Learn more at Visit California.
It isn’t me in the picture above, but my Facebook Page image is at Burney Falls.
Mary J. McCoy-Dressel ~ Contemporary Romance
Sensual western romance. Heartwarming stories. Strong family ties.
Learn more at Visit California.
It isn’t me in the picture above, but my Facebook Page image is at Burney Falls.
Week 27: The Most Beautiful Place I’ve Been
This is the twenty-seventh week. I guess this means we’re on the down-hill spiral now. It’s hard to believe half of 2017 has already gone by, but here we are again with another 52 Week Blog Challenge post. We have a whole half of year to look forward to.
About this week’s topic… Maybe Mt. Shasta isn’t the most beautiful spot I’ve ever been, but it’s up there at the top with:
The Great Lake State:
California:
I could choose:
In other words, so far in this lifetime, I can’t choose one particular place.
But today I’m choosing a “beautiful” trip and heartfelt memory with my oldest son.
Mt. Shasta, California.
It’s Thanksgiving weekend. On this visit to California to see my oldest son, we did a couple day trips. The ones I’ll mention today are our trips to Mt. Shasta, the mountain and the city, McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park, and Shasta Dam and Lake. On a clear day you can see Mt. Lassen at Lassen Volcanic National Park. We visited Mt. Lassen on my first visit to California.
Mt. Shasta isn’t in view in this image due to the clouds.
The Three Shastas. Lake. Dam. Mountain.
It’s a steady climb all the way up. The temperature was around the mid-sixties when we left, and by time we got there, his temp gage in the truck hit around thirty-two degrees. He wanted to show me the Mt. Shasta Ski Park, but it was closed. We got as far as the gate. I’ve shown you pictures of Mt. Shasta before, but this wall hanging was a Christmas gift from him. My apartment wallpaper doesn’t look that yucky color in person.
He took the picture from the Oregon side of the mountain. It’s a three-panel canvas and is almost the size of my couch. The time spent with him that long weekend is a favorite memory, and is the reason I shared Mt. Shasta as one of the most beautiful places I’ve been. I can’t wait to see what the other participating authors chose.
Since this is a Blog Hop, please hop over to visit by clicking HERE. Thanks for reading.
In response to a prompt from Plinky asking, “Have you ever had something stolen from you?”
Yes, I’m a victim of credit card theft. It was quite a few years ago, but my credit card company had called me to question some charges on my card. They suspected someone had my credit card numbers and went on a spending spree. They were right. Someone had stolen my credit card numbers. I’m careful about how I handle my cards, or so I thought. I did some backtracking and came up with two ideas about how and where this could have happened. Honestly, there is no way of knowing for sure. The charges racked up to about $10,000. I asked if they could tell me where some of the charges took place. She mentioned a couple places in Pennsylvania. Hold on a minute, I live in Michigan and hadn’t been to PA in a lot of years.
A few years ago my son had his bank account number stolen. Too bad he was on vacation in Hawaii when he learned of this. His bank couldn’t get a hold of him by phone, so they froze his account when they realized some charges were in Hawaii and some were in Utah, all at the same time. So, this meant when my son and daughter-in-law tried to use their check cards in Hawaii, they were rejected. When they called the bank they found out what had happened. The bank told them they would unfreeze the account long enough for them to go to an ATM and get cash to get them through their vacation and until they came home.
During those few minutes of their account being opened, other withdrawals started 
happening while my son was at the ATM, on the phone with the bank. Thankfully, someone was smart enough to realize it was impossible to be in Utah and Hawaii at the same time. It was a big hassle for them to get everything straightened out with a new account, not to mention waiting for new cards and a new bank account.
Guess what? A couple days ago my bank notified me, saying my card company said some of their card numbers were comprised, and my card was one of them. Come on, not again! So far, none of their compromised accounts had any charges made on their cards, so this is a safety measure to ensure it didn’t happen in the future. They’re issuing me a new card. Oh joy!
In this time of bill paying online, do you have any idea the changes that will have to be made to change my card on my bill paying sites? I’m okay with it all, though. I prefer my bank does this instead of taking the risk of having someone steal my information, not to mention drain my bank account. I’m considering using a check for everything instead of going through this again, but is any of it really safe? How do we remain safe in this day and age? My bank recently started using a company similar to Life Lock. Is that how they found the compromise? Who knows? I’m happy they found it before any charges were made. We need to be safe when it comes to our credit. Continue to be smart about how you use your person information. Learn what you can to protect yourself.
