Of Bison and Books: My Visit to Salt Lake City UT

Back from Salt Lake City. Flew in Wed. nite very late - like midnight late - so it wasn't til the morning when I realized that my hotel room looked out onto the Wasatch mountains. Mountains and mountains - covered with snow! I live in Houston. We are flat. We barely have inclines. We are at sea level. So this is thrilling. Especially when I drove up to Layton for the Barnes and Noble event and a day with fellow 2k9er and all around fabulous author/human Sydney Salter. They're even higher altitude there - close to 5,000 feet! And the mountains are right in your face. It's glorious! So to recap: Thank you McGillis School in SLC for a fabulous visit and to Headmaster Vince for bringing his family out to The King's English later. McGillis School is a wonderful place, and I got to visit with the entire middle school, where we talked books and characters and writing and Russian folklore and even Star Trek and Buffy. The best morning ever! And later that night, The King's English bookstore hosted me for a reading/signing. I adore this store. Thank you Rachel, for my tour of all the secret nooks and crannies. And to all the SLC book bloggers - including Catie (MeowMix85) and Heather (FireandIcePhotos) - who came to hang with me. SLC supports writers! Friday Sydney Salter and I went to see the bison on Antelope Island. (Sydney's take: "It's an only in UT experience: a salty lake with an island and bison.") And later, I hung out and signed books for the Friday nite crowd (including some local SCBWIers) at the Layton B&N. Thanks to all the staff for making me feel welcome - including Pete, Tammy and Dan. Plus I got to the zoo and saw a baby elephant, had some really stellar Indian food with Sydney and her daughter, and saw a panhandler holding a sign that read "Ninjas killed my family. Need $ for kung fu lessons." Next week - Houston Teen Book Con on 4/9 and also SCBWI Houston conference on 4/9 (quite the balancing act) - and a visit from editor Leah, who's speaking at SCBWI. My Teen Book Con panel is me, Rachel Hawkins, Stacey Kade, Andrea Cremer, and Saundra Mitchell!! Plus so many other great authors will be there including Deb Calletti, Lauren Myracle and Ellen Hopkins! Would love to see the Houston folks! And on 4/15, I'll be signing at the Sourcebooks booth at TLA in Austin at 10AM. Hope to see you there!

Above is me and the McGillis school gang Above are bloggers Catie and Heather, me, and Rachel at The King's English

Above are the mountains from my hotel parking lot

Above are bison roaming at the edge of the Great Salt Lake with mountains beyond

Another bison, more close up. This is a free-ranging herd of about 100, I think.