Travel

hello, monday

Published on by Krista Noorman

So … I turned 47 last Monday. And I’m not sad about it. When I look back on my life, I feel like I’ve done so much and it’s taken so long to get to this point. I’m excited for what is ahead in the next 47 years. 😉

The highlight of my week was my camping trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with my best friend, Jen. You can see a bunch of pictures on my INSTAGRAM HERE!

This was our 16th annual trip, and it was definitely Sweet 16. Our adventures began in the summer of 2005 in St. Ignace and have taken us all over our beautiful state, especially to Upper Peninsula destinations. And I’m so thankful for 40+ years of friendship with Jen and our mutual love of Michigan and camping adventures!

We stayed at Van Riper State Park on Lake Michigamme. This is one of our favorite state parks, and we’ve been there THREE times in the past couple of years. Jen’s been there one more time with her family as well. It’s such a nice location between places like Marquette, Houghton, and the Porcupine Mountains. And this time around, we discovered that Bond Falls was only like an hour from our campsite too. Neither of us had ever been there, but she mentioned it last time we were in the U.P. and we decided this was the trip we would find them and see what they were all about. And they were amazing with a great viewing area and also hiking trails along the sides. So much fun!

We also decided to check out the northern point of the peninsula in nearby L’Anse. It was a dirt road and ended up becoming more of a two-track trail, which we braved in her minivan. We were laughing our way through it, trying not to get stuck in the mud puddles, and never did go all the way to the end of the road. But we did get to a really nice spot with a stone beach and a view of the point. It was a fun little adventure we didn’t expect. That tends to happen to us. LOL!

This is the best I’ve felt since all this coronavirus happened. It was so refreshing and rejuvenating to get away and just be outside, enjoying nature. Despite the 90 degrees with crazy humidity. 😉 Spent some time at the lake, cooked our meals over the open fire, got ice cream. It was just a wonderful vacation.

I hope you have found something during this strange time that brings you joy and peace and calm too. Getting out of the normal routine is so good for the soul. Have an amazing week!

around here

Published on by Krista Noorman

Last fall, Jake traveled to New Hampshire for a work conference, and I was able to join him and visit New England for the first time. It was such a blessing. I even took a little day trip down to Concord, Massachusetts and visited Orchard House, the Alcott’s home, where Louisa wrote Little Women. That was such an incredible experience for me. To walk through the rooms where she and her family walked and talked and laughed. To see the little table in her bedroom where she wrote Little Women and glance out the window she must have looked out so many times while writing. To hear the stories of so many of the little details of the house and learn more about their family. The entire trip was worth it just for that. But I also got to spend some time with my hubby and even take a little drive across the bridge into Maine one evening. It was a wonderful trip.

Currently, I’m working on two very different projects. One is the young adult dystopian novel I wrote a couple years ago during NaNoWriMo. The other is still mostly in research phase, but I did write the first lines of chapter one recently, which was awesome! This one will be a historical romance. I’m excited to share more about both when they get closer to completion. The YA book will most likely release first, hopefully later this year, but I don’t have a set date for publication yet. There’s still a lot to be done on this one as I edit through it. The whole point of NaNoWriMo is to get the novel out of your head and onto the page, so it’s very rough and needs a lot of filling in at this point.

For now, the pictures above give you an idea just how different the settings are for these stories. 🙂

camping 2016

Published on by Krista Noorman

Just returned from a weekend away with my dear friend, Jen. We traveled to the thumb of Michigan this year (our 12th year of doing a camping trip together), which is a place neither of us had ever been. It was lovely there. Really pretty. The campground at Port Crescent was nice. The small towns we visited (Port Austin and Caseville) were both so quaint with that wonderful old town feeling – cute shops, farm markets, etc. It was a wonderful trip and it flew by too quickly.

Before I left for this getaway, I had been feeling very antsy, kind of stuck when it came to my writing, spending too much time online and not enough time getting progress made on editing the novella. This weekend was exactly what I needed to recharge and reset my brain. A little fresh air is so good for that.

There was one point when Jen was out swimming and jumping some big 2-3 ft waves that I just stayed on the shore wading in the waves. Wading is one of my favorite things to do – just listening to the sounds of the water, the smell of fresh air, the beauty of the lake, while the water splashes over my feet and ankles again and again. My mind started wandering to Simon and Maggie in Hello, Forever when they travel to California to visit Simon’s parents. There is a scene where he is teaching her to surf and I just stood there in the cool lake water thinking about those scenes, about the sheer power of the ocean and the waves. I ended up pulling my phone out of my back pocket and typing up some lines I had for the book while I stood in the lake just hoping a wave didn’t knock me off balance and make me drop my phone in the water. 😉 It didn’t! hehe!

Getting away from the usual routine and even just taking a little time for yourself is so healthy and restorative, and I’m thankful that Jake doesn’t mind me doing this every year. I’m blessed to have such a supportive husband.

While I was glad to get away for the weekend, I’m so looking forward to another camping trip later this summer with Jake and the kids, Mom + Dad O, and possibly more family. It’s been far too long since we took the kids camping and I’m excited to show them a few of my favorite campgrounds that Jen and I have visited over the years.