Not-so-fancy R&R

by Courtney Pierce

The cell phone sits disconnected from its charger. The television screen is dark. My laptop doesn’t chime with spam. I glance at an empty calendar on the bulletin board in the kitchen, void of obligations. Yeah! No fancy meals on the docket.

We are in our home in Montana, an oasis of forest, lakes, mountains, and wildlife. Glacier National Park is only twenty miles away, and we can’t think of anywhere we’d rather be. Here, life races at a turtle's pace.

My husband stokes the wood stove with tamarack. Beneath its smoky sweetness, the savory aroma of elk stew simmers in the Crock-Pot. By three in the afternoon, dinner is done. I grab a blank notebook and unfold a trail map over the coffee table, I sit on the couch and wait for my soul mate to join me. Outside, the snow is a rush of fat white polka dots, like a scrim to open the show. Right on cue, a herd of deer appear and disappear in their elegant tiptoe past each window, a sight that never ceases to thrill me.

That's my set-up for the perfect vacation.

I like to take vacation time to do research about our next vacation. In our case, that would include hiking, fishing, hunting, and canoeing. The lack of interruption from daily chores, work, and obligations affords me the time to read up on anything and everything, including bears and guns. My next book series will be set in Montana, so I’ve much to experience for my research, which will include local folklore, being hopelessly in love over the age of fifty-five (uh-hem...fifty-nine), and a connection to wildlife through clairvoyance. A fantasy vacation for me is to take the time to read up, strap up, and step out with a backpack. I''ll gather information through capturing the aroma of the forest and climbing through the burn of lazy winter muscles. Then I’ll write about the real with a framework of fiction. Of course, a touch of humor will be in the mix.

There is a sense of peace in this place we call Montana, but it’s deceiving. As Jeff and I study the maps of the Bob Marshall Wilderness, the Swan Mountain Range, and the Mission Mountains for our spring backpacking treks, we must not only plan for adverse weather conditions. Along with the beauty of the landscape, there’s an underlying tension of danger, both at home and on the trail. When living with serious wildlife - far beyond a cat on the lap and dog at our feet - Mother Nature shakes her finger at us humans for our selfish assumptions of superiority. It’s a good thing, too, because those reminders instill a healthy respect for how fast threatening encounters can happen. In our case, we must never let down our guard for a meet-up with grizzly and black bears, mountain lions, and wolves.

Bears hold a top spot for me. A fresh paw print in the snow, the size of a dinner plate, makes my skin prickle. Are we predator or prey? But bears are solitary animals who generally shy away from humans. A gaze of intelligence pleas for us to interpret their every move, posture, and sound as a unique language. Bears lumber along the landscape with grace, seemingly without a care in the world, but they can commence a chase at 35 mph when their space is violated. That’s twice as fast as a human can move.  If there’s a cub or two in the vicinity, then protective aggression is likely. Jeff and I never take to the trail without bear spray and knives, and we always suspend our provisions high in the trees. 

But back to that dream vacation. It is the solace of Montana, the danger and its beauty of habitat, that makes it my go-to destination. The amazing vistas are only augmented by the opportunity of share it with wildlife. This symbiosis with nature reminds me I must remain on my guard to live in such a beautiful place. Mountain life is not for the faint of heart. 

After much practice, I’m a crack shot with a rifle to protect myself. This skill not only earned my husband spousal bragging rights with his work mates, but it also rewards us with sustenance in the freezer. That’s why I take my 6.5 mm Creedmoor rifle with me to take out the trash. That's a lot of fire power for a little Annie Oakley like me, but the biggest difference is that I insist on sporting polished toes.

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Milwaukie, Oregon, with her husband and stepdaughter. She writes for baby boomers. By day, Courtney is an executive in the entertainment industry and uses her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor and mystery. She has studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, she is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and She Writes. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal. 

Check out all of Courtney's books at:

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com. Both print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com

The Dushane Sisters Trilogy concludes with Indigo Legacy, due out in summer, 2018. There's love in the air for Olivia and Woody, but will their family intrigue get in the way? Ride along for the wild trip that starts in a New York auction house and peaks in a mansion on Boston's Beacon Hill. The Dushane sisters finally get the answers they've been seeking about their mother.

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."