You know times flies by so quickly you tend to forget what you’ve learned and where you came from in relation to where you’re at now… the so called present.  ~Heather Piper

I love surprising Kyle at daycare. 7/26/12

Our little man is 11 years old today!  I can’t believe it!  He’s going into the sixth grade this year!  As with every year, it has been a long learning lesson of patience, humility and understanding, just to name a few.  Not only for Kyle but for me as well.

This year Kyle’s celebration started at the beginning of the month.  We knew there was a lot going on and to make it more convenient for my sister, since she was driving back and forth, we decided to surprise Kyle with an early birthday.  My sister was coming home to pick Kyle up for ‘Aunt Nikki and Kyle’s week of fun’ the first weekend of July.  She was also coming home to bring him back the following weekend, since that Sunday was the Piper reunion.  Instead of making Nicole drive home for a third weekend in a row we chose to throw Kyle off of his game and celebrate his birthday on July seventh.  Normally we try to get it as close to his birthday as possible, but he was going to be away.

What I loved about our last minute plans was the fact that we were throwing a monkey wrench in Kyle’s itinerary.  He pretty much maps out and outlines events such as this one and we are expected to follow according to his plans.  I think it’s good to ‘move his cheese’ every once in a while, keeping life real.

Prior to this decision, Kyle approached me and asked me to make his birthday cake.  What? Really?  I was so excited!  I’ve been waiting for this request since he was a baby.  When I was younger my Aunt Irene, who is also my godmother used to make my cakes and I loved them!  Keeping with Kyle’s personality he dictated what he wanted on the cake.  Take a guess?  Yep, a Lego theme.  He told me he wanted to get a Lego man and put it on top of the cake, but “Not one that I already have.  I want a different one.”  Too much!  He was ensuring through his instructions that he would end up a Lego man richer.  Again, smart little man.

Kyle's Lego Cake, I really enjoyed the challenge of making it.

Well, I decided to take his challenge and do it Piper style.  Instead of making a Lego scene, I made a Lego cake.  By using bread pans, I made the cake and stacked them on top of one another.  In order to get the interlocking tops of the blocks, I stacked Oreo cookies, before draping bright colored fondant.  Admittingly, I’ve never made fondant before in my life.  In theory, I’ve seen it done on TV.  No matter, I was totally up for the challenge.  Luckily, I was able to prep everything, including the fondant and the icing on the 4th of July.  Due to time constraints, I chose to use box cake mixes, allowing me more time to spend on the decorations.  As for Kyle’s name, I wanted it to look like the Lego logo.

Aside from the requested themed cake, Kyle really didn’t care about the flavor of the cake or the icing.  However, it seemed that, that wasn’t the case with my sister and dad.  Nicole gave me specific instructions that she would not eat chocolate cake.  She said, “I won’t even eat the cake if it touches chocolate cake.”  Ok, Kyle loves chocolate cake, as does everyone else in the family.  I guess, I was going to make chocolate and white cake.  No biggie, since I was making different ‘building blocks’ to make the cake I could do chocolate and white.  While I was prepping for this big project, dad instructed me that he wanted ‘hard icing’.  What the heck is hard icing?  Naturally he had no idea he just knew it to taste it.  So I began to Google search various icings and I started to make a few different kind, allowing dad to taste test them.  The one icing we made was called seven minute icing.  It was good but it reminded me of marshmallow fluff.  Finally, I decided to make butter cream icing, which is one of my favorites.

Happy 11th Birthday Kyle. 7/7/12

After work on Thursday, I rushed home to get started on the baking and assembly.  It took me a few hours to bake and roll out the fondant and assemble all the pieces together.  While I was focusing, Storm must have felt left out of the action, because she walked around the house meowing.  She even tried to get on top of the counter, which is not allowed in my house.  I felt bad, but I had a mission to accomplish.

The plan was for Nicole to come home Friday night.  I was to bring the cake down and hide it in the refrigerator in the garage.  I also stopped at the store and purchased a helium tank, balloons and decorations to embellish the living-room, enhancing the celebration.  Did you know we are in a helium shortage?  That’s what I was told when I called the Dollar store.  Most of the stores were out of helium or it was too expansive.  Interesting. Anyway, right after Kyle went to bed that night, I blew up about thirty balloons and let them float about.  The next morning we made sure we were up before Kyle, with the candles a blaze ready to serenaded him with Happy Birthday as he walked into the living-room.  Kyle gave us a sleepy smile and seemed pleased with the change in plans.

The entire day was his, to call the shots as he wanted.  And you know what he was happy doing?  Yep, building the Lego’s Nicole got him.  Although she did tease him a bit with the gift.  She got him a girl type of Lego set.  Nicole asked if he liked it and Kyle replied, “Not really.  This is a horrible Lego”.  We were cracking up.  He exchanged the gag gift later and when the lady at Toys-R-Us asked him if anything was wrong with the package, Kyle said, “Not really”.

Kyle's Lego cake, I tried to make his name look like the Lego logo

I know we spoil Kyle, but birthdays give us the freedom to do so without an excuse.  In keeping with tradition, I also stopped by Kyle’s daycare in the middle of the day this past Thursday, with five dozen cupcakes, a small cake and a balloon to celebrate his birthday with his friends.  I always get a kick out of walking around the corner of the room, holding a cake and lit candles and having all the kids sing to him.  I love it!  I’ve been doing that since he started going to daycare, about eight years now.  Every year I choose a different treat, but this year I recycled the cupcake idea from last year.  Regardless, it was still not expected.  I always ask Kyle, “Where you surprised?” and he always says with complete honesty, “Ya”.

I hope Kyle has a great day and I also hope that this year is kind to him and he learns a lot.  Ahh, I guess I have another year to plan and out do myself from the previous years.  Kyle means so much to us and I hope he knows what an important member of the family he is.  I still remember when he was born, on July 30th, holding him and telling my brother that I am going to be the coolest aunt.  I don’t know if that’s true, but I’m happy to continue to celebrate Kyle’s special day with him every year.

Now it is the time of night
That the graves, all gaping wide,
Every one lets forth his sprite
In the church-way paths to glide. ~William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Nicole with Grandpap Chester We still have large picture window in front of the house c. 1974

With the release of summer blockbusters, Kyle and I have a list of movies we want to see.  While vacationing with my sister he saw Madagascar 3- Europe’s Most Wanted, The Amazing Spider-Man, Brave, and Ice Age- Continental Drift.  Naturally, when we see a commercial for Batman- The Dark Knight Rises or Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, we both want to see these movies as well.  Yes, Kyle wanted to see Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter except it’s rated R, so he’ll have to put that one on his future list.  Every once in a while we’ll see an advertisement for a scary horror flick.  I can’t help myself.  I always ask Kyle, “Do you want to go see that?”  Every time he rolls his eyes with a look of fear and ‘ya right’ and always sternly reply’s “NO!”  Ok I know I’m teasing him, but it does crack me up.  When the movie, The Woman In Black starring Daniel Radcliffe, Mr. Harry Potter himself, came out I asked Kyle if he wanted to see it.  Now Kyle is a big Harry Potter fan, but every time the movie trailer appeared, he almost always turned his head in fear and wouldn’t watch the advertisement.  Now this is probably the only aspect of Kyle’s existence that is not like my sister.  Nicole used to read Stephen King books and she loved to watch thrillers and scary movies.  Did I mention she goes ghost hunting periodically?  Yep scary thrillers are her thing.

I don’t mind suspenseful thrillers and scary movies but I’m not a die hard fan.  The other day I was thinking of childhood movies that I loved, and one that came to mind was The Watcher In The Woods.  A 1980’s movie starring Bette Davis.  I brought it up to mom, getting her opinion on renting it for Kyle to watch.  It was mutually agreed upon that if I do, I would never be able to get him back in the woods again!  That’s one of those thoughts that just should be deleted.

When did this fear of thrillers and suspense resonate with Kyle?  I’m not really sure.  Kyle was not always like that.  I’ve heard stories about children who hear and see more than adults, spiritually speaking.  Ironically, most adults don’t listen to children, assuming they know more than them or don’t have the time or whatever the reason.  But what’s amazing, I do believe their innocent ears and eyes pick up more than anyone.  Adults have a way of looking at something without truly seeing it.  Our minds are filled with so much crap we can’t sort it out and we can’t see what’s in front of us.  When I think like that, I remember the scene from the movie Where the Heart Is.  During the movie, Ashley Judd was referring to that horrible man who was very inappropriate with her children.  Now I’m going to paraphrase, but she said something along the lines of her children saw him for who he really was, all she saw was a Buick.  That really stuck with me!

My bible study teacher told us this really powerful story of a child in church.  It was during a silent mass, a child turned to her parent and commented on the beautiful music she heard.  First I’d like to explain that silent mass is the opposite of high mass, no singing, no music, just internal reflection and reverence.  You see, it’s said that during mass, heaven and earth join together, the sky opens up and all the deceased, the saints, and angels join us on earth for the celebration of mass, specifically during the Eucharist.  During this time heaven rolls out beautiful sounds.  It is also said that the music coming form heaven is the most glorious and spiritual tunes ever heard!  So maybe that’s what the child heard?  Now doesn’t that story give you chills?

Nicole coming out from the hallway 1974

Kyle has always loved music and dancing, as have I.  So guess what you get when you leave a toddler home alone with me on a Saturday night?  Yep, you get dance party!  When he was smaller, maybe two or three years old, we used to do ‘dance party’.  This didn’t happen too often because, well let’s face it my parents never go anywhere, but on the occasion there was something going on and I would have Kyle all to myself.  Just to shake things up a bit we used to turn off all the lights, decorate ourselves with glow sticks and turn on the music really loud, stand in the living-room and dance our butts off.  Kyle and I would totally bust a move!  It was a blast!  He would move his tiny bum left and right and would throw up his hands, mimicking my motions.  We would dance till we were so winded and covered in sweat that we had no choice but to take a break.  I’m sure anyone who looked in from the outside, through the picture window thought we were crazy, or there seriously was a major party going on.  But alas it was just the two of us having a good time. No wonder Kyle loves playing Just Dance and Michael Jackson on the Wii, of course so do I.

One time during ‘dance party’, we plopped ourselves down on the couch for a breather.  As we sat there pretty much in the dark, except for the glow of our light sticks, Kyle nonchalantly mentioned about the ghost watching us.  What?  I said, “Did you say you see a ghost?”  Very calmly he said, “Ya Aiya.”  Of course, I jump up and turned on the lights and moved my way back to Kyle’s side on the couch.  As I looked around, I saw NOTHING.  Then I started the questions,

“Do you see the ghost now?”
“Ya.”
“Where is the ghost?”
“Over there” as he pointed to the door leading back to the hallway.
“Do you see it now?”
“Yep.”
“Does the ghost see us?”
“I don’t know, I guess.”
“What does it look like?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Like a man?”
“Umm ya I guess.”
“What was it doing? Dancing?”
He laughed at that one and said, “I don’t know just standing there watching us.”
Have you seen it before?”
“Yep. I guess”

Ryan back by the hallway 1979

Well, I was a little uneasy, but very intrigued.  Treating it as if someone else was really in the house, I walked back the hallway to check, and to turn on a few more lights.  Kyle didn’t seemed alarmed, frightened or phased by his announcement.  I can’t say that I felt the same.  As I suspected, I saw nothing out of the ordinary, nor did I feel anything threatening or scary.  What was really funny, was me walking back the hallway whispering, “Ryan if this is you, you better not scare me!” and “Ryan it better be you and you better not show yourself!”  Not that I wouldn’t have wanted to see my brother, but at that moment if I did see him I would have needed a heart pacer.

Weeks later, I did bring this instance up to Kyle again and he didn’t seem to really remember what I was talking about.  He gave me a puzzled look and kind of remembered discussing the ghost but couldn’t give me any specifics.  I like to think it was Kyle’s dad checking in on him.  Maybe Ryan wanted to join our party!  Actually who am I kidding, Ryan was probably laughing at me and wondering why I was teaching his son to dance like that.  Or Ryan was going to finally get even with me for torturing him as a kid and scare the skin right off of me.  Now that I believe!

A year or two ago, I took Kyle to Gettysburg, one of my favorite weekend getaways.  Nicole was there following her alumni Paranormal State and Kyle and I just wanted to get away.  I must say I love taking ghost tours, not that I think I’m going to see a ghost, but usually those tours are so full of history and really fun stories that peek my interest.  They are enlightening and you always learn something.  While in Gettysburg, Kyle and I decided to take a ghost tour, which he insisted on.  Naturally it was at night and our tour guide was dressed in period attire.  At the very beginning of the tour, she started talking about the ghosts around the area.   She posed the question to the group, “How do you know you’re looking at a ghost?” with everyone just looking at each other waiting for her response of “They don’t have any feet.”  Just then Kyle, grabbed my arm and was gasping for air, while pointing to the lady’s feet.  The way her dress flared out cast a dark shadow under her skirt and made it look like she had no feet, just hovering over the ground.  I almost died laughing, yet I tried to bring rational thinking back to Kyle to calm his mind, so we could get through the tour without having him age ten years.  I had to ask the lady to pull up her skirt to show her feet.  That satisfied Kyle for the moment, although he never really did get too close to her during the tour and gave her a look like it was a trick.  In fact, he was pretty much up my butt the entire way, almost tripping me several times as we made our way past the campus.

One of the story’s our knowledgeable tour guide told us, involved spirits and an open closet door.  For the life of me I can’t remember the details, but the saga stuck with Kyle.  As the narration was being told, Kyle pulled on my arm and said, “Aunt Heather what am I going to do?  My closet doesn’t have a door yet?”  Kyle always picks the worst time to talk, because I was trying to the listen to the tour guide.  It didn’t even dawn on me that he was associating this story to himself and it was geeking him out.  I was too busy paying attention to the history lesson.  By the time we got back to the hotel, Kyle’s fear of the closet was very apparent.  He took one look at the closet, which happened to be right beside our bed and about crapped his pants.  He didn’t even want me to take a shower, for fear of being left along with the closet.  The night prior he slept on that side of the bed, closest to the closet, but on that night he switched with me and practically slept wedged under my body, to completely hide him.

As Kyle got older, I never heard of the ghost again and as far as I know he doesn’t have issues with closets.  Now-a-days Kyle is afraid of the dark, strange noises, the thought of something scarey and the list goes on and on.  Even if I would comment that there was a ghost in the hallway, Kyle would never go to his room again!  If I would bring up the closet story to him, he would instantly own a fear of it, even though I know he doesn’t remember.  I guess that’s just kids in general, they go through phases.  Some I’m glad he is done with, others I which I knew more about, particularly the ghost in the hallway.

Leadership:  The art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.  ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

Kyle at the Medieval Times Tournament & Dinner with his Aunt Nikki in Maryland

I’ve been posing the question, “Are Professions taught or born?” for a while now.  As Kyle matures, I see glimpses of his future self, his true nature shinning through and I tend to wonder if a chosen profession is a part of the person from birth, or is it just simple education and environment.  Not that I want Kyle to grow up too fast, but he has shown serious signs of being an engineer and/or a businessman.  This hasn’t just happened recently, this behavior has been peeking through Kyle’s personality since he was a baby.  Yes I said baby!  While observing Kyle over the years, it really gets me thinking.

About two months ago, during one of our hikes through the woods with the dogs, Kyle went off on a tangent – Lego Obsessive or Driven?.  Listening to him ramble, posing specific questions  and coming to his own conclusions, he really made me stop and listen to him.  His observations and speculations where spot on.  He has a very business like mind and way of thinking.

Kyle was saving up and earning money that weekend to purchase a new Lego, which apparently just came out in May, and he had to have it for the last day of school that Monday.  Not only did Kyle repetitively detail the Lego and describe his excitement over the anticipated purchase, but he also deviated slightly to understand marketing and different business models of retail stores, specifically Wal-Mart and Toys-R-Us.  Kyle began talking about Wal-Mart, how they have toys but not the entire selection that’s offered in the marketplace, along with groceries and other things.  Then he did an immediate comparison to Toys-R-Us stating they only offer toys, “but nothing really for adults”. He said,

“And Aunt Heather, Wal-Mart always seems to be cheaper, but they don’t always carry everything, so you have to go to Toys-R-Us anyway.  They may cost a little more but they have more of a selection.  It seems like, Wal-Mart is cheaper and there are more of them, but they don’t have everything, but Toys-R-Us is more expensive but they carry all toys, even rare ones, and ones that just came out.  Wal-Mart has a little bit of everything even for adults, and Toys-R-Us doesn’t really have anything for adults, well I guess they do.  Some things like video games ’cause adults like those too.  And Wal-Mart is open 24 hours, well most Wal-Marts, some aren’t open all night and Toys-R-Us is only open during the day.  They close early on Sunday’s.”

Yep, this one sided store comparison went on for the duration of our return trip through the woods.  He kept reiterating his dissertation, almost as if he was really organizing his thoughts to truly make sense of the business models.  Do all kids think in these terms?  I was actually quite intrigued with his thinking and I made no effort to sway him one way or another.  I just kept listening, wanting to hear his conclusion.  Then I did say, “Wow you have it all figured out.” with him responding, “Yep Aunt Heather that’s the way it is.”  Laughing at his candure I said, “Well buddy, you just did a comparison of two different business models.”  With a  blasé “Ya” he dismissed my thoughts before I could even get them out and continued talking about the new Lego he wanted.

While on vacation, “Aunt Nikki and Kyle’s week of fun” my sister texted me saying…

They just saw a commercial for used cars.  It said that you shouldn’t buy used cars from strangers and then it said to basically buys used cars from them.  Kyle said, “They just said not to buy used cars and they are selling used cars.  That’s just poor business.”

When I got that texted message, I about fell over laughing because I could totally hear Kyle saying that!  He is an observant little bugger and a thinker.  Nothing gets past him.  If it doesn’t make rational sense, then he will call it out and discuss it.  When Kyle was younger, if we told him not to do something he didn’t care.  But if we exclaimed the consequence or the outcome if he did what he was instructed not to do, he would listen, maybe ask a few questions, remember that conversation, later abide by the rules, and decide to take on the role of rule enforcer.  Example, I told Kyle that he was not allowed to ride around in a car without his seat belt.  He used to argue, that is until he knew it was illegal and I could get a ticket, not to mention it was more dangerous.  Ever since then that seat belt is on immediately and he has questioned my parents, who aren’t such sticklers.  It made sense to him that we weren’t just dictating orders, we were following established laws.

Being business-like minded  isn’t the only skill that Kyle has demonstrated.  He is always thinking about building or the logistics of structures.  While watching Journey 2 The Mysterious Island, the entire island was about to go under and Kyle began to think about the structure of the land.  He said, “Ya but how is the island going to go under water and still be the same with all the big cracks in the land?  It wont be the same when the lava fills in the cracks.  And how is the city going to stand?  It will fall over when ocean covers it.”  As I sat there with my family watching the movie, I will admit at first I shushed Kyle.  I wanted to see what was going to happen in the movie, then it dawned on me where he was coming from.  He didn’t seem to care everyone else was not wondering the same thing and that I asked him to be quiet, because he went off saying, “It doesn’t make any sense, the island is breaking up.”  Then finally my stern voice bellowed, “Kyle it’s a movie!  Just watch it.”  Then I realized,  in a way, I was dampening Kyle’s curiosity and his way of thinking.  So I gave him a wink, patted the top of his head and said, “O my little engineer.  Kyle you are a thinker!” trying to encourage this behavior, well maybe not talking through movies, which he does all the time, but allowing him to think differently.

After that, I’m guessing Kyle took my little words of encouragement to heart because he went off on a another tangent.  You see, he is also concerned with time management and technical details.  Now the next logical train of thought included doing a comparison between Journey to the Center of the Earth and Journey 2 The Mysterious Island.  He started to come to his own conclusions, which movie was easier to make and which one took longer.  Can you believe it?  This is Kyle’s thought process.  He is amazing!  He began to site specific scenes in each movie and give his explanation why they would be difficult scenes to shoot and which movie was more complex. Please keep in mind, Kyle does not know the slightest thing about making movies, especially on green screen.  Now that I’ve said that, I could stand corrected.  Kyle’s pretty intuitive and he may have watched some behind the scenes episode of making movies that I am not aware of.  There is no doubt, he knows more than I realize.

Now, let me entertain my way of thinking.  Since Pittsburgh has become the new hot spot for Hollywood, I wonder if Kyle should get into the film making industry?  I’m not saying acting, although with some training and coaching he might be good at it, he is dramatic and animated.  But there is so much more behind the scenes, technically speaking, that he might really enjoy.  Note to self: explore options locally to introduce Kyle to the movies.

With the posed question, Are Professions Born or Taught? and Part 2.  I read this story a while ago and I wanted to share it.  I agree with both gentlemen to a degree, but I tend to sway toward Michael Carson’s theory.  There isn’t one secret concoction for making a great leader, but there are specific qualities that one is born with.  I also believe those qualities are shown at a young age, but I do believe as Christopher Early stated, they can be honed in on and developed more.  I feel, being a natural leader is a part of a person’s DNA.  Kyle for example has shown to be a leader. In fact, we do joke around calling him the supervisor or the consultant.  But it’s true, he does posses  “(1) self-awareness, (2) personal conviction, (3) courage, (4) creativity, (5) curiosity, (6) ability to inspire, (7) ability to listen, (8) ability to innovate, (9 & 10) eagerness to experience and willingness to reflect.”  But it’s not to say that some of these attributes need coaching and to need to be matured, such as Kyle’s ability to listen.  I do believe that comes over time.  He shows that he listens now, but only when it suits his argument.

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses in our personalities, and we should identify them, if for nothing else, just to be a better person.  But I don’t believe that a person can practice and practice at a trait and develop it out of nowhere.  If a person is not charismatic, then, in my opinion with some coaching you can become an eloquent speaker, but never truly be charismatic.  Of course, this is my opinion and by no means do I have facts to back up my theory.  Being a leader seems to be in Kyle’s blood, although I would be happy if he was a follower, a worker bee.  But I don’t see that in his future.  Like I’ve always told Kyle, in order to become a good leader, you need to be a great follower and know when to step up to the plate.  I guess time will tell what Kyle’s future holds.

http://www.inmagazine.cgsm.org/indepth/two-views?p=all

From Beginning Until Now…

Are Professions Born or Taught?
Are Professions Born or Taught? Part 2

“If you knew how to cook, maybe I would eat,” Jace muttered.  Isabelle froze, her spoon poised dangerously. “What did you say?”  Jace edged toward the fridge. “I said I’m going to look for a snack to eat.”  That’s what I thought you said.” Isabelle turned her attention to the soup.”  ~Cassandra Clare, City of Bones

Since it’s Friday, I thought I’d bring out another one of my lost archive videos that Kyle and I made.  A Cooking with Kyle episode.  It’s a fun little snack that I hope everyone has the chance to make, or modify to personal taste.

Every year since Kyle was about five or six, he would go and spend a week in the summer with my sister.  It has now been dubbed “Aunt Nikki and Kyle’s week of fun.”  It’s their chance to hang out with one another, just the two of them.  Kyle loves his Aunt Nikki very much and looks forward to going every year.  Usually Nicole surprises him with a different adventure.  She has taken him to downtown Washington, DC, which has been visited many many many times by the entire family over the years since there is so much to see and do.  One of our favorite destinations!  They have gone to National Aquarium in Maryland.  One year Nicole tried to plan for Kyle to swim with the dolphins, but that didn’t work out.  They go to the movies, they go shopping, swimming, you name it.  Not to mention my sister allows him to play his video games day and night, which is not permitted any other time.  But when he’s on vacation, he’s on vacation!

Last year was the big trip, New York City.  Nicole arranged for them to take a bus from the DC Metro Area to New York City for the week.  The trip was actually a surprise, until Kyle read the ticket and found out his final destination.  They did all the touristy stuff, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and Central Park.  Nicole took him to Serendipity and other key places to eat.  Even though it was New York and Kyle never was in that city, there was another reason to visit the Big Apple, yep Lego’s!  Ever since Kyle saw the Lego’s store in the background while watching Dick Clark’s Rock’in Eve on TV one New Year’s Eve, he has been obsessed with the idea of a huge store dedicated to Lego’s.  That year we were looking for my sister on TV.  She was in New York City ringing in the New Year with her friends.  That’s when Kyle spotted the Lego store.  I will elaborate on the “Aunt Nikki and Kyle’s week of fun” another time.  Let’s get back to the subject at hand. Aunt Nikki’s Hors d’oeuvres.

It was during one of these ‘weeks of fun’ that Kyle and Nicole were grocery shopping and Kyle spotted the sample lady.  From my understanding, Kyle loved the snacks and had my sister buy all the ingredients to make them later.  After he came home, would you believe he told us all about his new favorite snack?  He had me get the ingredients because he wanted to show me how to make them.  Ever since then, he tells everyone about his healthy snack.

I hope you like them as much as Kyle does!

A tree without roots will fall over.  ~unknown

Me & Ryan teaming up for games...Elizabeth & Mikey in the background. Piper Reunion c. 1987

This past Sunday marked the 65th Annual Piper Reunion.  The Piper Reunion is always on the third Sunday of July, usually following the Stahlstown Fair.  What an event!  To help bring in the celebration we had a pig roast this year.  Everyone donated towards the pig and as tradition dictates, every family brings a covered dish.  However, I remember long ago it was established that every family bring their own picnic lunch.  I prefer the covered dish approach so much better, to get a sample of everything.  Regardless, we are never without food!  There is a spread of main dishes, side dishes and an entire section of desserts.  A feast fit for a…Piper!

Sonny, Uncle Ray & Dad - 65th Piper Reunion 7/15/12

The Reunion is always held at my cousin Pete and Pat’s house.  Again that wasn’t always so.  For years we had the Piper Reunion at the Flax Scutching Grounds.  My Uncle Ray told my Aunt Connie about the first Piper Reunion, it took place in an orchard up on the ridge.  I guess that year, Uncle Ray and bunch of people made tables for the event.  Little did they know that, that was going to start a tradition that lasted nearly three quarters of a century, and counting.  I’m still trying to uncover a picture taken from the very first reunion.  Putting it in perspective, my parents weren’t born yet and my pappy was a younger guy.  I’d really like to see the crew that started all this.

Kyle playing in the volleyball sand court. Piper Reunion 2009

Having the reunion in the middle of July, it’s usually hot.  This year it rained off and on and was very humid, even up on the ridge where it’s usually ten degrees cooler.  The sun did manage to make its appearance allowing us to continue our annual activities of swimming, fishing, driving golf balls, volleyball and horse shoe.  On Pete and Pat’s property they have a merry-go-round, a swing set and a few other playground items on the far end of the yard for the kids to play on.  Not to mention the trampoline is always hit with the middle aged kids.  As far as the younger kids are concerned, throughout the day you could find them turning the sand volleyball court into a sandbox, digging and driving trucks around.  The swimming pool is a nice refreshing treat for kids and adults alike.  Pete and Pat have an in ground swimming pool with a diving board and a slide.  Down over the hill they have a pond for fishing.  At the top of the hill, usually the guys get together to drive goal balls.  Yep there’s a little something for everyone.  When the reunion was held at the Flax Scutching Grounds, the committee members would put together games for the kids to participate in and the adults just sat around and sucked up oxygen.  There was a baseball field on the grounds that we would get a game going, sometimes of adults and kids.  But that was the extent of the activities.

As Kyle and I pulled in this year, he remembered a few years ago someone hit a golf ball into the back bumper of dad’s truck.  Whoever drove the golf ball must have really hit it with such force because, pardon the pun, it left a golf ball size dent in the steel bumper of the truck.  I remember the guilty party came forward to claim his accident but dad just laughed and brushed it off.  I can’t believe Kyle remembered that!

Denny & Aunt Mary Piper Piper Reunion 2009

Throughout the day we sell 50/50 tickets and we have a Chinese Auction.  All the money goes back into the Piper Reunion fund, our ‘kiddie’ to help purchase paper products, the port-o-john, the keg of beer, drinks and any other miscellaneous items for the next year.  We also give out prizes for the recently married, longest married, oldest man, oldest women, and youngest baby.  Sometimes we sell T-shirts, hats and mugs marking an anniversary year.  Actually since this was that year, we were going to do have items printed, however everyone was too busy and we ran out of time, maybe for the 70th.

For the 60th anniversary we had a scavenger hunt.  It was really a lot of fun.  Everyone got a list of items they needed to find and bring to the reunion beforehand.  Most families teamed up since there were sixty hard to find items on the list.  Mom and I worked together. I believe we were able to uncover fifty-five or fifty-six pieces.  Just to give an example of some of the items: an old coke bottle, an old fashion iron, a concert ticket stub, moonshine, and a picture from the very first reunion, which no one was able to dig up.  Then on the day of the reunion, a member of The Piper Reunion Committee went around to check to see who had obtained the most items on the list.  Actually I think we did place, but I can’t remember.  Mom and I both had people at work help us hunt down a few of the items.  That was really a lot of fun, even for none family members.

Ricky Piper & Kyle at Piper Reunion 2002

Yep, we have our very own Piper Reunion Committee, which consists of a President, Vice President and  a Secretary/Treasurer.  They are voted in every two years during the meeting, the day of the reunion.  The meeting is called to order after everyone eats and participates in the day’s events.  It’s really very informal.  The committee members are in charge of the ‘kiddie’ and making decisions for the next reunion, such as printing T-shirts or having a pig roast, which only happens during an anniversary year.  They have to administer the invitations, purchase the eating utensils, make sure the signs are put up and taken down on the day of the event, and let’s not forget getting the keg of beer.  Last year I missed the reunion because the day before I was moving the keg of beer into mom and dad’s refrigerator in the garage and pulled my back out.  I was being too impatient to wait for dad, and we had to get to church.  Lesson learned!  I missed the Stahlstown fireworks that night and the reunion the following day.  The committee members are also responsible for setting up and tearing down tables on the day of the party.  All basic stuff, but needs to be delegated to ensure everything gets done.  Of course everyone pitches in to make the event a nice time.

Elizabeth, Nicole, Ryan & Me are in the center -Piper Reunion c. 1987 at Flax Scutching Grounds, Stahlstown

I must say, I do look forward to the Piper Reunion.  It’s nice to see family members whom I may only get to see once or twice a year, like my Uncle Ray.  Usually it’s because of a funeral or a wedding.  No fault to anyone, it’s the same story, every gets busy.  Uncle Ray, my pappy’s brother is a great guy who’s health is declining, as usually what happens when you’re older than the reunion itself.  Although he is still a Piper through and through.  Love that!  This year he won for oldest guy.  Way to go Uncle Ray!  In the past, I remember my Aunt Mary took that prize for oldest woman.  She died a few years ago at the ripe old age of 93.

There’s always the new generation of kids running around, continuing the cycle of Piper tradition.  Most of the Piper’s have always lived on the ridge, but in recent times, a lot have moved away or are so busy we don’t visit like we used to as kids.  The reunion usually turns out a couple hundred people, although in recent years the numbers have been dwindling.  People move away, get busy and I’m sure the list goes on and on.  It really is a nice time and I’m glad that I have been part of such a strong tradition and we’re able to share it with Kyle.   The Piper Reunion is a way for Kyle to get to know his extended family.   A couple of years ago, we were at the reunion and I told Kyle to go play with his cousins.  He looked at me with a very puzzled expression.  He didn’t understand that all the kids running around were his cousins.  I pointed out that just about everyone here was related in some way.  He stopped, looked around at all the people mingling and shooting the breeze.  He said in disbelief, “These are all my cousins?” and my mom and I said, “Well yes Kyle, we are at the Piper Reunion.”  I guess it never dawned on him.  But I think he was in shock over the sheer numbers.  To this day, I still don’t think Kyle understands how large our family extends.  I hope he always remains apart of the Piper tradition and eventually really gets to know the entire family.

I’ll miss you. No matter how short a time you’re gone.  ~Alice Cullen, Midnight Sun, Chapter 1, p.27

Me doing my Emmett impersonation. The license plate was the actual one used in the movie. 5/20/12

Monday morning rolled around, it was time to go home.  With a bitter sweet feeling Nicole and I exited our hotel room and loaded up the car.  The tire, the one that was flat from the night before, was a little low but not too bad.  Seattle – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 4  I used the other can of Fix-A-Flat and we stopped by a gas station just to top it off with a little air before heading to the airport.

It was a rainy, dreary, hazy type of day, similar to the previous.  Typically what you’d expect from Seattle.  Nicole and I were spoiled with beautiful weather up until Sunday.  The weather did made it easier to exist stage right, but it was still hard.  We had that I-just-want-to-stay-one-more-day feeling.  Although, keeping my eye on the prize, I couldn’t wait to see Kyle and my family.

Dropping off the car was the easiest part of our trip.  We pulled up, paid for the rental and handed over the keys. Done!  This trip was the first time Nicole and I traveled together and our gates were almost exactly right beside one another.  We sat in a general area between the two, reliving our trip, before I pulled out my book and continued with my relaxation.  Nicole already started to look up flights to come back for Stephanie Meyers weekend.  Very tempting, but I would certainly want to at least see Marianne first.  Admittingly, I was rather intrigued by some of the events that happen that weekend.  I guess at one point everyone gathers down at La Push, First Beach and build bonfires. The Quileute elders come out and tell the legends of the their people.  Now that is too cool!

While we sat there alternating between shooting the breeze and getting lost in our books, Nicole told me to go check my gate, because naturally I was not paying attention to the time.  My first response was “I’m good” without even checking the time or the ticket counter.  Nicole’s insisted by saying, “Just go check!”  Well, she was right!  My flight was already boarding.  Good call!  I would have missed my ride!  Always leave it to my sister to keep in squared away.

Hoh National Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula

By the time I transferred flights in Chicago I was held up a bit, due to a computer issue on the plane.  I guess the computer needed rebooted.  All they had to do was ask me and I would have pushed the button. (sarcasm)  Once that was resolved I was on my way home bound.  By the time I touched down in Pittsburgh Nicole was already home.  Keep in mind, I left before her and I still had an hour drive to my house from Pittsburgh.  It was probably about 1:00 am before I unlocked my front door and dropped my luggage in the living-room before my head hit the pillow.  I had to work the next day and the morning was going to arrive too soon.

It was a great trip!  We couldn’t have asked for nicer weather and better hospitality.  I learned so much about the history, the area and the people, and the general culture.  At one point, I felt like a native.  This was my type of vacation, a lot of scenery, trees and hiking.

I will admit, I did miss Kyle terribly! It also didn’t help that for most of the trip, I had no cell phone service, sometimes spotty at best.  I’m used to getting a hold of the family when I feel like it.  In turn, I’m also used to them reaching out to me when needed.  In fact, weeks later I was talking about the trip to Kyle and he turned to me and said with his head down, “Aunt Heather next time, can I come with you guys?”  O my buddy!  That just broke my heart.  I said, “Absolutely!”  And you know what?  I really mean it.  I would never tell Kyle something that I didn’t intend to make good on.  Actually, I think he would have enjoyed the trip, well, maybe minus all the Twilight stops and photo opportunities but he adapts pretty good.  He is much like the rest of the family, we like to see new sights and learn about the area and the culture.  I think he has the potential to be a world class traveler.  Now that, I would encourage any way I could, ten fold!

Map of the US at the Forks Chamber of Commerce

No matter how you look at it, traveling is bittersweet.  Loving the excitement of making the plans, counting down the days and the energized feeling of looking forward to a vacation.  But then there’s the flip side during the trip, the slow moving feeling when each hour has passed and then each day, until the trip has come to an end.  Then on the other hand when a trip has ended, it’s a great feeling going back home, seeing the family, sleeping in your own bed, and unpacking and washing your cloths.  The memories are great, just missed.  Although there’s still that opportunity to relive every minute while telling the tails of the trip.  Sometimes the stories seem more exciting the second and third times around.

While traveling to different places, I certainly do enjoy my time when I’m there.  However I would never want to take up permanent residence anywhere I’ve been, except maybe Seattle.  I don’t know what it was about the city and the surrounding areas that I loved, but it worked for me.  Maybe it’s because we did have nice weather, or there wasn’t a lot of tourists because we went in May.  The town that encapsulating Beth’s Cafe was so cute and totally quaint.  It seemed like everyone in the town ran or walked and had a dog that accompanied them.  It was a really nice neighborhood overlooking a body of water, which was framed by a park.  I love it!

Me in front of the Forks Timber Museum & the Chamber of Commerce 5/19/12

Another place that caught my fancy was Port Angeles.  Again, another really lovely area with beautiful neighborhoods, neat little shops and a perfect view of the ocean.  Not to mention, I could totally live in a place that is supplied with fresh seafood consistently.  Port Angeles is a little bit of a hike from Seattle, but not too taxing.  It’s remote enough without being completely isolated.  At least they have Italian restaurants and a movie theater.  Thumbs up!

Seattle itself, was not what I expected.  I guess, I was waiting for the “grunge” type of landscape but it wasn’t.  It was very clean and actually well kept, at least the parts I saw.  We were told from one of our tours, it’s the newest built city in the United States.  The oceanic view plus the greenery surrounding the coastline made the experience complete.  I know it was just by chance but I loved the sunny blue days that were a bit chilly.  As I mentioned to Nicole, I’m guessing Seattle was much like Maine, although I’ve never been, yet.  It was that nautical fell that I liked.  I’m not really a pastel seashell, palm tree, type of person.  I’m more of a barges, ports, trees, rocky cliff sides and seafood type of gal.  Which was Seattle.

Twilight World Map.. I am amazed at the distance the fans have traveled to make their very own Twilight Pilgrimage.

Something else that I was fully aware of, but still took me by surprise, were those travelers before us and the ones soon to follow us, taking the same pilgrimage to Forks.  I wonder what their thoughts were of the city?  The Chamber of Commerce has a map of the world were they encourage visitors to place a pin from their hometown.  This map was amazing!  Covered in multicolored pins, there were places marked that I didn’t even know existed, let alone think people actually inhibited those remote places.  Example, there were pins, not just a pin, but plural pins from these tiny islands above Russia!  Yes, above, meaning right next to Antarctica.  Really?  There are Twilight fans all the way up there?  Yep! Of course, I can’t image there is a lot to do in their area but read, so that makes sense.  These Twilight fans made a trek to the other part of the world, from one remote location to another.  It’s almost comical.  Yet, what an adventure to for them!  Kudos!  I would have done it too!

Signs on the wall of a restaurant in Forks…they’ve embraced it!

I’m sure Stephanie Meyers couldn’t have fathomed the popularity surrounding the books that were a result of a dream she had years ago.  What is neat is all the details that became a part of our trip, all because Stephanie Meyers chose to do her research and build this very real place into her fiction story.  Making over $50 million plus a year, I know Stephanie Meyers is not concerned about my thoughts and opinions but, great job!  Thanks for bringing us on this adventure that seems to be staying for a long time.  I hope to see more good things in Twilight.  I think it’s great!  A really great read and fun to be a part of it all.

Read the trip from the beginning.

Pre-flight – Twilight Pilgrimage Prequal

Forks or Bust! – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 1

Rain Forest, Forks, Beach…all in a Day! – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 2

More Forks & Port Angeles – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 3

Seattle – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 4

Nicole posing with the Twilight crew… this picture is absolutely ridiculous! 5/20/12

Me & Nicole in front of the Space Needle 5/20/12

Yes, it was Sunday morning Nicole and I woke up early to find the church we chose to attend.  Just because we were on vacation doesn’t mean we shouldn’t stop in to God’s house and pay respect.  With all the traveling that we were doing, we really needed His blessing to get us around safely, not to mention it was Ascension Sunday!  As we exited the church, it began to rain.  We were waiting for the inevitable, and to be honest I didn’t mind it.  It wasn’t too cold, just soggy, wet and hazy.  A perfect way to start our day of adventure, Seattle style.

We made our way to Pike’s Peak.  I will admit it took us awhile, since we parked the car and my sister was navigating the streets, but we found it.  And boy, I didn’t know what to expect, but it was PACKED!  We really had a tight schedule of sights planned, so we didn’t spend too much time there.  Finding a place to sit and grab a bite to eat before making our way around the city, became our priority.  Nicole and I both had egg sandwiches on sourdough bread, which was the BEST breakfast sandwich I ever had!  While eating, Nicole and I kept coming back to the topic of bacon.  Everywhere we went, when we had bacon, it was magnificent. I mean it really.  It was perfectly cooked, not fatty but not burnt and full of flavor.  It seemed like the state of Washington had stock in perfect bacon.  Nicole said, “They must have pig farms somewhere around here.”  I died!  That was too funny!  I said, “Nicole, it’s everywhere we went, even on the Olympic Peninsula in Forks.  We have pig farms and butchers around home, but the bacon is not like this.”  We had no other solid theories explaining the great tasting bacon.

This is the building we started our Underground Tour...very educational.

Once we were as full as pigs, we needed to get up and walk around, heading for our first tour, The Underground City.  Just to give a brief overview, Seattle was built at sea level, so when the high tide would come in, it would flood the first, second and even sometimes the third floors of buildings.  Eventually, Seattle built up the roads to the second floors of the building.  As time moved on, to eliminate the need to climb ladders every time someone wanted to walk across the street, they enclosed the side walks overhead, meeting the same level as the road, which now made the once second and third floors, the first floors.  This created an underground city of sidewalks and forgotten first floor buildings.  Through the tour we learned the city is slowly starting to restore these areas and use them as functional store fronts.  The tour was so educational and fun!  Great pick on Nicole’s part!

Actual furniture still seen on the underground tour.

After all that walking, I wanted to walk some more.  Even thought it was still drizzling and overcast, I didn’t mind, I wanted to use foot power to get to the Space Needle.  Together, Nicole and I agreed and headed in that direction.  Now there is an on going joke, a funny if you will, about me getting to the tops of famous monuments.  You see I never can, for one reason or another, reach my destination with respect to monuments.  Now I will admit I was fortunate enough to get to the top of one of the World Trade Towers, which can never happen again.  I am blessed to have had that opportunity.  But let’s discuss my string of missed occasions.  When I went to the Statue of Liberty in high school, we ran out of time and I only got to the pedestal.  When I went to see the Eiffel Tower, we got there too late and I only could go to the first tier and let’s not discuss the Washington Monument.  Nope, this time I broke free of the curse.  I got to the top and walked around the outside about three times and the inside twice, to make sure I had the full effect.  I was happy and my life at that point was complete!  Mom asked me later, “Did you get to the top of the Space Needle?”, as she asked with a curious grin.  Very funny mom!  All I could reply was, “YES!”

Underground Tour of Seattle with our tour guide.

As I roamed around the Space Needle, and eventually making my way down to the gift shop to look around just out of curiosity, I stumbled upon a Space Needle Lego set.  Now how could I resist?  After all, I didn’t see anything that I really thought Kyle would want, except a pin that said ‘My Aunt Brought Me This From Forks’ or something along those lines.  Boy was I excited to surprise Kyle.  So as we made our way across the street to the Ducky Tours, our next big adventure of the day, I called Kyle while we waited and told him I got him something.  He naturally said, “What Aunt Heather?”  and I retorted by saying, “It’s a surprise, you’re going to have to wait and see when I get home.”  Kyle instantly was not going to accept that and then asked me where I got the gift from.  Answering him, what I thought was harmless knowledge, he caught me off guard because I was so wrong about my assumption.  Kyle said, “O I know what you got me!  A Space Needle Lego set!”  I was flabbergasted!  I tried to play it cool and asked him why he thought that, only to hear his reply, “They have all famous monuments in Legos.  Lego White House, Lego Statue of Liberty, and what’s that tower in France?” I assisted by saying “The Eiffel Tower?” while Kyle picked up on my words and said, “Ya Lego Eiffel Tower, and I know they have a Lego Space Needle.”  I said, “How do you know all this?” followed by Kyle saying, “They have them all listed online.”  I guess Kyle has memorized all the known Lego’s.  I shouldn’t be surprised.

I thought I bought Kyle the perfect gift... Lego Space Needle

As we took our very cold, wet Ducky Tour, I still kept playing that conversation over in my head.  I said, “Can you believe that little creep?  He knew right away what I got him and he was so sure of himself, he wanted to know when I was going to give it to him!”  Nicole and I just laughed.  I said, “I’m going to wait till the weekend to give him the goods.”

While on the tour we were able to learn more of Seattle’s history and see famous sights such as the boat house from Sleepless In Seattle.  They also showed us the newly built or ready to be built boathouses.  Did you know that you have to purchase the ‘landing’ for the boathouse separate and the boathouses themselves are upwards of a million dollars?  Here, I thought we were living in a recession and the housing market was lagging.  Guess not in Seattle on the water.

Once we made it off the boat and back on dry land, we started to head back toward our car, which happen to be on the complete other end of the city.  Yep, in one day Nicole and I managed to walk from one end of Seattle to the other and back again, not to mention the distance we covered trying to find Pike’s Peak.  Our shoes certainly put on a few miles that day.  Then, when we finally made it back to the car, we saw one of our tires was flat.  I mean hugging the road in a serious sag, flat!  Yikes!

We called the car rental and would you believe, flat tires are not covered?  Apparently, it is the responsibility of the driver to replace the tire.  I am a bit embarrassed to say, I did yell at the woman on the phone, especially when she gave me an attitude.  I argued that tires are wear and tear on a vehicle and should be covered.  She said, “You’ve had the car for more than four days, so it must have happened with you.”  I couldn’t believe it!  I mean, I could have rented the car and it sat for the four days.  What did she know?  I was mad!  I actually I threatened to drive on the rim.  She said, “Well that’s your choice.”  I couldn’t believe her attitude toward me!  My responsibility?  I think not!

View from Space Needle

Once I was done with my rant, Nicole turned to me and said, “We are not driving on the rim!  I will pay the $70 for the new tire.”  I said, “No this is on principle!  Neither of us are going to pay for this tire.  We are turning it in tomorrow anyway.”  Nicole rolled her eyes and said, “Then how are we going to fix it?  Let me try my On Star”   We called Nicole’s On Star service and disappointingly found out the service only follows the car, not the driver.  I knew I had roadside assistance, but I had no clue what my information was.  After being rejected by On Star, in a very nice and friendly way, Nicole was ready to call the rental place back and pay for the tire.  Nope!  I was on a mission.  Nicole was not amused and we did argue.  I said, “You make it out like you’ve been privileged all your life.  Haven’t you ever been stranded without money?”  Now I could tell Nicole wanted to take control of the situation and I wouldn’t have it.  Since my phone died earlier and I was using hers, I had Nicole GPS the closest gas station.  She said with an attitude, similar to my rental lady, “How is that going to help us?”  I replied, “Haven’t you ever heard of Fix-A-Flat?”  Nicole was skeptical over my solution, which I thought was brilliant.  Once we found the closest gas station, which I was in luck, it was about a half a mile away.  The only downside, it was up a hill, and I mean up a hill!  Nicole threw me a glare and said, “I’m not walking!”  I said, “I’ll go.”  Since Nicole was sitting in the car, in the middle of Seattle, in a rental car, nearing dark, by herself, I thought, I’d better hurry up.

Seattle's port side near Pike's Peak

In the rain for about a half a mile, I ran up the hill toward my destination to purchased Fix-A-Flat.  Once I got to the gas station, my heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest.  I spotted the front desk guy and ask in a breathy desperate, almost non existent voice, “Do you have Fix-A-Flat?”  He looked puzzled and said, “If we do it would be under the football.”  I thought, the football?  Then my eyes caught this huge cardboard cut out of a football hanging over a few rows of items.  As I walked back I said a prayer to two.  My eyes scanned the car care items looking desperately, until I saw the words Fix-A-Flat.  I let out the biggest sigh of relief.  Playing it safe, I purchased two cans, which totaled about ten bucks.  Did I mention I was using Nicole’s credit card?  He actually asked my for ID.  Yikes!  Well ironically, I had my license in my pocket, but we clearly are not the same person.  I was ready to take the goods and run.  But to my comfort, as I was trying to explain it was my sister’s credit card, he looked at me and said, “As long you have the same last name.”  Sigh!! God was on my side!  Without dilly dallying, I  ran back down the same slick hill in my converse.  I almost bit it and slid down on my butt a couple of times but I managed to get through unharmed.  I remained focused and delivered the goods back to the car to get us on our way.

Immediately getting to work on the tire, Nicole came got out of the car to inspect or supervise or bother me or whatever.  It worked like a charm!  Nicole, still skeptical said, “How long do we have to wait?” followed by response of, “We can drive on it now.”  She didn’t believe me grabbing the can and scanning the directions.  All I heard was a grunt from her.  We filed back in the car and headed out.  Nicole quickly said, “Let’s try not to go mock speeds.”  Ok, now she was on my nerves.

Once we got back to the hotel, Nicole still unsure said, “What if it goes down overnight?”  I said, “That’s why I bought a second can and we can swing by a gas station to put air in the tire before heading out to the airport.  She said, “But what about the person that uses the car after us?”  I said, “It will show a low tire and the company will have to address it.”  Yep, I got a lot of eye rolling and grunts.  Once we got back to our hotel, we were both beat.  After packing and showering I managed to sit back and continue reading and relaxing until my eyes fell heavy.  This was the end of our fun filled adventurous vacation.   Completely worth it!  Now I just had to make it back home, which always seemed to be a challenge for me.

Alas, due to the flat tire, we were never able to meet up with my cousin Mariann.  I was upset over that, but she was busy much of the time we were there too.  No worries, that gives us another excuse to fly out and visit her.

To Be Continued…

Read the trip from the beginning.

Pre-flight – Twilight Pilgrimage Prequal

Forks or Bust! – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 1

Rain Forest, Forks, Beach…all in a Day! – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 2

More Forks & Port Angeles – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 3

Nicole at First Beach - La Push, Olympic Peninsula

Saturday morning was another exciting day.  We survived the night in our motel.  Did I mention our heater was not working at all and the temperature dropped into the 30’s?  At one point I told Nicole, “We don’t have to worry about someone killing us, we’ll just freeze to death.”  However, we did have a small space heater to break some of the chill, adding to our camping experience.  Even Nicole found that funny!

Keeping with the same theme, we were taking our official Twilight tour with others of the same interest at 11:00 am.  After breakfast, we walked up and down the only real street in Forks, at least the only one with most of the business fronts.  Taking in an antique store and another Twilight paraphernalia store, before hitting a chocolate shop.  Nicole got some fudge and I chose a few bonbons and chocolate covered potato chips, satisfying a sweet tooth before we started to burn more calories.

When Nicole booked this tour, I was kinda skeptical.  I do love all the additional information and fun facts supplied on tours and I wanted to see  what they outlined to be specific places in the book.  However, I didn’t want this to be cheesy.  Admittingly, the tour was very well done.  Our guide (sorry I can’t remember his name and yes I said HIS) was very knowledgeable about the movies and the books, and I mean knowledgeable!  Come to think about it, so were the Chamber of Commerce people.  I bet they could sight the books faster than Stephanie Meyers herself.

Our Twilight Tour Bus... it was worth it to learn all fun facts about the area!

Before we even got started, our guide was giving us some tough trivia questions to answer and was shooting out miscellaneous information on Stephanie Meyers and the town in general.  It was wild!  He even educated us on the Quileute language, which was so much fun!  Great guy, cracking jokes the entire way and really keeping the energy of the tour going, even though he’s probably done this a million times and was sick of hearing the word Twilight.  Although, I couldn’t tell if that was the case.

As we road in our little black mini bus, we were escorted to all the key places from the book including:

Nicole & me with Bella's truck (almost) but the license plate is the one used in the movie

The Chamber of Commerce to see Bella’s truck from the book and a similar model of truck from the movie.  The license plate on the truck was actually used in the movie.

Bella Swan’s house, which is a person’s real home.  Now none of these landmarks are exactly based off of the books but they best fit the descriptions.  The lucky owners of this house were nice enough to allow people to stop and take pictures in front, just not to encroach too far on the property.

The tour guide told us a story that actually happened and why they were strict with the no trespassing rule.  Evidently, one night the owner of the house heard a noise in the kitchen and went for a closer inspection. He walked in on some Twilight fans checking out the color of  ‘Bella’s’ cupboards.  Can you imagine?  I believe it!  They didn’t mean any harm, they just were curious.  In fact they actually told the owner of the house, as they stood in the middle of the night in his kitchen, ‘We wanted to see what color was Bella’s cupboards.’  I guess it’s situations like that, that make the towns people irritated with Twilight fans.  Although, they are still apart of the tour.  Very cool!

Nicole with Carlisle Cullen's parking sing in front of Forks Hospital

Then the next stop was Forks hospital.  Yes, this tiny little town has a hospital.  It looks more like a fire hall but they don’t need a huge facility.  The guide told us that a busy day in there consisted of about 12 people, I’m sure that wasn’t a problem for Carlisle.  At this point a bee flew in our bus and as I’ve mentioned Dog Gone, I’m allergic to bees!  Me and another girl began to squeal until our tour guide took notice.  By then the bee landed in front of Nicole, who jumped out of her seat and I grabbed my book to settle this once and for all.  I got a good hit in and it dropped on the seat.  The other girl yelled “It’s a bee!” and I followed it up by saying, “I’m allergic!”.  Our tour guide turned into comical super hero by saying, “O gotcha, it’s like a black widow in the air for ya.”   He came back removed the problem and off we went.  Way to go! Of course, if I got stung, I’m sure Nicole wouldn’t have minded a trip into the Forks ER.  It might have actually topped off her bucket list.

Nicole & me in front of Forks City Hall & Police Station

As we continued to the other side of town, we made a stop at the Forks school, which was recently remodeled and beautiful.  It was really a pretty setting for a school up against the mountains and rain forest in the background.  The school also embraced the Twilight phenomena head on.  They allow people to stop in and look around, take pictures and that sort of thing.  In fact, on Stephanie Meyer day, September 13th (Bella’s birthday) the students give tours through the school.  That’s the spirit!

We made our way to Forks City Hall and the Forks Police station.  Nicole really wanted her picture in front of a cop car, but alas we were not allowed past a specific point to obtain a picture.  One item not crossed off her Twilight bucket list.

Cullen House, equipped with a cardboard cut out of Edward in the attic window

Across the yard from the City Hall and Police Station was the Cullen house.  This was the oldest house and most closely resembled Stephanie Meyer’s description in the book, except it was not positioned on a windy road in the woods.  But regardless, it’s a beautiful house and it’s used as a bed and breakfast.  We were allowed to step up on the porch where the owners graciously encourage the Twilight madness by posting a message on the whiteboard daily.  They even equipped the experience with a piano inside the front window, which we were allowed to peek through and the see the Twilight decorated front room, adding to the Twilight craze.  They even had a cardboard cut out of the one and only Edward Cullen in the attack window, which was visible from the front lawn.  Wonder if our friend earlier had the same cut out? Rain Forest, Forks, Beach…all in a Day! – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 2

Nicole, me & a girl from our tour (fellow bee hater) at the Treaty Line

Boarding our mini bus once again, we headed out of town towards the reservation.  On the way we stopped at the treaty line to get more pictures and to play with the vampire threat-o-meter.  While resting, the tour guide said that the group who makes the Twilight parodies actually shot an episode at one of the cabins there.  I’ve seen them, they are funny and I agreed with the guide, Jasper’s actor looks just like him.  During our ride to this point, our guide was giving us a lesson in the Quileute language.  Nicole asked a very good question, “What did Jacob say to Bella in New Moon?”  It was Quileute for ‘Stay With Me Forever’.  Fun facts!

Everywhere we went... it was all Twilight fun!

Moving down the road we stopped at the Jacob Black house, which also was transformed into a bed and breakfast.  Even sporting a motorcycle by the mailbox.  I will admit the house really did feel like the Jacob Black house from the book and even looked like it from the movies.  I must say these entrepreneurs are brilliant, they see an opportunity and take it.  Good for them!  I wish them all the success!  While we were there I noticed these piles of dirt everywhere.  Nicole and I noticed them in the rain forest too.  When I pushed them with my foot, it felt like soft dug up dirt.  Nicole’s explanation, it was poop.  That was funny, well not really if it was, then I would have intentionally placed my foot in crap.  So taking this as another opportunity to quiz our tour guide, I asked him about the mounds of dirt everywhere.  He said it was a critter, can’t remember the name of it, kind of like a mole or chipmunk that dug up the ground.  I guess the wolf pack better get to exterminating!

La Push - First Beach on the Olympic Peninsula

As we continued our tour, we made our way down to La Push Beach, First Beach.  Again another perfect day!  As we approached the beach the tour guide pointed out two bald eagles!  I have never seen a bald eagle in person.  Even though they were at a distance, they were amazing!  Then we saw a seal play around in the water!  I guess if we would have stopped out two weeks earlier, we might have been able to catch a glimpse of the Orca’s.  I looked for a spout out in the ocean, but nothing.

Jetting out from the beach were island type of cliffs, and I guess one of the protruding rocks was the Quileute holy ground.  We were told, as part of their tradition, they would climb the cliffs of these specific islands with their deceased, and put their corpse in a tree as a final resting place.  As I took in the scenery, I could see it happening.  I love hearing legends and traditions!

First Beach - La Push on the Olympic Peninsula

During this down time, I took the liberty of questioning our tour guide again on the mysterious drift wood logs.  Nicole thought they were strategically placed by the Quileute’s along the beach and on the rocks.  Wrong!  They were washed up on shore from swells and tsunami’s.  That must be an awesome sight to see during a storm, these huge trees crashing into the shoreline!  Again they were ENORMOUS!

We also found out that during Stephanie Meyer day, which our guide said has since turned into Stephanie Meyer weekend, everyone gathers down to First Beach.  They build bon fires and the Quileute elders come out to tell their stories and legends.  Now that is wild!  Totally worth a trip back!

Nicole in front of Jacob Black's house on the reservation

I couldn’t help but wonder, what do the natives think of all this hype and popularity.  Our guide said, for the most part they love it and embrace it because it really did their economy good.  Then he said there are those that want to be left alone and are not fans.  But the majority seem to enjoy the town’s new found fame.

As our tour came to an end and we made our way back to the car, our very funny and friendly tour guide shared another piece of fun fact.  He said that they have a Bella Sandwich at the Subway.  In order to have a sandwich renamed, the owners had to go to corporate and get it approved.  The only Subway sandwich changed just for that location is in Forks.  He also pointed out different restaurants and such, mentioning a place that had the best salads.  What?  Are you kidding me?  I’ve been craving a great salad since I started this trip and there was a place right under my nose?  Nicole looked at me and snickered.  I mean most people talk about great steaks, seafood, pasta, not usually salads.  But there the information was shared on a great salad and we were leaving town.  Next stop back, I’ll need to confirm his claim.

Quileute School House on First Beach - La Push on the reservation - Olympic Peninsula

As the trivia was shared, he gave a non Twilight related story,  if that’s possible.  He even cracked a joke, “Now there is more than Twilight fever that exists in Forks”, or something along those lines.  He said, not only has Stephanie Meyers made her appearance in Forks for her book signing, but this small town has seen other celebrities too.  Most recently Matt LeBlanc, who played Joey Tribbiani from Friends, made a stop with his buddies while riding motorcycle along the coastline.  He said he was a great guy and took the time to sign autographs and pose for pictures.

Again, being excited to move on to see more of the area, we had to take one final drive around this once unknown town, now very famous, before heading back out to Port Angeles and ending up in Seattle.  It was a bittersweet feeling.  I would never want to live in Forks, but visiting this remote area was worth it.  I guess I didn’t know what to expect over our visit, especially the weather.  It was another perfect drive, all 57 miles to the closest civilization, Port Angeles.  Nicole had already planned for us to eat at La Vita E Bella, now better known as the restaurant where Bella ate mushroom ravioli with Edward.

Famous Bella Italia at Port Angeles, Washington

Once we got there, I wanted to walk around the dock and see the area a little bit more.  As I stood on the pier and looked out over the water at the boats, Nicole and I both commented on the floating logs we saw.  Yep!  Now that we were equipped with more information, than when we began this trip, our eyes began to hone in on specifics that caught our interest.  One being the washed up logs.  I couldn’t believe it, there were random logs just floating in the water!  Could you image?  I guess it’s nothing new to the locals but it still amazes me.  I mean, just think if you were in a boat just sailing along and all of a sudden you wrecked into a log?  In the middle of the ocean?  How would you explain THAT to the insurance company?

At the Cullen House... apparently they were out for the day

Once we had our fill of the sea air we headed up a couple of blocks to the restaurant.  By now all I wanted was a huge delicious salad!  I knew this was the place that was going to satisfy my craving, and it was!  Of course Nicole had the mushroom ravioli, which was very good too.  I talked to our waitress about the Twilight craze and she stated, as I’ve heard many declare, that it was great for business.  I asked her, wanting to be certain that this port, which had its place in the books and movies but was by no means the focal point of the story and was 57 miles from it, was still a hot spot for Twilight tourists.  She said, even to this day.  Amazing!  I asked, “Do you know they are Twilight fans, ’cause they order the mushroom ravioli?”  She shot me a grin and a look of ‘cha’.

Nicole in front of the Swan residence, Forks Washington

Now that Nicole got through her Twilight bucket list, at least most of it, and my stomach was occupied with a fantastic salad, we headed back to Seattle, back to the starting line.  As we put our travels in reverse, driving onto the fairy was equally as exciting, especially since I had to drive up on the second level.  Although on this ride, we remained seated in our car during the 20 minute ride across water inlet.  Nicole and I were both tired, plus I enjoyed just sitting there reading and enjoying the relaxation.  I even found left over chocolates I was munching on from Forks.  At that point it already seemed like a lifetime away.

Once we got our hotel, I was happy over the living quarters.  A beautiful big bathroom with tile floor and a granite counter top.  Sometimes it’s the little things in life we take for granted that we appreciate the most.  Taking a safe shower without fear of critters crawling out of their hiding places in the wall was a blessing.  We talked to my cousin Marianne before turning in for the night.  Next stop Seattle!

To Be Continued…

Pre-flight – Twilight Pilgrimage Prequal

Forks or Bust! – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 1

Rain Forest, Forks, Beach…all in a Day! – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 2

They’re just cliff diving, Bella. Recreation. La Push doesn’t have a mall, you know.  ~Jacob Black, New Moon, Chapter 7, p.171

Me, 'Edward', & Nicole in front of the Forks Sign... too funny!

Once I got past our dive motel, and the possibility of making the news as missing tourists, Nicole and I woke up early and refreshed ready to start the day.  When I mean early, around 5:00 or 6:00 am, which is around 8:00 or 9:00 am east coast time.  I must adapt well to traveling because I really don’t have an issue with jet lag.  In fact, I’ve only ever had it once in my life and that was because I was running on empty before I left to visit Nicole in Tucson years ago.  My sister adjusts pretty well too, although I think she wanted to sleep in more than what my patience was able to tolerate, but she was accommodating, most of the time.  On vacation, I am the word ‘GO’ from start to finish.  Typically, I’m an early riser anyway, let alone add in the excitement and anticipation of the days events, brings my hyperactive nature to a whole new level.

We started out the day in our usual fashion with breakfast.  Gotta fuel up for the long day!  Now I will admit since all the restaurants in Forks were dives, which I don’t have a problem with, but they are expensive dives.  Maybe coming from the east coast this concept is different and I needed to accept the ways of the area.  That’s another topic, but I will admit, EVERYONE was super cordial and nice.  Our waitress gave us the suggestion to head out to see the Rain Forest first thing in the morning.  Thanks for the suggestion!

The trees were growing from a dead tree... they looked like they could walk away

Anyway, we did see a little of Forks from the previous night and we decided to do a little more exploring.  First we wanted to make our way to the Chamber of Commerce, which was still closed so we continued on our course of action toward the Hoh Rain Forest, suggestion courtesy of our waitress.  It was only about 12 miles away and the scenery was amazing!  The green and luscious vegetation juxtaposed again the light blue sky, not to mention we had another beautiful sunny day.  It was perfect, a little cold, but really a great day to hike through the Hoh.

Me hugging a huge tree at Hoh National Rainforest

Nicole and I couldn’t help ourselves from stopping the car every so often, pulling off along side the road to get a closer look at the activity beyond our immediate reach.  We did this off and on as we made our way back to the Hoh Information Center.  The natural landscape was quite breathtaking and we wanted to suck up as much as we could. To really get the majesty of one of God’s masterpieces, you really have to see it first hand.  I will admit, along the way, we kept making references to Twilight such as ‘We better watch out for Victoria’ and ‘Look I thought I saw a Cullen’, of course only humoring ourselves.  But I will admit I did feel like I was in the movies/books from our surroundings.  Since I rented the car I had to drive us around, which was not on my sister’s favorites of the trip, but I couldn’t help commenting, “I drive like a Cullen.”  Nicole was only slightly amused.

We took a couple of different trails, the Hall of Mosses Trail – 3/4 mile long and the Spruce Trail – 1 1/4 mile long.  When we were reviewing the trails I spotted the Hoh River Trail – 17.3 miles long, I didn’t even get a chance to say anything and Nicole read my mind and stopped me by saying, “No!”.  That was great!  I was cracking up!  I said, “We don’t have to do the entire thing, we can do halfway and come back.” followed by a solid “No!” from Nicole.  It was about an eight on the tension scale.

Hall of Mosses. The trees covered in moss looked like tarantula legs..creepy

The trails were easy and really neat to explore, I highly recommend it to anyone in the area to stop in and see this forest.  As we walked along, especially the Hall of Mosses, I couldn’t help but get creeped out by the moss covered trees.  They looked like giant tarantula legs.  It was a weird feeling, like I was in a B rated movie of giant spiders.  I told Nicole, who incidentally is terrified of spiders much like my issue with mice.  She was not happy with me sharing my overly active imagination and observation.

Surprisingly, the rain forest was really dry.  We managed to hit a time without much precipitation.  It worked to our benefit the entire trip so we didn’t have to slosh along in the mud and rain, considering it was cold.  It was so dry, when I pulled some moss off of the trees, it was like dust.  Normally, certain places were flooded but not on this trip, so my exploration reach extended a little bit further.  Unfortunately we didn’t see any wildlife, but I did find some deer and elk tracks.  Once we made our way back toward the car, we did spot some ducks wadding around in the water, but nothing too exciting like a Sasquatch.  During the entire walk, we kept joking around that if Kyle was with us, he’d be on the lookout for Sasquatch.  We even started to joke around saying we were going to tell him we saw one. Mind Over Mythical

Me & Nicole in the Hoh National Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula

After I gathered a few neat river rocks that seem to contain minerals for Kyle, we made our way out of the rain forest and headed back to home base, Forks.  This time we were able to stop in to the Chamber of Commerce and start working our way down our Twilight bucket list.  You know the standard, Bella truck, the Forks City sign and so forth.  I do have to share this story with everyone.  As Nicole and I started walking toward the Forks City sign, a car zipped past us and came to an abrupt stop in front of the sign.  Then, this girl jumped out wearing a New Moon T-shirt, even from a distance I knew it was a Twilight shirt.  As I got closer, I saw she was smiling from ear to ear.  Being very friendly, she turned to me and said, “Do you want your picture taken with Edward?”.  I was taken back a bit and said, “What?”, just then she popped the trunk on her car and pulled out a full length cardboard cut out of Edward Cullen!  I really didn’t know how to respond.   Just then, my sister caught up to us and Nicole’s face lit up with pure excitement.  Really?  Ok, this I will admit was the silliest thing that happened to us.  I could also see that I was clearly the minority here and I wasn’t going to spoil the mood for anyone.  So when in Rome, I went with the flow and got my picture with “Edward Cullen”.  Then we did the standard dance with the cameras and traded places with the gracious young lady who lent us her cardboard cut out.  Well, needless to say my sister and this chick bonded instantly.  I will admit, it’s pretty neat to be apart of something so big, pretty much right from the beginning.  I think of it like Star Wars and how that craze has continued to hold fans and reinvent themselves over the years, even gaining younger fans, ie Kyle.

Second Beach, La Push on the Olympic Peninsula

After our brief photo session, Nicole and I went to the only grocery store within a 50 mile radius to pick up grub for lunch.  They had a great selection of wraps, sandwiches and fried food ready to be bagged up.  We decided to pack our lunch and head out to La Push Beach for a picnic, about 12 miles in the other direction.

La Push Beach is on a Native American Reservation and there are three different beaches, First, Second and naturally Third Beach.  First beach is the only one, which can be reached by motor vehicle.  The other two beaches require a little more of leg work to reach the sandy coast way.  Nicole selected Second Beach, about 8/10 of a mile hike and an elevation of 350 feet, compared to First Beach, being a 1.40 mile hike with a 280 foot elevation.

Second Beach - La Push on the Olympic Peninsula

As we approached the Reservation, they had a sign showing the Treaty Line…No Vampires Beyond This Point.  That was kind of funny, this area really embraced the Twilight phenomenon head on, without missing any details.  Of course we stopped, took advantage of the pretty day and the photo opportunity.

It was really interesting, driving back on the road toward the beaches, you really had no idea there was an ocean within the vicinity, not even when we were hiking.  The forest is so thick and dense, I couldn’t hear any ocean waves, sea gulls, or even see the ocean sky while hiking, that is until I reached the grade to start my decent down to the beach.  At that point, I could see where the trees stopped going on forever and I heard the waves crashing.  Now I started to get excited.  As I totted our picnic lunch down the quasi steps built to assist adventurous hungry travelers such as myself, I must admit I was pretty intimidated climbing down the side of basically a cliff.  At this point I realized, I was so thankful we were there during the dry season.  If not, this would have been one huge mud luge.  There were a few muddy areas, but not what I imaged it usually looked like.  Ok at this point sadly I will admit, Nicole was not moving fast enough for me, so I dusted her on the trail and continued moving at an even more rapid pace, just from pure excitement.  I figured I’d scope the area and find a nice spot for lunch.  Well, let’s just say this decision wasn’t favored by Nicole.

La Push - First Beach on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington

Then as I emerged from the thick vegetation, I was immediately on LOGS!  Yes there was a beautiful sandy beach stretching out to the salt water, but all along the beach were huge logs of drift wood.  Later, I found out that since Seattle was the lumber capital,  it takes years for these logs to surface and they are thrown up on the shore during major storms and tsunamis.  Now, that was cool and very unexpected!  They were not little twigs either, they were enormous trees!  I loved them!  I couldn’t help but pull a Kyle and try and figure out how to export the logs off of the very secluded beach to make driftwood furniture.

La Push, First Beach on the Olympic Peninsula, Washington

It was really quite lovely sitting on a huge piece of driftwood along a beach surrounded by cliffs on either side and a rain forest directly behind.  During lunch, this chipmunk kept trying to creep up on Nicole.  It was hilarious.  Nicole kept yelling at it to stay away and then it would run and hide, then sneak up closer to her on the log.  It would wait for her to turn around and then creep again.  I was dying and laughing so hard, but I managed to record a little bit of the bantering back and forth on video.

We stayed on Second Beach for a while, just hanging out.  Having no cell phone reception and surrounded by nature is the way to go.  I walked up and down the beach, jumping off and on logs along the way.  As I explored I noted the different people who had the same idea and others who decided to participate in the majesty of the place by pitching a tent and camping.  Now that is something I want to come back and do!

Me walking on First Beach - La Push, Washington

Then, the decision was mutually made to leave our paradise.  Even though it was kind of chilly, it was sunny.  Nicole and I both got a little sunburn on the face, the only exposed skin.  Go figure?  Actually we both knew better, but we weren’t thinking.  As we started our ascend back up the cliff of zig zagged quasi steps, Nicole’s phone rang.  What?  I had no cell service for most of the day and in the thick of a rain forest between cliffs and Nicole gets service.  It was Kyle!  Needless to say, we kept passing the phone back and forth, probably confusing the kid.  It was great to hear from him and hear how things were going on the east coast.  As he went on about wanting something else, some sort of toy, I got on the phone and reverted back to responsible mode.  Even being 2,500 miles away, I still asked, “Did you practice your instruments?”,  “Did you take the dogs out for a walk?”,  “Are you helping Gigi?” and the standard “Do you have any homework?”  O my poor little man!  He is a great kid who’s stuck with me.

Quileute School House at La Push - First Beach

Once we got back to the car, we were both tired, but wanted to adventure down to First Beach just to check it out, in case the weather was not up to par for our tour the next day.  This beach was different, yet the same and equally as beautiful and peaceful.  We saw the Quileute school house, a few more tourists and some natives.  Actually, as I was walking up toward the school house to get a closer look, a car sped past me in the same direction, then it backed up and turned around.  Major déjà vu!  As I walked toward my sister, who was talking to the passengers in the car, I figured it out.  Low and behold it was our friends from the Chamber of Commerce.  Yep, the same girl driving around with her life size, cardboard cut out of Edward Cullen.  That was too funny!  She was checking out La Push Beach too.  I guess we are all cut from the same cloth if you’re hanging out in the remote area, unless you live there.

Coming from Port Angeles into Forks

Our ride back to our temporary home of Forks, was just as glorious as when we started our day.  We stopped along the way to continue the photo opportunities, shorting our bucket list as the day passed.  We ate at a Mexican place, which was another dive, but the food was AWESOME!  As we sat and recapped our day and our surroundings, I noticed Forks didn’t have an Italian restaurant, no movie theater, no retail chain stores.  The closest was about 57 miles away in Port Angeles.  We did manage to find one ATM, a bowling alley which was open till 10 ish (yes that’s what the sign said), one Subway (only fast food place attached to a garage), one gym, one grocery store, one cafe, one diner, two banks, two gas stations, and two churches.  There were a few other retail stores, mostly Twilight and some food, but not many.

I didn’t grow up in a city, but wow was this place a really truly small town!  In a way I kept picturing this to be like the movie Footloose.  In a way it was pretty neat being so secluded and not having the influence by a barrage of advertisements and modern day technology always buzzing, or pinging, or singing to get your attention and distract you.  Nope it was…quite.

To Be Continued…

Pre-flight – Twilight Pilgrimage Prequal
Forks or Bust! – Twilight Pilgrimage Part 1

Good luck tended to avoid me.  ~Bella Swan, Twilight, Chapter 1, p.11

Please be warned, this blog entry contains a lot of references to the Twilight books and movies.  If you are not fan you might get lost in Forks.

Nicole & me at Beth's Cafe on our way to tour the Boeing Plant

My flight leaving Pittsburgh was slightly late and so was my changing flight leaving Denver, but by the time I made it to Seattle I was only about 10 minutes behind.  The best part was when I was making my way to the baggage pick-up, I saw my bright red suitcase drop onto the carousel.  That never happens!  I was on time and ready to start my vacation except I was short one sister.

This trip was mostly contingent on Nicole and not me for once.  You see she had a direct flight from Dulles to Seattle, which never happens to me, and they had mechanical trouble.  I guess the plane went to take off and Nicole said she heard a loud ‘thud’ noise before they made an emergency landing.  Then they made the passengers sit on the plane and wait to tell them they couldn’t fix the issue and proceeded to board them onto another plane.  Later they realized, before taking off thank God, that it had a fuel leak.  I couldn’t believe my sister’s luck!  I did know about the delays when I was in Pittsburgh and Denver, so as I was in flight, I was hoping she was too.

Beth's Cafe as seen on Man vs. Food -Seattle 3/17/12

As I stood in Seattle’s airport, waiting for my vampire hunter companion to join me, I decided to get our rental car and get checked in at our sleeping quarters.  I texted Nicole, telling her to call me when she landed, hoping she was in the air and on her way.  Now I wasn’t prepared to take control of the itinerary, since my sister loves that job, but I did.  Got the rental? Check!  Got the room? Check!  Made myself comfy in my raccoon pant pj’s in front of the TV? Check!  Fell asleep while watching Man vs. Food Seattle? Check!  Didn’t hear my sister’s text messages at 2:00 am Seattle time (5:00 am PA time)? Check!  Was awoken by her call asking where I was? Check!

Finally my sister made it!  We where both in Seattle and ready to begin the last leg of the trip.  The next morning we made our way to the Boeing plant for a tour.  For breakfast, I wanted to stop at a restaurant called Beth’s Cafe.  I saw it on Man vs. Food the night before.  They are known for their omelets, and ironically it was on our way to the Boeing plant.  We had one of the best breakfast’s ever!  Their specialty was this Amish bread, which was incredible!  It was a fun place that gave you paper and crayons to draw pictures.  All self professed artists hung their artwork on the walls, scattered throughout the tiny restaurant.  Naturally, I had to make a picture of me and Nicole for Kyle.  Nicole hung it up somewhere before departing.  This place was a tiny little dive in a really cute neighborhood.  As we drove in and out of the area I instantly fell in love with it.  That place is on the list of ‘must go backs’.

Nicole in front of Beth's Cafe.. best omelet! Try the Amish bread!! 5/17/12

Getting to the Boeing plant wasn’t too far and was on a nice stretch of highway overlooking what was going to be a perfect day.  Entering onto the Boeing property was awe inspiring.  Just to see the planes parked, and the sheer size of the buildings!  Too cool!  Our tour lasted nearly two hours and we covered quite a bit of distance, between riding and walking around.  Being in the Boeing plant was much like looking across the Grand Canyon.  You really don’t comprehend the size of the space and it’s hard to get a perspective, until you find a tiny person way down on the floor and make a direct comparison.  On a side note, that tour was amazing!  I highly recommend it to anyone making their way to Seattle.  Now some fun facts I learned on the tour:

• The plant employs around 35,000 people
• They have three shifts
• The only employees who can park around the perimeter of the building, must have worked there for at least 20 years.
• The plant has 11 cafeterias
• Boeing supplies 2,000 bicycles for the employees to use and get around
• The color pigment used to paint the planes weights more than the white color paint
• On the side of the Boeing building resides the world’s largest digital print graphic, making it’s way to the Guinness Book of World Records

Me & Nicole at the Boeing Plant in Seattle, WA 5/17/12

After our tour and taking in all the displays and information, we decided to head out and set our GPS for Forks.  It was going to take us about four hours.  It was such a pretty day and we were totally stoked that the ride was no big deal.

What I didn’t realize, was that we needed to cross on a ferryboat.  Another first for both of us!  I imagined we looked like such tourists, when I try to drive up on the ferry without a ticket.  I still have no idea how the guy new I needed a ticket, but he did and he directed us down the road.  It was neat sitting in the loading zone, engines turned off.  Of course, we were getting out and taking pictures, just like tourists.  I will admit I was Four Squaring, Twittering, and Facebooking throughout the trip.  I’m guessing we had a few eyes roll our way from the locals, but that doesn’t bother me.  Once the ferry arrived all engines began to turn on.  That was my cue, showtime!  Cautiously, I drove our rental car onto the ferryboat for a 20 minute ride.  Not being able to control my thoughts, I said, “How would I explain it to the insurance agency that I drove my car into the water?”  Nicole, quickly laughed and said, “Yes Aunt Heather that would not be good.”

Boeing Plant - Seattle Washington 5/17/12

As the car was parked, Nicole and I jumped out to walk around and to go up on the deck to take in the sights.  It was chilly no doubt, but worth the experience.  We could even see the city of Seattle peaking over the coastline.  Projecting a little humor, I even played my Titanic part at the front of the boat.  It was all fun until the seagulls started to fly around us.  Nicole said, “That would be funny if they pooped on you!”  Well, first I’d like to say, that would not have been funny and secondly if it would happen to anyone, it was going to be me.  I kept trying to throw up my hands and arms around to scare them away, but they just continued circling above our heads.  Needless to say, I abandon my post admitting defeat.

Me on the ferryboat...heading to Forks. Titanic pose 5/17/12

Soon we made our way back to the parked car in the front of the line on our side.  Again, my thoughts started to pour out of my mouth by saying, “This would be my luck, the boat goes to dock, hits the side of the boat hard and shoves all the cars directly into ours.  I would have to tell the insurance agency that I wasn’t even in the car during the time of the accident  The car wasn’t even on.”  We both laughed reluctantly because if something this unexpected and off the wall was going to happen, again it was with me.  Nicole just chuckled and said, “Yes Aunt Heather.”  I could tell she couldn’t even handle a situation like that at the moment, especially with the rest of our trip clearly ahead of us.  Riding the ferryboat was a really neat experience.  Now, if I had to do it everyday for work, maybe not so much, but for a first timer.  Yep, totally worth it!

During our journey towards Forks we had to pass through Port Angeles.  Stopping the car to look around and stretched our legs, we hit up a couple of stores.  I found this pretty purple dress in a second hand store for only $5!  That made my day even better!  We scoped out the Italian restaurant, made famous by Twilight, that Nicole wanted to eventually sit down for dinner sometime on our trip.  It was starting to get late, even though it was still very light outside, when we continued another 57 miles toward our final destination of Forks.

It was a beautiful ride the entire way.  The same consistent weather all day, a little cold but sunny and perfect blue skies.  Driving along a cliff/rain forest and a sea of water was a bit intimidating but very majestic.  All along the way at specific times, we saw waterfalls between the trees.  Of course this sparked more intense thoughts like, ‘Wonder what they do with a heavy snowfall?’ ‘Wonder if there’s another way in and out of this area?’ ‘Wonder what happens if the roads are icy?’  We were just thankful to have never found out the answers to any of those questions making it to Forks by 8:00 pm Thursday night.

My first impression of Forks?  Deserted dive town!  It is a depressed city located in the middle of nowhere!  There really wasn’t any glamor to it.  One red light, one grocery store, and every place we saw seemed to be a dive.  I’ll tell you more about Forks later.  But first let’s discuss our living quarters.  As the GPS guided us in, I didn’t know how to react.  It was more than a dump, it was a scene for a murder story.  I looked at Nicole and she just laughed saying, “Let’s just take a look at it, it might not be that bad.”  Yikes!  Really?  You are still that positive?  We had a great day and all our luck was soon to come to an end.

Front of our motel in Forks, WA...can you say Bates Motel? 5/17/12

As we pulled up to our door, I said, “Nicole I think I saw an episode just like this on Criminal Minds!  We are literally staying at the Bates Motel!”  She laughed and encouraged me again.  Our room was on the end and I noticed there was a sort of make shift room attached to the side.  I didn’t care, I saw that episode of Criminal Minds where someone was watching this couple from a secret door in the wall.  I went on telling Nicole and going into detail as I went to inspect the cubbyhole.  While Nicole did not object, and normally she w0uld have, she didn’t join me either.  She was just as curious, but was satisfied that I looked around.  Seemed safe enough.

As we opened the door, I did notice the carpet looked new.  I was semi at ease until I walked into the bathroom.  Part of the shower was separated from the wall and I just got the chills.  The only thing that didn’t have me packing was the new, very clean toilet.  I turned to Nicole and she started to laugh and I said, “Ok I guess this is just like camping.”  Both laughing she said, “Ya, just like camping.  Plus there really wasn’t many options for hotels around here.”  I said, “Ok but help put me at ease so I don’t catch some sort of fungus in the shower and let’s go to the store for bleach.”  Nicole laughed and agreed.  Once we saw the stark white towels hanging and clean white sheets under the old bedspread, we both agreed and headed back out the door for munchies and bleach.

Side view of our 'motel'...with or without the flowers it was equally as creepy... 5/17/12

We chose, what looked like a dinner to eat along the main strip.  The waiter there was very nice and so was the rest of the people.  At this point, I really wanted a big salad.  I love a good crunch, veggie filled salad, in fact I crave them.  I was in luck, they had a salad bar!  Upon closer inspection of the feast laid out before us, I noticed all the lettuce on my plate was slimy and brown.  Even Nicole commented.  I slid all that lettuce back off and took inventory of the selection.  Minimal at best.  We started to laugh, because it was kind of funny.  Our waiter was very nice and accommodating, the kitchen even made me a large plate of grilled vegetables, which were done just like mom does.  At this point, we noticed the Twilight theme has crept into every crevice of this town.  It was pretty neat and exciting, especially in the grocery store.

Once we got back, I realized we have been riding in a car for hours, and the day before I was on the plane all day.  My legs were tight and sore.  They needed to be stretched out, so I decided to strap on my Brooks and head out for a run.  Nicole, alarmed said, “Where are you going? How long are you going to be gone?”  I agreed to just go to the edge of town, a straight shot and back again.  I figured I’d get in about three miles.  In the meantime, I made Nicole spray down that bathroom with bleach so when I got back I could take a safe shower.

During my run, I noticed it was a bit colder than earlier in the day and my legs where really tight.  I headed straight for the other side of town till I got to the edge and noticed I didn’t even hit a mile!  Really?  The town isn’t even a mile long?  My Run Keeper said I was at 7/10 of a mile.  So I weaved in and out of the side streets trying to gain a little more mileage, which was pointless because I already lost my focus and my legs were still stiff.  Whatever, it was getting late anyway.  I decided to head back to another adventure…the shower.

To Be Continued…

Pre-flight – Twilight Pilgrimage Prequal

Ever since Stephanie Meyer created the Twilight book, published in 2005 and then released the remainder of the series, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, The Short Second Life of Brie Tanner, and the not-yet-officially released Midnight Sun, my sister and I have been wanting to go to the location of where it all takes place.  The Twilight books are on my list of top books ever!  I’m not sure if I’m embarrassed to say it, but I’ve read each of the books at least three times, and they never get old!  My sister is the guilty party who got me started in the series and the movies.  I remember our conversation exactly, she said, “Heather you have to start reading the Twilight books, they are so good!”  I rolled my eyes and said, “Nicole, “I’m not reading some teenager books.”  Nicole chose to push the subject further by saying, “Heather, trust me just read Twilight and if you don’t like it, then you don’t have to read the rest.”  Fair enough I thought.

New Moon - Bella & Edwards

Well, Nicole’s persistence paid off and I was hooked by chapter three of Twilight.  What makes the books so appealing?  Enough to sell over 116 million copies world wide?  I’m not really sure.  But I do know from my perspective the story is one of a simple love story that encapsulates danger and action without gore, scandal or drama.  It almost omits the day-to-day issues and responsibilities and lets you run free, well not that you can run with a vampire, ’cause their fast. (pun)  Somehow Stephanie Meyer created this world that draws you into it and you become entranced, almost memorized by the simplicity of a small town filled with monsters, who happen to be good people, well at least the residence.  Not to mention they take place in a real life place called Forks.

When Stephanie Meyer had her dream about the vampire and the girl, she needed a setting for her story.  Where does one find answers now-a-days?  The internet of course.  She actually Googled the rainiest place on the continental United States, and what popped up but the one and only Forks?  Then of course, she did her do diligence and really researched the town and surrounding areas, hence La Push Beach and the usage of the Quileute Tribe.  This is where my story starts.

Since the books, and no doubt the movies have been released, Forks has been put on the map, literally. I’m not really a big fan of the movies, it’s more like the movies make the books so real and exciting, but regardless it’s all fun.  Fork’s, a small rural town with a population of roughly 3,000 people, positioned in the middle of nowhere on the Olympic Peninsula, is a hot spot for Twilight fans, even to this day.  Nicole and I ran into at least a dozen fans passing through the area, but I’ll get to the stories as they unfold.  Now that the background behind this trip has been established, let the trip begin!

I have always wanted to see Seattle and visit my cousin who lives outside of the city.  With this trip I was getting my cake and eating it too, plus a pilgrimage to Forks!  Nicole and I decided to do an extended weekend, sneaking out and back from Wednesday, May 16th through Monday, May 21st.  My sister was flying out of the Dulles Airport and I was coming from Pittsburgh.  The anticipation of this trip was like two children getting ready for a field trip.  As word got out about the trip, my friends wanted to come ‘vampire hunting’ and instructed me to ‘watch out for Victoria’ and so forth.  My sister and I did the typical count down and romanticized about the trip beforehand.  The weeks and days leading up to our departure we would text funny messages like, ‘I want to go here’ and show a picture from the movie.

When I travel, there are certain things you can count on.  I always pack light, as I’ve mentioned in Traveling Habits and speed walk everywhere, especially in airports.  By nature I am not a person who strolls or takes their time to get from point A to point B, I walk with a purpose, even if I’m not in a hurry.  All this sounds great, except you can also count on me arriving at my destination without bags, because the airline lost them, or me missing my flight all together.  The mismanagement of bags, I certainly can’t control, but it does seem to happen to me, a lot. Then let’s discuss my missed flights.  Sometimes it’s not my fault, just the luck of draw with flight delays and schedules.  Unfortunately, more than not, it’s usually my fault.  Missing flights on a number of occasions is a result of not allowing enough time to tackle lines and traffic, or not paying attention to my emails when flights are moved around and are ahead of schedule.  My sister is well aware of these minor hiccups involved with me traveling and her method to alleviate them is to threaten me.  A conversation with Nicole would always seem to include “And you better not miss your flight.  I’m not waiting for you.” or “You miss your flight and you’re on your own.”  All empty promises, but quite funny! Even up to the minute I was suppose to leave, I worked a half day on Wednesday, and Nicole was texting me asking if I left yet and reminding me of my departure time.  What I was not aware of, was that she registered my cell phone for calls and text message updates.  Boy, she covered all basis!  And she had alerts on my flight information sent to her phone as well.   That’s my sister, very thorough!

Leaving work halfway through the day on Wednesday, meant that I would have made it to the airport without stress.  But I decided to take a slight detour before heading to the airport.  You see, Kyle asked me for a new folder for school a week prior, he said, “Aunt Heather my fold is in two pieces and I need a new one.”  Well, I can’t have Kyle running into a roadblock such as a torn folder holding all his homework, now could I?  I had an extra plain black folder at the house and I put it in the car to leave with him, but alas I kept forgetting to pass it along.

Now, there I was leaving work, suppose to be heading straight to the airport, but I looked down in my front seat to see Kyle’s folder.  What to do? What to do? What else?  Stop by his school and drop it off with a note!  I will admit it was a bit out of my way, but I didn’t care, although my sister’s voice chirping in my ear about not missing my flight was certainly going off as clear as day.

As I pulled up to his school I was all wound up, getting ready to leave for the airport and sneaking Kyle his folder with a note, it was already a great day!  The minute I stepped into the school, who stepped off of the staircase into the hallway leading a line of kids?  The one and only Mr. Kyle Piper!  He saw me first and all I heard was, “Aunt Heather! What are you doing here?”  Being totally surprised and taken aback, I said, “I came to give you your folder silly.”  He just looked at this plain black glossy folder, and said, “Ok”.  I gave him a sideways hug, since full hugs and kisses are totally forbidden, especially in front of all his friends in school.  I asked him “Where are you off to?” with a reply of “Math class”.  Just then a few of his friends tried to catch my attention and waved at me, and then they reached for the folder in Kyle’s hands.  I heard a few voices whisper, “What’s the folder for?” and “Let me see it.” Wow!  If I would have known this folder was going to get such attention I would have purchased him a really cool one, like The Avengers or something better than just plain black, but at least it wasn’t pink!

This entire encounter took maybe five minutes.  I didn’t want to hold Kyle up, since I didn’t have permission to be in the school anyway and let alone hold up the line of students and distract Kyle.  I told him I was off to the airport to meet up with Aunt Nikki in Seattle.  He said, “You’re not going to be home this weekend?” I said, “No buddy, remember we talked about his.  I’m going to Seattle with your Aunt Nikki, I won’t be back till late Monday night.  I’ll be missing only one of your baseball games.”  He gave me a pensive look as if our plans were finally making sense to him and disrupted the flow.  I reiterated that his Gigi was still going to be picking him up on Friday.  He gave me a cute little sideways smile, before I darted right back out of the door.

As I left, I was so excited that I called my mom and told her about my little chance encounter.  It really left me with a great feeling!  Even though I knew I was going to miss him, I got to talk to him and I got one last little hug.  That meant more to me than anything!  Sometimes it’s just those unplanned chances in life that really stick with you and make the world of difference.  That was one for the books!

Next stop, Pittsburgh airport, but first one more detour.  I had to fuel up the car.  Being completely on empty is not a new concept with me.  I tend to forget or wait until I am on fumes before I fill up the gas tank.  When I noticed that I was in the danger range, according to the fuel gauge, I thought, ‘Nicole would kill me if I didn’t make my flight because I ran out of gas!’  Stopping at Sheetz, which was on my way, I also picked up a burrito M-T-O for dinner, win win killing two birds and thinking once I got situated I would eat.  Perfect!

Getting to the airport in good time, I was pretty relaxed, never loosing any of my excitement built up previously.  It’s a good thing too, because I had to park way out at the furthest end of extended-long term parking.  There were NO parking places.  I don’t mind walking, especially on nice sunny days when I have enough time, in fact I must admit I enjoyed my walk.  It helps to stretch out my legs and burn off some energy before having to be confined to a plane seat for hours.  I must say, this time the only issue I ran into was at security when they accused me of having a container of liquid in my bag.  What? I knew I didn’t have anything like that, I try to make sure I remain in compliance with the airline rules, as to not be delayed.  Here the lady with the latex gloves came over to me to inspect my bag further and she pulled out my burrito.  She said, “What’s this?” and I quickly put her mind to rest by saying, “A burrito.”  Really?  It has Sheetz M-T-O written all over the wrapper.  At first, I thought I was going to have to unwrap my dinner to prove to her it was in fact a burrito, but she put it back in my bag and instructed me to continue on my way.  I guess they are only doing their job and trying to keep everyone safe.  It just took me off guard.  Maybe the foil wrapping made the machines go off?  Who knows but now I was on my way.

I actually really enjoy sitting at an airport.  I always get a new book, and this time I bought two new ones, each one being two books in one, The Vampire Diaries.  I’ve always wanted to read those books and I thought it was appropriate on this trip.  Sitting there reading with no interruptions, except for text messages between me and Nicole, is my favorite part of traveling.  That is the time where I can relax and my vacation begins.

to be continued…