Like all cities and towns in the south, each has its own unique character and charm which leaves a mark on the soul of its visitors. Way beyond the southern character of polite friendly manners, spicy cuisine, sweet tea and the importance of family and history, it can be hard to find one city that just stands out among the rest. But to me, there is actually a place I would recommend that gives its visitors a little bit of everything of what the south is and was even today. Welcome to Savannah, Georgia!

Before I even stepped foot in Savannah, I was in love with the city. Introduced to its people and visual character by Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, this rare southern gem was always on my ‘must see’ list, and I wasn’t disappointed when I took a solo trip there not too long ago. Savannah has a little bit of everything – charm, beauty, and a easy way of life, that once you step foot on one of its narrow streets, you can’t help but feel the frantic ‘Yankee’ pace of life slow down to a stroll.

Founded in 1733, Savannah has played a major role in the molding of the United States. As a strategic seaport on the Atlantic coast, the city was one of the leading locations for ship building during the 19th century due to a species of oak that was needed for ships. Even more fascinating, the city is one of the few southern cities that still possess its pre-Civil War architecture dating back to the Revolutionary War. This historical oddity is the outcome of Sherman’s famous 1864 ‘March to the Sea.’ Instead of destroying the city of Savannah as he did on this path across the south hoping to show a psychological capacity to wage war, he decided instead to offer the city as a Christmas present to President Lincoln.

The city’s downtown area is one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the US. Its center and outlaying areas still possesses the original square grid incorporating 22 squares with their own park. Surrounding these squares are also a number of historic homes that have been preserved, especially those that have connections to two its most famous residents; Juliet Gordon Low’s Birthplace (the Founder of the Girl Scouts, here original Girl Scouts Headquarters is also available for touring) and the Mercer-Williams House once owned by the family of song writer Johnny Mercer (who penned Moon River) and made famous in Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Did you know Savannah is considered the most haunted city in the United States? From cemeteries, like Colonial Park an early graveyard dating back to the English colony of Georgia, to Bonaventure, a former plantation with its moss covered trees and final resting spots for famous and illustrious Savannahians, ghosts are a big business. There are dozens of ghost tours from haunted pub crawls to home tours, that will allow visitors a new experience each night in learning the personal and tragic history of the city’s inhabitants or even meet up with the city’s resident voodoo priestess.

But if there is truly one thing that makes Savannah easy to visit is that beyond its history and charm it is a walking city that feeds all of your five senses. From the smell of the gardens blooming in the neighborhood squares; the touch of water spraying off the fountain in Forsyth Park; the sight of sandy beaches along Tybee Island, to the taste of an ice cream cone from Leopold’s Ice Cream Shop or a meal at Lady and Sons with Paula Dean, you will taste what a true city of the south really is and fall in love with it for life.

Bio:

Juliet Martini is an aspiring romance writer in the contemporary and romantic suspense genres, seeking fame and publication (hopefully), in the near future.  Currently, she is working on her second book, the first in a three book series centered on passion, wine and Italy.  By day, she hides out as Margaret Hren, a marketing and fundraising consultant, and when time permits, she is building her author website and planning her next exotic travel get away.  She also hopes to also launch her travel blog, The Travel Savvy Chick, later this year focusing on travel tips and personally acquired destination information.

Any place you visit will generate a story. In these newest segments of my ‘Off the Beaten Path’ series, I want to share some destination perfect for inspiring writing and as potential backdrops for your next book. We all know from writing romance, just as it is with traveling, if you walk down an unknown street, turn left instead of right when driving, or even revisit a vacation spot of your childhood, inspiration can be found everywhere.

If you’re a fan of the romance/time travel movie “Somewhere in Time” with Christopher Reeves and Jane Seymour, you’re already familiar with one of my favorite places on the planet filled with both spectacular beautiful, and a romantic feel all its own. Welcome to Mackinac Island, Michigan!

Growing up in Michigan, I spend many summer trips on this resort island. Located just off the eastern tip of the Michigan mitten on Lake Huron, this emerald island is slice of a Victorian New England village with its own Midwest flair. Visitors will need to take a 35 to 45 minute picturesque ferry boat ride to its shores where they’ll be greeted by a extraordinary surprise.

Mackinac Island is one of the only locations in the U.S. that doesn’t allow cars. Say hello to walking, biking or hopping on a horse-drawn carriage as a means of transportation during your visit. Another unique treat for visitors is the Island’s most popular main export thanks to the thousands of tourist who buy by the pound – fudge. Mackinac Fudge is famous all over the world and because tourists buy so much of it, they’ve been nicknamed ‘fudgies’ by the local.

Throughout history this 3.8 square mile island has played an important role in the U.S. and its history. Beginning as a prehistoric fishing camp for Native Americans; a French fur-trading outpost; use as a major military installation with the building of Fort Mackinac; its role during the American Revolution and the War of 1812; to its discovery after the Civil War as a tourist destination for Michigan residents and the wealthy industrialists of the Gilded Age, this island offers an abundance history and historical attractions.

Closed and cut off from the mainland during the winter, Mackinac Island opens for business when the ice melts on Lake Huron and the ferry boats can dock. Along with its reputation for beautiful hiking and bike trails, clean sandy beaches and water recreations, you can relax in a calming environment to unwind, or enjoy paradise at any of its bed and breakfasts and resorts. Yet, a visit to Mackinac wouldn’t be complete without taking a couple hours to visit or stay at Mackinac’s most famous location – the Grand Hotel.

Sitting on the shore overlooking the water, the Grand Hotel, a registered historic national landmark built in 1886, was a summer retreat for railroad employees and their families. Along with its breath taking water views of the Straits of Mackinac, golf course, pool, beautifully decorated rooms and five-star dining accommodations, the Grand is also famous for possessing the longest front porch in the world at 600 feet. Guests visiting the hotel can sit and relax on one of the porch’s rocking chairs, visit its gardens and swimming pool, stroll along its walking promenade or do a little romantic flirting on the ‘flirtation walk.’

So consider something different and off the beaten path for your next vacation or story’s setting. Mackinac Island has everything from the historic to the recreational. Consider all the fun of relaxing and inspiring your muse into a relaxed frame of mind as you dream of all the possibilities and the next road to creativity.

Welcome! We invite you to travel with us. Whether to exotic locations or our own backyards come on a journey and visit our next destination.

Where was this picture taken?
Make a guess in the comment section below for a chance to win a $5 gift card to Amazon or Starbucks, your choice.
All correct guess will be put in a drawing to win.

Night Sea The Light

By Marilyn Baron

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be signing my latest release Murder at the Outlet Mall, coauthored with my sister, award-winning Florida artist Sharon Goldman, at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum on Saturday May 18 as part of their Sea Your History Weekend May 17-18. If you’re in the area, I hope you’ll join us. It’s going to be very educational and a lot of fun. (Read more about the event below)

Let me tell you something about the venue, which fits in with my ongoing travel segment about St. Augustine. The St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum, located in St. Augustine, Florida, is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Affiliates are partners in a bold effort to share America’s artistic, scientific, and historic heritage.

The St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum was founded in 1876. Collections represent early North Florida maritime history, maritime archaeology, the Lighthouse, WW II photographs and oral histories. The Museum offers educational programs such as the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Project (LAMP), an underwater archaeology program which engages high school students with marine archaeologists. Projects involve the study of the early maritime history of the area, shipwrecks during the British and Spanish occupations of the country during the 18th century, hands-on tours, summer camps and program internships. In addition, a lecture series and annual maritime archaeological symposium is offered.

The Nation’s Oldest Port

The St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum is dedicated to discovering, preserving, presenting and keeping alive the story of the nation’s oldest port. Lighthouse staff members are recognized as national experts in restoration and museum operations and as part of their ongoing preservation efforts, they work directly with government agencies to ensure that America’s castles survive for generations to come.   I like the idea of signing our book at a place where they preserve storytelling because Murder at the Outlet Mall is not your same old story (See more below).

Anastasia Island has been a strategic location for towers since the founding of St. Augustine by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés in 1565. Historic records indicate that a wooden tower on the island was built and manned by Menendez’s soldiers in order to help identify incoming ships. During the construction of the Castillo de San Marcos (1672-1695), a hermitage, like a mini-monastery, was built on the island out of durable coquina rock. Records suggest that the hermitage was never consecrated and its bell tower, by 1737, became a permanent lookout tower. Following each succession of national ownership of St. Augustine, the complex was refurbished and augmented. Its importance as an aid to navigation increased over time as the harbor became a trade destination. Within six months of Florida becoming a U.S. territory in 1821, the Territorial Council forwarded a request to President Monroe for a lighthouse to be built at Pensacola and St. Augustine. Consequently, the Spanish coquina guardhouse/watchtower was converted to a true lighthouse. On April 5, 1824, the first lightkeeper Juan Andreu lit the lamp of Florida’s first official territorial lighthouse. Joesph Andreu, the first lighthouse keeper’s cousin, was the fourth lightkeeper. He fell to his death while whitewashing the tower in 1859. His wife Maria de los Dolores Mestre took over, and became the first female lightkeeper in St. Augustine. The present brick keepers’ house was completed in 1876. Eight keepers, almost 50 assistant keepers, and their families lived in the keepers’ dwelling. In 1988, the house opened as a lighthouse museum, and in 1991, the tower opened to the public. In 1981, the Keepers’ House and the lighthouse were placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, the staff and volunteers of the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum keep the light burning.

Here are some fun facts about the St. Augustine Lighthouse:

• There are more than 270 known shipwrecks off the coast of St. Augustine and its surrounding waters. The St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum is working to uncover those wrecks and preserve the artifacts brought up in order to tell their stories.
• The St. Augustine Lighthouse, with its distinctive black and white spiral and red top, is 165 feet tall. There are 219 steps to the observation deck, including the granite steps leading up to the metal stairs. Ten additional iron steps, accessible only to lens personnel, go up to the lantern inside the lens room. The observation deck is about the height of a 14-story building.
• The lens is the lighthouse’s original first order Fresnel lens from 1874. It stands 9.5-feet tall and contains 370 hand-cut prisms, including three bulls-eyes, set in brass frames.
• The lighthouse contains an estimated 1.2 million bricks.
• During WW II, United States Coast Guardsmen were stationed at the St. Augustine Lighthouse 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to protect the coastline. The lighthouse stores a vast collection of WW II artifacts, including thousands of pictures. The lighthouse also has an oral history library in its permanent collection.

For more information about the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum, visit their Web site at http://www.staugustinelighthouse.org/ and their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Augustine-Lighthouse-and-Museum/84623540271

Event:  May 17-18, 2013: The Art of Boatbuilding in the Oldest Port

Friday, May 17
3 p.m. – 6 p.m. – Lost Ships Tour: Help our archaeologists unlock the secrets of long-lost shipwrecks.

Saturday, May 18
9 a.m. – Traditional Wooden Boatbuilding: Be more than a visitor as you and our artisans build a boat from centuries gone by.

11 a.m. – Smithsonian Presentation: Get to know the personalities who make the Smithsonian the world’s leader in research and exploration.

Once Upon a Time in St. Augustine: Sea St. Augustine in Murder at the Outlet Mall, a comedic mystery set in St. Augustine. Drawings for prizes include Coach, Le Creuset products, lighthouse prints and more.

Sea Your History Weekends provide unique behind-the-scenes archaeology and conservation experiences, a VIP sunrise tour, a cultural boatbuilding demonstration and an opportunity to meet and learn from a Smithsonian scholar.

For more information, call 904-829-0745.

Murder They Wrote

To commemorate the 500^th anniversary of Ponce de Leon’s discovery of Florida, and celebrate our love of shopping, my sister, Sharon Goldman, a writer and artist in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and I wrote Murder at the Outlet Mall.    

Blurb: Things get deadly when three women come to blows over a single Coach bag at the St. Augustine Premium Outlets®. Murder at the Outlet Mall gives new meaning to the phrase, “Shop ’Till You Drop.”

    “This story is about three ladies from China who accompany their high-powered husbands on a shopping/golfing excursion to St. Augustine, Florida,” says Baron. “One of them is having an affair with the husband of another. The jilted woman and her friend plot the mistress’ murder. It’s sort of a modern-day Lucy and Ethel tale of how the women plan to dispose of the mistress and distribute her body parts at various tourist attractions around St. Augustine. It sounds grim, but it’s actually very funny and has an

About the Author                                                                                                                                                Marilyn Baron is a public relations consultant in Atlanta. She’s a member of Romance Writers of America (RWA) and Georgia Romance Writers (GRW) and the recipient of the GRW 2009 Chapter Service Award. Marilyn writes humorous women’s fiction, romantic suspense/thriller and humorous supernatural short stories. Visit http://www.twbpress.com/achoirofangels.html to read her Angel Trilogy (A Choir of Angels, Follow an Angel, The Stand-In Bridegroom and Dead Mix). The Edger, the women’s fiction she coauthored with her sister, Sharon, received a   4 ½-star rating in the September 2012 issue of Romantic Times Book Reviews magazine. http://www.amazon.com/The-Edger-ebook/dp/B006Y3P12Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1343336307&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Edger+Sharon+Goldman. Marilyn is contributor to Seasons and Seashells, a Sweet Romance Anthology at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/257449. Her romantic thriller, Under the Moon Gate, and the prequel Destiny: A Bermuda Love Story, will be released in the summer of 2013 by The Wild Rose Press. Her romantic suspense, Sixth Sense, winner of the 2012 Georgia Romance Writers Unpublished Maggie Award for Excellence in the Paranormal/Fantasy category, is also under contract with The Wild Rose Press. She invites you to visit her Web site at www.marilynbaron.com. Visit her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Marilyn-Baron/286807714666748 and follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/MarilynBaron.

One commenter will win a matted, signed print of Sharon Goldman’s St. Augustine Lighthouse http://sgoldmanart.com/landscapes_seascapes.htm.

My first visit to St. Augustine, Florida, was a field trip with my Florida History Class in college. Now that my sister Sharon lives in Ponte Vedra Beach, about half an hour away from St. Augustine, when I visit, we go there frequently for dinner. But I never really felt like I knew the city until I took a trolley ride.

Sharon and I featured the Old Town Trolley of St. Augustine sightseeing tour in our latest release, a comedic mystery called Murder at the Outlet Mall. To refresh our memories of the city, we took a trolley ride together earlier this month.
I highly recommend the “Green Trolley” http://www.trolleytours.com/st-augustine/ as a way to introduce yourself or even reintroduce yourself to the city. The tour, which leaves every 15 minutes, from St. Augustine’s Old Jail (it’s pink and you can tour the facility), highlights the best St. Augustine attractions with 22 stops and more than 100 points of interest. This Hop-On Hop-Off tour was great. It stops at such attractions as St. George Street, Whetstone Chocolates, the San Sebastian Winery, the St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum, Flagler College, Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth (where the 1513 discovery of Florida begins), the Bridge of Lions, Castillo de San Marcos (the oldest masonry fort in the continental U.S.), the Oldest Wooden School House in the USA, and Ripley’s Believe it or Not! Museum, with more than 800 exhibits of unique, unusual, strange and weird oddities and curiosities. We didn’t hop on or off, but stayed on the trolley the whole time. If I had more time, I would have stopped for a complementary tour and wine tasting or toured the Chocolate Factory. The place where the trolley tour starts has some neat attractions, too, including the Oldest Store Museum Experience, the Spice & Tea Exchange, and Gator Bob’s Trading Post.

The city is literally an original. Of course there are 42 miles of excellent beaches and golf courses, but there are many other things to do and see in St. Augustine. There are some nice Victorian Bed and Breakfasts, neat shops and art galleries and great restaurants. One of my favorite shops is the Metalartz. http://metalartz.moonfruit.com/. The Metalartz Gallery offers eclectic and unique art and gifts and represents more than 60 local, regional and national artists in a variety of mediums featuring steel and copper sculpture; hand blown glass art, acrylic, oil and watercolor canvas; mosaics, handcrafted crystal, seaglass, glass, and silver jewelry.

One of my favorite restaurants is The Columbia http://www.columbiarestaurant.com/fl_oldestrest.asp, founded in 1905, Florida’s oldest restaurant and the largest Spanish restaurant in the world. I love their black beans and rice, their Cuban bread and their 1905 salad, which can be topped with turkey or shrimp. In fact, I love their salad dressing so much I buy the bottles by the dozen and have them shipped to my house in Atlanta.

My sister likes the Casa Maya, The Tasting Room, The Gourmet Hut, The Floridian, Mojos Barbecue, The Gypsy Cab, Caps and Meehan’s Irish Pub, and for a fine dining experience she recommends 95 Cordova in the Casa Monica Hotel.
Her other recommendations are: The Lightner Museum and a tour of the Ponce de Leon Hotel.

We stopped by Second Read Books at 51 Cordova Street and were thrilled to see Murder at the Outlet Mall on display in between Agatha Christie and Alexander McCall Smith in the mystery section. Nice company. (904-829-0334).

Another neat experience was going out on a Sundancer Cruises yacht. They have a Wednesday cocktail cruise, a Sunday brunch cruise, a Sunday dinner cruise and they do private cruise charters and weddings. Sundance Reservations (877-446-6465). We went out during the holiday season and got a great view of St. Augustine’s Nights of Lights. From mid-November through January, this spectacular holiday lighting display features more than two million tiny white lights adorning the palm trees and buildings of the city’s historic district. That was the photo that stumped everyone (See April 5 post). St. Augustine Scenic Cruises depart daily from the St. Augustine Municipal Marina for 1-hour-and-15-minute narrated tours (1-800-542-8316).

Then there’s the St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park & Rookery, which has every crocodilian species, including the rare white alligator, exotic birds, reptiles and monkeys and a zipline. I really enjoyed Marineland Dolphin Adventure.

A new addition is Colonial Quarter where you can travel through the centuries at St. Augustine’s revitalized signature attraction in the heart of the historic district. Experience 16th-17th -and 18th-century Spanish and British life in the Nation’s Oldest City with interactive activities (blacksmith, carpenter), living-history demonstrations, and you can climb a replica of a 17th-century watchtower, and dine in a British pub and a Spanish taberna.

For a change, take a horse-drawn carriage tour through the city streets, a tasting tour, a gold tour, a ghost tour, a walking tour or a kayak eco-tour.

The Fountain of Youth has some pretty peacocks at the entrance and you can drink out of a sulfur spring. At the entrance is Magnolia Avenue, with beautiful Spanish moss-draped live oak trees forming a canopy across the road. It is one of the most photographed streets in the U.S.

And, of course, there’s shopping at the St. Augustine Outlets and St. Augustine Premium Outlets, where Murder at the Outlet Mall is set. For more information about St. Augustine, visit the St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra and The Beaches Facebook page at http://www.floridashistoriccoast.com/.

Next week, I’ll tell you about the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum.

If you want to learn more about St. Augustine’s history and fun things to do, read the comedic mystery, Murder at the Outlet Mall at http://www.amazon.com/Murder-at-Outlet-Mall-ebook/dp/B00BGQLOKW/ref=tmm_kin_title_0 (E-Book) or the paperback format at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1482634856/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=1532201582&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00BGQLOKW&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=08NZZ7T7G0A8DMYGG6EN.

Murder They Wrote
Sharon and I wrote Murder at the Outlet Mall to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Ponce de Leon’s discovery of Florida.
Blurb: Things get deadly when three women come to blows over a single Coach bag at the St. Augustine Premium Outlets®. Murder at the Outlet Mall gives new meaning to the phrase, “Shop ’Till You Drop.”

“This story is about three ladies from China who accompany their high-powered husbands on a shopping/golfing excursion to St. Augustine, Florida,” says Baron. “One of them is having an affair with the husband of another. The jilted woman and her friend plot the mistress’ murder. It’s sort of a modern-day Lucy and Ethel tale of how the women plan to dispose of the mistress and distribute her body parts at various tourist attractions around St. Augustine. It sounds grim, but it’s actually very funny and has an unexpected, but happy ending.”

About the Author Marilyn Baron is a public relations consultant in Atlanta. She’s a member of Romance Writers of America (RWA) and Georgia Romance Writers (GRW) and the recipient of the GRW 2009 Chapter Service Award. Marilyn writes humorous women’s fiction, romantic suspense/thriller and humorous supernatural short stories. Visit http://www.twbpress.com/achoirofangels.html to read her Angel Trilogy (A Choir of Angels, Follow an Angel, The Stand-In Bridegroom and Dead Mix). The Edger, the women’s fiction she coauthored with her sister, Sharon, received a 4 ½-star rating in the September 2012 issue of Romantic Times Book Reviews magazine. http://www.amazon.com/The-Edger-ebook/dp/B006Y3P12Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1343336307&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Edger+Sharon+Goldman. Marilyn is contributor to Seasons and Seashells, a Sweet Romance Anthology at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/257449. Her romantic thriller, Under the Moon Gate, and the prequel Destiny: A Bermuda Love Story, will be released in the summer of 2013 by The Wild Rose Press. Her romantic suspense, Sixth Sense, winner of the 2012 Georgia Romance Writers Unpublished Maggie Award for Excellence in the Paranormal/Fantasy category, is also under contract with The Wild Rose Press. She invites you to visit her Web site at www.marilynbaron.com. Visit her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Marilyn-Baron/286807714666748 and follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/MarilynBaron.

One commenter will win a copy of Murder at the Outlet Mall.

1. St. Augustine is home to the oldest continuous European settlement in the United States? Since 1565, St. Augustine has been a thriving city and served as the capital of Spain’s La Florida for more than 250 years.

2. Florida’s Historic Coast has 42 miles of Atlantic beaches?

3. St. Augustine boasts the Oldest Wooden School House, the first National Monument, Castillo de San Marcos, and the Oldest House—the Gonzalez-Alvarez House?

4. Florida’s Historic Coast is home to rare birds, nesting sea turtles, the northern right whale (the rarest of all whales), and the endangered and elusive Anastasia beach mouse?

5. Each May, Ponte Vedra Beach hosts THE PLAYERS Championship, considered by most sportswriters to be golf’s “fifth major?” The 17th hole with its distinctive island green at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass is one of the world’s most photographed.

6. Picasso is visiting St. Augustine? St. Augustine’s Spanish history, culture and artistic traditions will be celebrated through May 11 with an impressive exhibit of the works of Picasso at the Visitor Information Center called Picasso: Art & Arena.

7. The Spanish Wine and Food Festival will take place on October 3-6?

8. An exact replica of Ponce de Leon’s baptismal font, a gift from the small Spanish town of Santervas, Spain, in the province of Leon, (with a population of less than 100), was sent as a gift to the city of St. Augustine and was dedicated at the Cathedral Basilica there on April 3, 2013, the same day 500 years after he discovered Florida? It was installed in the Cathedral where it will be used for baptisms.

9. The Nights of Lights Celebration from mid-November through January, features a display of more than two million tiny white lights adorning the palm trees and buildings of the city’s historic district? National Geographic selected St. Augustine Nights of Lights as one of the ten best holiday lighting displays in the world.

10. St. Augustine Premium Outlets® features 85 stores—including Banana Republic Factory Store, Tommy Hilfiger, White House Black Market, Ann Taylor Factory Store and more—with savings of 25 percent to 65 percent every day?

For more information on events, activities, holiday getaways and vacation opportunities in St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra and The Beaches, go to the Visitors and Convention Bureau Web site at www.FloridasHistoricCoast.com, become a fan on Facebook or call 1-800-653-2489.

Murder They Wrote
To commemorate the 500th anniversary of Ponce de Leon’s discovery of Florida, and celebrate our love of shopping, my sister, Sharon Goldman, a writer and artist in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and I wrote Murder at the Outlet Mall.

Blurb:
Things get deadly when three women come to blows over a single Coach bag at the St. Augustine Premium Outlets®. Murder at the Outlet Mall gives new meaning to the phrase, “Shop ’Till You Drop.”
“This story is about three ladies from China who accompany their high-powered husbands on a shopping/golfing excursion to St. Augustine, Florida,” says Baron. “One of them is having an affair with the husband of another. The jilted woman and her friend plot the mistress’ murder. It’s sort of a modern-day Lucy and Ethel tale of how the women plan to dispose of the mistress and distribute her body parts at various tourist attractions around St. Augustine. It sounds grim, but it’s actually very funny and has an unexpected, but happy ending.”

About the Author
Marilyn Baron is a public relations consultant in Atlanta. She’s a member of Romance Writers of America (RWA) and Georgia Romance Writers (GRW) and the recipient of the GRW 2009 Chapter Service Award. Marilyn writes humorous women’s fiction, romantic suspense/thriller and humorous supernatural short stories. Visit http://www.twbpress.com/achoirofangels.html to read her Angel Trilogy (A Choir of Angels, Follow an Angel, The Stand-In Bridegroom and Dead Mix). The Edger, the women’s fiction she coauthored with her sister, Sharon, received a 4 ½-star rating in the September 2012 issue of Romantic Times Book Reviews magazine. http://www.amazon.com/The-Edger-ebook/dp/B006Y3P12Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1343336307&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Edger+Sharon+Goldman. Marilyn is contributor to Seasons and Seashells, a Sweet Romance Anthology at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/257449. Her romantic thriller, Under the Moon Gate, and the prequel Destiny: A Bermuda Love Story, will be released in the summer of 2013 by The Wild Rose Press. Her romantic suspense, Sixth Sense, winner of the 2013 Georgia Romance Writers Unpublished Maggie Award for Excellence in the Paranormal/Fantasy category, is also under contract with The Wild Rose Press. She invites you to visit her Web site at www.marilynbaron.com. Visit her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Marilyn-Baron/286807714666748 and follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/MarilynBaron.

Welcome! We invite you to travel with us.

Whether to exotic locations or our own backyards come on a journey and visit our next destination.

Where was this picture taken?

Remember it can be anywhere around the world.

Join us the next several Fridays – Sundays as we go on an adventure in this location.

Make a guess in the comment section below for a chance to win a $5 gift card to Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Starbucks, your choice.

Back in May of 1990, we spent the week before the wedding exploring around the lake. I have included some pictures of the hikes we took while we were waiting for our wedding party to arrive. It was a very relaxing time before the wedding. I didn’t have all the normal leading up to the wedding day stress. The hotel took care of everything.

We stayed in the beautiful honeymoon suite with a gorgeous view of the lake. That’s me looking out the window with my 1990 big hair and dress. Originally I thought I wanted a big wedding at home with a couple of hundred people and the whole big wedding extravaganza. When we decided to go out of town to get married I realized I had done the right thing. Almost everyone that was important to me could be there and the day really did end up being about us and what we wanted. Plus, everyone got a mini vacation. I rented four condos down the road from the hotel and put the entire family and wedding party up for the weekend. It was a win-win.

So this past winter when we were visiting Harvey’s I went upstairs to check out the chapel. I was shocked. It looks almost identical to when we were married there with the exception that they have done some etching on the windows to make it look like snow outside.

The same peach hangings and beautiful white stuffed chairs, everything was the same. Funnily enough it doesn’t look worn so it must have been redone. There is certainly a bit of a 90’s feel to the place but some people like the retro thing.

Tahoe is one of those places where in some ways time has stood still. I’m glad it hasn’t changed so much that it doesn’t even resemble the place we got married. I would be sad if it had changed as much as the town I grew up in. It really is a lovely place that hasn’t gone all big city even though it has big city elements. It has held on to its natural beauty and style while still keeping up enough that you don’t feel like you are in a time warp. Lots of fun to be had in Lake Tahoe any time of year and I am looking forward to my next visit.

I’m probably a little biased though.

About the Author

Elena lives and writes in a suburb north of Los Angeles. She has never lived anywhere besides California

which is probably a good thing since she hates being cold and is terrified to drive in the snow. She loves

being a wife and a mother to her three kids and three dogs, although really the bulldog is the fourth child who has never matured beyond the toddler stage.

A self proclaimed nerd, she has been writing since she was a child. She has only recently, however, come

out of the closet about this to her family and friends. They now understand better, but not completely,

why she talks about characters in stories as if they are real people.

Website: Elenadillon.com     Twitter: @ElenaDillon    Facebook: ElenaDillonAuthor

We have camped and rented houses there during the summer and enjoyed both. The first time we camped there my husband had a purpose. He wanted to take the Jeep he built for 4 wheeling on the Rubicon Trail. The Rubicon is a 22 mile long trail that starts in Gold Country and ends in Lake Tahoe but they would be doing it the other way around and not the entire thing.

The trail is beautiful but rocky and an exciting 4 wheel trip. They were only going over night. My husband has some pretty entertaining stories from that one 24 hour period that include a bear stealing their cooler in the middle of the night and an outhouse full of bees. All I know is when they came back I’ve never seen dirtier people. I made my son and my nephew (who were eight at the time) strip down to their underwear outsideof the motorhome and go directly to the shower! While they were gone, the girls and I had gone shopping and out to lunch. Much more my speed and I wasn’t driving the boys crazy being terrified going over those huge boulders in the Jeep.

Two years ago we rented a house in the Lake Tahoe Keys area. The houses are on channels that lead to the lake. The house fit our need of a couple of families with many teenagers. It had a dock for our boats so we could go directly out on the lake every day without launching the boat every time. Fabulous. We took the kids wakeboarding and tubing every day. We had big family dinners and went out to see the town.
The big deal on this trip was 4th of July. That night, before it was fully dark, we took the boats out on the water. We found a good spot, tied the boats up to each other and dropped anchor. There were hundreds of boats on the lake. I’m not exaggerating. You could practically walk from one to the other. Once the fireworks started I realized why. It was amazing. The most beautiful fireworks I have ever seen. They launch them off a pontoon type raft on the lake and if you are on the water they are directly over your head. When they come down it looks like they are touching the water. The reflection makes them twice as gorgeous and the fact that they are so close is like nothing I’ve ever seen. All the boats on the water had their radios set to the same local channel that played the music the fireworks were set to. It was gorgeous. I was in awe. Sorry Disneyland but you ain’t got nothin’ on Lake Tahoe.

The downside to this fabulous display was trying to get back to the house, on the boat, in the dark, when we weren’t sure exactly where the house was (we’d only been there a day and a half) with about a million other boats. I was okay until our friend we were following (who my husband assured me knew the way) pulled up next to us and yelled “Which way?” Oh good grief. Lake Tahoe is a huge lake. Were we really lost? It was really dark. Could you get lost on a lake? It felt like one of those scenes at the beginning of a horror movie (yes I have a vivid imagination, I write fiction) Finally, we ended up following a bunch of other boats and made it just fine but it was scary there for awhile.

The fireworks were worth it though. I don’t think I will ever see a more beautiful display than that. I’d just be sure I knew which way was home…

If you are into gambling of course there are casinos in the hotels along the stretch of Highway50. Technically the hotels are in Stateline, Nevada, hence the gambling. They offer a wide variety of table games, video poker and some crazy slot machines that look like video games. Now I am not a gambler. I’m a little too easily distracted for the kind of concentration it requires most of the time.

While I was wandering around, however, I found a huge slot machine based on the game of Clue. This was one of my favorite games growing up. I stood in front of this game for a half an hour. Eight feet tall, ten feet across and above the slot portion there was a huge video screen with characters walking back and forth between the rooms. I couldn’t figure out how this game worked. I asked a man who was just about to sit down about the rules. He gave me a very condescending stare and said “You are just going to have to figure that out for yourself.” Oooookay. I never did but it was plenty entertaining to watch.

The hotels offer some great live entertainment that is changing all the time. Whether it’s live shows or just music. My advice is always, ask a local. They know what’s good and where to find it. We found a young lady singing some of my favorite 70’s tunes in a lounge off the casino. She had a great voice and it was very enjoyable tour down memory lane. Everyone was singing along. Fun stuff.

We ate at some very nice restaurants while we were there. We are fans of the Mongolian BBQ restaurant, Fire and Ice in Heavenly Village right near the Gondola. It’s a great place where you put your choice of raw meat, fish, and/or veggies and sauce in a bowl, watch the cooks cook it up at a BBQ in the middle of the restaurant and entertain you a bit while they do it. You can go back for more but it is surprisingly filling. Also it’s usually cheaper for lunch so if you are bringing a big group it might be a better choice as it can get a little pricey.

If you like Italian, Scusa is the place. Excellent Italian food, a lovely wine list and fabulous wait staff were the order of the evening. If you are looking for a romantic dinner out it is perfect.

For Mexican food we love Chevy’s. It’s a chain restaurant, I know but here’s the catch, they make homemade tortillas on site. You can even grab some while you are waiting to be seated. The kids love it and it keeps everyone happy.
As with most restaurants in any tourist town, on the weekends and holidays don’t forget to make reservations for dinner!

Next week: Summer in Tahoe

About the Author

Elena lives and writes in a suburb north of Los Angeles. She has never lived anywhere besides California

which is probably a good thing since she hates being cold and is terrified to drive in the snow. She loves

being a wife and a mother to her three kids and three dogs, although really the bulldog is the fourth child who has never matured beyond the toddler stage.

A self proclaimed nerd, she has been writing since she was a child. She has only recently, however, come

out of the closet about this to her family and friends. They now understand better, but not completely,

why she talks about characters in stories as if they are real people.

Website: Elenadillon.com     Twitter: @ElenaDillon    Facebook: ElenaDillonAuthor