to the bears.

But on occasion she thought they were pretty cool. DID I MENTION ADORABLE THO??

Seriously though. BEARS.

Anyway, it was quite the adventure. If you want to get a taste of what we saw, check out this bear cam, set up in one of the major viewing areas at Brooks Camp (where we stayed) in Katmai.

Nice to have some time away. Now, back to book four! 🐻 💪🙌⚔️

Worldcon in Helsinki, Finland!

Hey alls!

In case you don't know, I'm currently in Sweden, and getting ready to cross the Baltic Sea tomorrow night for Worldcon in Helsinki, Finland later this week!

Before I share with you some decent photos of cool stuff we've seen so far, let me first share with you my official Worldcon schedule, which includes one panel this year, on one of my favorite topics of all time:

Saturday 12 August at 11:00 AM: "Legacy of Buffy" (203a)
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show premiered 20 years ago in 1997 and brought with it an unusual mix of supernatural horror, comedy, and interesting characters. Supernatural elements are very commonplace in television these days, but what is the real legacy of Buffy and the Scooby Gang?

Hey. I'm excited about this panel, ya'll. If there's one thing I love more than BtVS, it's nothing, and you can take that to the bank. (?) But really, though, I like the show a lot, and I think all of us on the panel will have a lot to say about the legacy this program left behind, particularly in relation to what many are now calling the "golden age" of television we're experiencing right now.

Other than that, I'll just be hanging around the convention center, talking to folks, and probably resting up a bit from our rigorous travels around Scandinavia! Speaking of which, here's a teaser photo for some more images to come, that I'll share in a later dedicated post:

Scandinavia is cool.

Wait, it's almost July?

And suddenly a month has passed. Yikes.

I've been busy. First of all, what should, *hopefully* be the final-ish revision of Duskfall (you can tell how confident I am about them already, can't you?) has taken more time and effort than I'd hoped. Ain't that always the way. I'm happy to be wrapping them up, though.

I've also joined a writing group, so that has been cool. I'm sure I'll talk more about that later, but I'm very happy about it so far.

Oh, and I went to Alaska. Had an adventure or two. Because, you know, that's where I'm from and such.

Between those things, which are for the most part very awesome, and some decidedly not-awesome other things like Hugo award controversies and the recent murders in Charleston, I've been avoiding saying much on the internet of late. But I think I've collected myself a bit and I'm ready to jump back into blogger-ness, which means continuing my How I Got Published and #FIF Series (Serieses? Serieses'ses''''? Stupid english...), checking in more with general updates on my writing (including writing group stuff) and life in general (including Alaska stuff), and maybe even sharing some thoughts I have about recent events. So, that's that.

Weekend Adventures (or: Taking a Week Off from #HIGP posts)

Yeah...no How I Got Published Post today, sorry folks! I was gone all weekend and I've had a lot to catch up on this week, including working on a new revision for Duskfall. But more on that later.

What was I up to this weekend, you ask? Let me tell you.

Raych and I ventured down to St. George for a friend's birthday, where we ate delicious food, went to an (outdoor, as you can see) concert, and stayed at a mediocre hotel. It was, all in all, a very fun weekend. The relaxation was much needed.

We also spent some time in Snow Canyon State Park, which was fun. Also, Raych is pregnant.*

Southern Utah has a very unique landscape. It's pretty cool to adventure around these parts.

Just keepin' it real.

So those are things I've been doing lately. But I'm not messing around when I say there's some stuff I need to get caught up on, so...back to work.


* ISN'T THAT AMAZING?! I am so excited about it. I suppose I'll have to tell you more about the whole preggo thing--I'll get to that once I'm caught up!

Viva l'Italia! (Part 4: Cinque Terre, Milano, Venezia)

Who wants more pictures from Italy? I imagine everyone in the world is shouting yes right now, so who am I to stand in the way. Next stop on our Italy trip was Cinque Terre...

Monterosso al Mare. Totes gorge.

Hiking from Monterosso al Mare to Vernazza.

Artsy shot ftw.

Being awesome.

Captions are really unnecessary at this point, aren't they....?

Vernazza. Unfortunately a few of the trails were closed so we didn't make it to all five cities.

Gelato break.

I swear with a little effort this could totally be one of these pictures...

View from the roof of our hotel in Monterosso al Mare.

After the Cinque Terre, we moved on to Milan and its outrageous Duomo...

La Scala Operahouse.

The Milan Duomo. I'm not kidding, it's outrageous. At the top of each of those spires is a different Saint.

Giant bronze doors to the Milan Duomo.

Roof of the Duomo--it's made entirely of marble, foundation to roof, so people can just wander around up there amidst a forest of spires.

Mace Windu special effects included.

We caught some rehearsals for a crazy concert that was going to be happening the next day. This is Elisa singing.

Did I mention the Milan Duomo took about 500 years to build? No joke.

Elisa!

And, last but not least, we zipped over to Venice (Venezia) before heading back home to America...

For some reason I didn't have high hopes for Venice, but it's basically as cool as everyone says it is.

Although it's apparently a dying city; residents are moving out by the thousands each year because of the high cost of living and, er, transportational difficulties.

Gondolas!

Some people even think that within the next thirty years, Venice will be nothing but a museum slowly sinking into the sea.

Il Duomo di San Marco/St. Mark's Cathedral.

Listening to some tunes in St. Mark's Square.

St. Mark's Square. It's crazy to think that a place that was once the center of the known political and artistic world now only exists for tourists. Not that I didn't mind being there, but it was something of an ethereal experience.

Arrivederci, Venezia.

Aaaaand that concludes our tour of Italy! But wait--we're not done yet. In the next day or so I'll publish one more post, perhaps the most important post of all (at least when it comes to Italy)...

...in the next post, I'll be talking about food. Run and tell that.

Viva l'Italia! (Part 3 - Roma & Firenze)

I have to admit, I went to Rome with something of a chip on my shoulder. I'd heard all about Rome, all about the Colosseum, all about the ruins and St. Peter's and everything, but I figured "I've seen a lot of Italy. I've seen cool things. What can Rome show me that I haven't seen already?"

I was an idiot. Because Rome was freaking amazing.

Wait, there are Mormons in Italy?

AND they're building a temple?! #mindblown

Apparently this building was kind of a big deal like 2000 years ago.

Personally, I didn't see what all the fuss was about.

But Rachel did get to walk on some marble where Roman Caesars walked. That was neat.

The Roman Forum. WAY cooler than I expected it to be. Just being there was a really surreal, kind of eerie, anachronistic experience.

Apparently this door still works, lock and key and everything. I don't know what's more impressive: that the lock still works after 2000 years, or that they still have the key...

Temple of Saturn. Kind of puts those Agrigentian Greek temples to shame. Or it would, anyway, if it was more than just this side.

Monument to Vittorio Emmanuele - the first king of Italy.

This Vittorio Emmanuele monument is HUGE.

Turns out ancient Rome had an obsession with obelisks...um, phallic much?

St. Peter's Basilica. We saw a lot of cool things in Italy, but this was probably my favorite. It blew my mind. You might as well give up getting even an inkling of an idea as to how cool this place is right now; these pictures are but a fraction of a fraction. Ineffability in action, my friends.

La pieta', inside St. Peter's.

I literally don't even know what to say about these pictures. Seeing this place was amazing.

View of the apse on our way up to the dome.

We got real familiar with climbing tiny staircases--this is also on the way up to the dome of St. Peter's.

Aaaand we're still on our way up to the dome of St. Peter's.

View from the dome.

Ahem...obelisk.

The Pantheon. (...obelisk.)

Trevi Fountain.

We interrupt this program for a brief photo of Italian shoes suspended in a store completely bathed in blue light. Because that is normal.

The Spanish Steps (and,  yes, an obelisk).

So that was Rome, folks. (And trust me, that wasn't even half of all the obelisks we saw. Obelisk.) From there, we journeyed to the famed crown of Tuscany (okay now I'm just making stuff up): Firenze (Florence).

Another church I remember literally nothing about it. Seriously, guys, there are like a LOT of churches in Italy.

Aaaaaand here's where my obsession with Dante starts to show through. Florence, if you aren't aware, is the birthplace and home of Dante Alighieri, greatest poet to ever grace this earth. I even wrote my Honors Thesis about him.

Florence from the top of the Duomo bell tower.

More claustrophobic staircases.

View from the top of the dome of Florence's Duomo (remember, Duomo = cathedral, dome = dome).

Il Palazzo Vecchio.

View of the Duomo from the Palazzo Vecchio.

Via Dante!

We stayed in the "Dante" room in our hotel and IT WASN'T EVEN PLANNED YOU GUYS.

Dante Dante Dante.

More Dante.

The outside of the Duomo. That's the bell tower on the right.

Il Ponte Vecchio.

La bella Firenze.

If you start seeing Dante Alighieri profiles on the cobblestones, you know you're in Florence.

That's Rome and Florence for you. Next time on "Rachel and Chris Tour Italy," we'll be covering Cinque Terre, Milan, and Venice. Don't touch that dial!