While Three Rivers Campground and the town of River's Bend from Passing Through are fictional places, they were inspired by an actual camping trip I took last summer. The story takes place on real-life Vancouver Island in Canada, but the trip that got me dreaming about what would eventually become the Three Rivers series was driving the Pacific Coast Highway in California.
My partner and I did the route from Los Angeles to Monterey, and one of our favourite stops along the way was Big Sur, where we stayed at Ventanta Campground.
I fell in love with sleeping under the giant trees (although as my partner will tell you, I complained a lot more on this camping trip than I remember in retrospect hahaha), and as usually happens when I find a new place or hobby to love, I started dreaming up ways to work it into a romance novel. That led to the idea of writing a series about the staff at a campground nestled in a towering old growth forest along the Pacific coast, and eventually, I realized I wanted each book to focus on one of three sisters.
Thus, the Three Rivers series was born!
Three Rivers Campground is of course very inspired by Ventana Campground. The town of River's Bend looks a lot like the very tiny town of Big Sur, with places like Big Sur Taphouse, Big Sur Bakery, and the Henry Miller Memorial Library serving as the inspiration for Scooter's bar, Trish's bakery, and the River's bend open air theatre and arts center.
It's so special and a little bit magical to look back on my photos from the trip and think about the stories that were just starting to form in my head now that the series is coming to life. I can't wait to take readers back River's Bend in the next two books!
Ready to head to River's Bend yourself? Grab your copy of Passing Through here!
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