I’m home. Wooohooo! We had a wonderful adventure up north – Bill keeps claiming it was 15 cities in 12 days. Not really. But we did hit DC, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, with stops overnight in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, (bad choice) on the way north and Florence, South Carolina, on the way home. Bill was stuck doing all the driving so we didn’t do the long stretches that we usually do.
Okay, now that I’m back, I have a horrible project to take on. I have to figure out how to create the shopping cart on this website and how to set up my TikTok shop. I want to sell a bunch of books this summer and everybody says that’s the fastest and easiest way to get things out there. We shall see. With my luck, I’ll master it right before the U.S. government shuts it down. Because that’s how things usually go, right?
We spent the last few days of our trip pre-celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary at the Omni Bedford Springs Resort. The hotel was redone about 15 years ago – it’s unbelievable. My husband says it’s a “little Homestead” and that’s true – the spa is even nicer than the one at The Homestead in Virginia – but hopefully that one will be fixed up as the bigger hotel completes the $150 million renovation it’s currently undergoing.
I’m a sucker for historic hotels. That’s what first brought my husband and me to Jekyll Island. We picked it as a place to overnight for a couple of days while we were driving to Naples, Florida from DC. That was more than 20 years ago and the hotel hadn’t been redone to its prior glory like it is now, but we still fell in love with it. We stayed in a room with a turret – very cool! And we toured what was available to see back then and spent a day on the beach. The island is very different now but we still love it. Maybe even more. I know the old-timers are sad that so many tourists are coming to the beaches and hotels here, but the island is so well-maintained and lovely, I get it and I’m okay with it. If I were still planning weddings… but I’m not. Never again. Nope. Not gonna go there.
Anyway, Bedford Springs was once the farthest outpost on the frontier, and it was originally a fort. And when you do the historic hotel tour you can see where the cannon and gun ports were in the foundation. I have to give a shout-out to our buddy, Eric Easton, a retired Pennsylvania trooper who works security at the hotel. He’s a local and remembers when he patrolled the empty hotel to chase out teenagers who were partying in the empty shell. Now, he gives special ghost tours at night. We did one with him several years ago and we always look him up when we’re in town. Last time we were there, he took our friends to find the best fishing spots in a golf cart!
What can I say about the spa at Bedford Springs… it was heaven. I got a facial and had two aromatherapy massages while we were there. We stayed in a luxury room on the spa side of the hotel and it was fabulous. Gotta love a hotel that gives you bath salts for the massive bathtub. Even the elevator smells like spa.
We had a view into the courtyard where a lot of outdoor wedding receptions are held this time – there was something going on the night we arrived but it wasn’t a wedding. I was impressed with the setup and the lighting. Note to self, if anybody asks me to recommend a venue up north. Bedford Springs would be an amazing wedding destination.
What’s it near? A really cool little town. And the Flight 93 Memorial. We went and toured the museum there this time. We’ve been there before but we arrived after the museum had closed. It’s a chilling experience.
First, you walk the flight timeline and then you end up with a view of the spot where Flight 93 crashed, instead of its intended target, the U.S. Capitol. The museum has a lot of phone recordings from people on the plane calling loved ones – stuff I’d never heard before – one lady gave her partner the passcode to their safe. And pictures of all 40 of the passengers and crew who were aboard that flight.
My favorite part of the memorial is the Tower of Voices – a big windchime with a tone for each of the victims of Flight 93. You have to be there on a windy day to truly appreciate it. But there’s also something about sitting there quietly waiting to hear the slightest sound. It’s eerie and beautiful. Makes you think.
Alrighty, I didn’t mean to get so deep – but I wanted to post about what I’ve been up to. Tomorrow, I’ll be getting back in the grind and working on Book 4. I also need to go into Ingram Sparks and figure out why the pagination looks whacky on Book 3. Amazon is printing it out just fine. But the Ingram version looked funny to me when I got the online proof. Must get to the bottom of it.
If you’ve read any of the books and liked them, please please please go post a five-star review on Amazon or Goodreads. It makes a huge difference.
Until next time, happy reading! Treasure on Jekyll is now available in both eBook and paperback!
Sandy