Welcome to Travel by the Book. I know for most of us, reading is an escape. One of the things I love about reading it getting to travel. And I'm sure I'm not the only reader who has wished to take a trip inspired by a place I read about in a book. I've been fortunate in that my Hubs is kind enough to indulge me and take me to said places. This is where I share those vacations that were inspired by a book.
***UPDATE***
So, I know you haven't seen a Travel by the Book post in quite a long while. This is mostly because I wasn't thinking ahead when I started doing these posts and after ONE year, I'd run out of places I'd traveled to because of a book! LOL But I got to thinking about how to resurrect this feature and I decided to continue sharing these posts - quarterly? - and switch it up a tiny bit when necessary.
I hope you'll enjoy these posts!
***The Book***
You may have recently read my review of Michelle Mankin's Oceanside. I've been reading Ms. Mankin since 2012 and there's a lot to love about her stories. Her characters are always well drawn, the romance is always compelling and swoon-worthy, her stories always deal with a relevant social issue, and she does an incredible job at conveying the look and feel of her setting. From the gritty streets of Seattle (yes, they do exist) to the honky-tonk feel of Billy Bob's in Ft. Worth to the eccentric town of Ocean Beach, she's continually made me feel as though I've been there. So when I got the opportunity to travel to Ocean Beach to tour the locations and establishments that inspired Ms. Mankin's Rock Stars, Surf and Second Chances series there was no way I was going to pass it up!
This series revolves around a group of guys who grew up in Ocean Beach, love surfing, and also happened to be the band known as The Dirt Dogs. I loved the Ms. Mankin gave each of the couples a unique backstory, compelling stories with tragedies and triumphs, and romances I believed in. This group of characters is so well developed and feel so genuine - and part of the genuineness is due to Ms. Mankin making their environment so realistic.
***The Travel***
My friend, Denise, who frequently travels to book event locales with me, was my traveling companion for this trip. We stayed at the Ocean Beach Motel and y'all, the beach was right across the street! We got to see the beach, surfers and surf shops, restaurants, buildings, and houses that served as inspiration as well as the murals that are all over the town on the sides of buildings and in alley-ways. Here are a few photos:
This is the bar that inspired The Deck Bar featured in all the books.
This is the house that served as inspiration for Ramon's house in Riptide.
There were tons of surfers out on this day. The Ocean Beach pier is in the background.
I took lots of pictures of the various murals around town but decided to feature this one because of the surfers. =)
This is the sub-pump structure where Fanny and her sister Hollie were living in Oceanside.
The building you see here is the building where Ash makes his home as well as the Dirt Dogs' recording company, Outside.
A gorgeous sunset from the pier. Just WOW!
Because I adore this series and because I love y'all, I'm giving one lucky reader an ebook set of the trilogy on Kindle. (the trilogy is currently only available on Kindle. Sorry!) To enter, leave a comment letting me know if you've ever traveled to somewhere because you read about it and if so, where.
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