Do You Enjoy Visiting A Book Setting Location?

I travel to California for business frequently and occasionally for pleasure.  During the  flight from Dayton, Ohio to various west coast destinations I generally read a couple of books each direction.

Carol and I had the good fortune to spend the Christmas holiday in San Diego, California on Mission Bay.  For our flight west I read Touch Of A Woman by K.G. MacGregor and Chasing A Brighter Blue by Gerri Hill.

I've been to San Diego numerous times for both business and pleasure and it is definitely one of my favorite cities.  And it did not disappoint us this trip.

We stayed on Mission Bay at a resort where we were hoping to be able to take advantage of the local water sports.  Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate.  It was sunny but too cold for the water without a wet suit.  It was warm enough, however, to get outside and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.  And that's exactly what we did.

As I mentioned, we've been to San Diego previously.  And the first time we came here we stayed in a beautiful house on Ocean Beach.  It is still my favorite part of San Diego.  So on our first day, we decided to spend part of the day at Ocean Beach and then head out to the Cabrillo National Park to visit the tide pools.

As we walked the streets of Ocean Beach and then headed down the pier, I came across this shoe print with embedded colored stones.  Awesome isn't it?

And then I started thinking about Reagan in Chasing A Brighter Blue.  (Now this is a tiny little bit of a spoiler alert.  Although it's tiny enough that I don't think it will ruin the book for you.)

If you're anything like I am when I read a good book, I get so immersed in the characters they truly come to life.  That's a pretty good indicator that a book is well written.  Gerri Hill brought Reagan alive enough for me that as I was walking down the pier I was actually imagining Reagan having walked down this same pier the day before.  Because, of course, I had read the book the day before and Reagan didn't exist for me until I read the book.  Fascinating how that works, huh?

Now before you go and call the wagon to come pick me up and put me in a straight jacket, I do know the difference between fiction and reality.  But when an author does such a great job of bringing a character to life and I just happen to be on location at the setting of a book the very next day, which pretty much never happens, it messes with my head in a totally good way.

So I was wondering.  Does this happen to you?