Halloween Reads

A few years ago my sisters and I started reading a scary or horror book around Halloween.  It was sort of an unofficial book club.  Last year, we missed out picking a book, and this year I went a little overboard in my personal attempt to find scary books to read.

The list this years includes (from left along the top, to the bottom):

• Obscura by Joe Hart
• Thriller, suspense, and science fiction all in one novel!  Dr. Gillian Ryan travels to a visit a NASA team in space that has been stricken by an inexplicable psychosis similar to dementia.  Her journey turns into a nightmare of violent and unexplainable events, that lead to her not only questioning the sanity of her fellow crew mates, but also herself.
• Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger
• A mystery thriller that takes place in the Hollows, New York.  Tagline: "Only one thing is clear: The Hollows gets what it wants, no matter what."  Cue dramatic music.
• The Witches by Roald Dahl
• A classic children's novel that I somehow missed reading as a child.  It's never too late to play catch up, right?  This book is about witches who hate children and turn them into mice...sort of like a Grimm's Fairy Tale gone wrong.
• Fear the Drowning Deep by Sarah Glenn Marsh
• A Youth Fiction book that follows sixteen year old Bridey Corkill.  She lives on a small island and something sinister lurks deep in the sea...oh, and also there's a handsome stranger who shows up.  This has the makings of Loch Ness Monster turned human and may have too much romance to be scary.  I'll let you know after I finish reading it.
• The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware
• Adult Mystery: mysterious deaths?  Unexpected inheritances?  A tarot card reader as a main character?  Yes, please.  
• A Midsummer Night's Scream by R.L. Stine
• This book looks so interesting...not only is a play on Shakespeare, but the main characters themselves are actors.  I can only assume that means there will be lots of lying and duplicitous deeds.  And it's R.L. Stine, so we know it will be creepy.
• The first two in "The Bailey School Kids" series by Debbie Dadey and Marcia T. Jones
• Okay, these were just for a fun callback to my childhood.  I think we owned about 20 of these books and they were really fun to read, especially around Halloween.

Of course, I also bought a few on Kindle to read, too, as if these weren't enough:

• Maggie by Mya O'Malley
• Naomi moves into a house that borders a graveyard...not everyone in that graveyard rests.  She makes it her personal mission to help one spirit by the name of Maggie to find rest, only to discover that some secrets are closer to home than she's comfortable with.
• The Haunting of Ashburn House by Darcy Coates
• Being bequeathed an ancient house doesn't mean that Adrienne believes in ghost.  Of course, not believing doesn't mean that something evil and twisted doesn't live in that old house.  
• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
• Monsieur Hercule Poirot comes out of retirement to investigate the death of one of his friends.  This is one of my sister's favorite Agatha Christie's, so it was an easy inclusion.
• Pride and Prometheus by John Kessel
• Just like the title sounds, this is a mash of Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein.  It follows the story of Elizabeth's sister, Mary, who becomes friends with Victor Frankenstein and possible also friends with the creature?  Unclear on that element.  Either way, I'm intrigued as these are two books that I love on their own.

The Mountain Behind Us

There's this mountain that sits behind me

And the first snow embraces the grass

The rivers and streams hurry onward
While I stand still beside

Amidst an upward climb, 
droplets of life, hidden below

While others had fallen, a spot of color amidst the road.

Is that all we can ask for along our journey?

Some pass in pairs

Others pass alone

Once finished, never finished, there's a road ahead.

I guess brief moments, from specific angles, 

are gifts from above.

Evermore

The Gate is Open at Evermore

So, Evermore Park.  You know the one.  That park that people in Utah have been seeing and hearing about on the outskirts of nerdom and yet no one really knows what it is?  Yes, that one.  It's finally open!  And I have officially been.  Okay, I only went to the soft opening, but it was enough of a teaser, that I am legitimately curious and I plan on going back.  

A couple things I wish I had known and that all guests should know:

1) You don't have to dress up - buuuuut, if you do dress up, you'll finally get to wear those awesome earrings that you've been holding onto because they're too wild to wear to work.  And it just makes the experience feel more fun.  Not that I really dressed up...unless you count Viking hair and make-up. #VikingHeritage

2) You don't have to be in character - thank heavens, because even though I attempted to dress up (and I mean this loosely...I did my hair and make-up and wore a poncho hoodie), I do not have a fantasy character on retainer in my repertoire.  

3) You do have to assume the characters/actors are actually residents of Evermore - while I appreciate that I didn't have to talk in an accent all night (that would have been disastrous), you do have to talk to the workers like they are actually their characters.  The workers are really good at not breaking character, even when visitors get a little snarky (I'm looking at myself here...I'm not good at this LARPing thing, okay?).  But I actually know one of the girls who works there and I got all excited and went to talk to her...she shut me down fast and totally stayed in character the whole time, which was impressive.

4) My key phrases for navigating Evermore - Asking the characters who they are is always an easy ice breaker.  Make some small talk with, "How are you doing?"  "What do you think of what's going on here?"  And basically just try to get them to tell you their little snippet of backstory.  Then go in for the key phrase that saved me a lot of bumbling, "I'm so sorry it's been so hard.  Can I do anything to help?"  And bam.  You've got your quest.

5) It's really fun to wander, but know that you might be walking into the middle of a quest - Evermore is a beautiful park with great scenery and by golly, there were several times we'd be walking and I'd see something and we'd have to deviate.  This might be because I'm impatient and curious all wrapped into one.  The point is, it's okay to do that, no one is going to get mad or anything, but chances are you'll be doubling back later when you realize that there's actually a specific quest to go talk to the vampires in the catacombs and you missed that quest earlier because you decided that walking into a creepy building seemed like a good idea.

6) Hit up the archery fast - that place gets a line fast, probably because its the easiest thing to navigate.  Oh, and it's just fun.  Time it right, though, and you can shoot several times and even get pointers from the Ranger who runs it.

7) Try to remember the names - maybe write them in your phone?  Morgan and I were taking lots of videos, so we could go back and reference them when we needed to.  However, I did make the mistake of calling Sloan the Satyr by the wrong name (can we all agree that Faldo the Faun has a better ring to it, though?  I knew it had alliteration, I just went with the wrong term...), and boy, he seemed irate about it.  Also, people you meet will reference people you've already met or people you should meet, so it gets confusing if you don't take a moment to refresh on names occasionally.

8) Smile and laugh - seriously, you're going to attempt to get in character and say something ridiculous, like, "His blood probably does taste weird because he's been drinking some weird stuff."  Just go with it.  You'll have fun if you just laugh.  Don't worry too much about doing every little quest, just do what seems fun to you.  I saw some people have been complaining about how expensive it is (we paid the early bird pricing of $29 a ticket), but for the experience, that's actually pretty cheap.  I mean, a lot of haunted houses are that expensive.  Goodness knows, there are plenty of theme and amusements parks that far MORE expensive.  So let go, laugh, and go back.  I know I plan to.

Best Lines of the Night

"Why did you give me earrings that attack me?"

"She has Viking heritage.  That's why her hair's so awesome."

Morgan: "She has good ears on her." 
Me: "Can you even see her ears?"

"That dead guy wants to dance with you."

Because FALL

The leaves are starting to change up in the mountains and I'm LOVING it.

That is all.

Timpanogos Cave

“We are not meant to spend the rest of our lives underground. 

We need to go home and tell a strange story 

that no one will believe.” 

― Courtney M. Privett, Cavelost

Mount Timpanogos, or Timp, is the second highest mountain in Utah's Wasatch Range.  To get to the top is a grueling hike that takes massive amounts of energy and will-power.  Luckily, we didn't go to the top.  To reach the famous-to-those-who-know-about-it cave on Timp, you only have to hike 1.5 miles up and the trail is paved with lots of rest points.

To get a tour inside the cave:

First, it's apparently popular and even when I was looking for tickets three weeks in advance, most the tour times only had a couple slots available.  Soooo, get your tickets in advance.If you decide last minute that you need an adventure, get up to the visitor's center as EARLY as possible and you might be able to get 1 or 2 people into a tour.  

The rangers give you one and a half hours to hike the trail.  The average person shouldn't need that long.  We stopped more times then necessary just to enjoy views and we still made it within an hour.  However, as you can see from the next picture, while its a nice, paved trail, it is a constant incline, so for people who struggle with uphill, it could become difficult.  Or for children.  If you have children, you can take a lot of rest breaks thanks to having a whole hour and a half to hike.

The good news for those quick and slow hikers is the rangers are pretty good about asking for people from other groups if there are extra slots available in the cave tour times.  So whether you're early or late, they'll try and get you in as soon as possible..  Our tour time was 11:30, but we were up there by about 10:50 and the ranger let us in the 11:00 time.  This was pretty lucky because they go in order, so they'd asked for anyone from the 11:15 tour and then for people from our 11:30 time.

The inside of Timp Cave is pretty awesome.  Yes, it sucks that you can't go off the path and YES, it was very difficult for me to not touch anything.  Buuut, I get it.  It's an incredible monument and we need to protect it.  There are stalactites and stalagmites and even helictites, which are like distorted stalactites that look like little branches or twigs.  There's also some areas where there's cool coloring because of minerals and there's some places inside where there are pools of water.

Overall, I'd say it was perfect inspiration, especially for the underground scenes I'm working on for my novel.  If you're a novelist or anyone who needs a boost to your imagination, or even if you just like to be inspired by the world around you, this is a must stop.

Renaissance Fair Part 2

Everyone who knows me probably knows that I love a good Renaissance Fair.  This year was fabulous, complete with jousting, fire performance, armored combat, and homemade cream soda.  But the overall highlight had to be the ax and knife throwing place.  

Turns out, I'm awesome at ax throwing (which was very invigorating), but knife throwing is a bit harder.  My friend may have hit the target more than me when it came to the knives.  So, I immediately insisted we wait in line so I could reclaim my title.

What can I say? I'm not competitive at all when it comes to medieval weapons.

Also, my favorite overheard lines are from when we went to use the restroom, which had about ten stalls in it.

Mom: "Are you in the bathroom?"

Daughter (who's pretty young): "Yes."

Mom: "Do you need help?"

Daughter: "Yes."

Mom: "Where are you?"

Daughter: "In the bathroom."

Me, dying of laughter, internally thinks: Aren't we all...aren't we all...

Library Humor

Because I work in a library and someone put this on our mirror in the back room.

"Self Check Out"

You know you spend too much time at the library if you get this.

Mision San Francisco Javier, Loreto

"We're in a desert, but you can see that this is the perfect example of how you can transform your
reality.  It' s a challenge, but it's worth it."  
-Guide who's name I'm thinking was Moses, but can't really remember...

While in Loreto, we took a tour to Mision San Francisco Javier.  The mission is located up in the mountains, about 30 minutes outside of Loreto.  The drive itself was really beautiful, as you get wonderful views of the rugged mountains and desert scenery.

The mission was built back in the 1700s (I'm blanking on the exact year) and has architectural influences from the Jesuits and Dominicans.  The Jesuits had brought several olive trees over and planted them, so there's a grove of olive trees behind the mission.  In that grove is the largest olive tree I've ever seen, though to be fair my experience is pretty limited.  Basically, it's just a beautiful mission and the surrounding town is wonderfully quaint.  There's a little restaurant near the mission that offers authentic food.  They had delicious homemade cheese and a mango jam that the memory of makes my mouth water.

 

My point is, if you're looking for something to do that's outside the water activities that Loreto offers, this is the stop I would recommend.

Loreto, Mexico

About three months ago I got a that urge to travel...and impulsively jumped on the bandwagon of  using my parents timeshare.  It turns out that their timeshare is only good for a couple cities in Mexico and we ended up with flights to Loreto, a little city that we knew nothing about.

Despite my excitement to be leaving the country, I put off researching Loreto until a week before. All the sites and blogs that came up were super positive, so I was pretty stoked so for this trip.  I mean, beautiful beaches, whales, whale sharks (a personal life goal for me), sea lions, dolphins, snorkeling, culture, and good food.  What could go wrong?

Well, it turns out that most of those blogs and sites are people who were paid by the resorts (actually, there's one main, giant resort) to come and stay for free, then write about Loreto.  Now, I'm not saying those blogs are lying, but they don't give great information.  So, here's some unbiased information about Loreto, and it will be particularly useful for people who are staying at THE resort (you know the one I'm talking about, the giant huge resort with five pools).

1. Don't go in the summer.  Really, don't go in the summer.  Those whales, whale sharks, sea lions, and dolphins you were promised?  Yeah, turns out there's such a thing as migration.  If you want to go to Loreto and fulfill your life dream by seeing whale sharks, go during whale season (approximately January to April).  Also, it's SO HOT in the summer.  Like you'll want to hide in your hotel room because there's air conditioning in there hot.  Of course, all that being said, we still saw an octopus while snorkeling, so that was AWESOME.
   
2. If you're staying at THE resort, be aware that it is very far from the actual city of Loreto.  Like 30-40 minute drive far.  If you want to go into town, you'll have to both hire someone to take you to town and also someone to bring you back.  There is no walking.  This means that you're going to spend a good chunk of your time at the resort.  Now, the bright side of this is that they have a fantastic buffet (hello my old friend, the international buffet) and also there are little shows at 8:00 PM so you'll still get some entertainment, etc.  

   

   That weird moment when the performer steals your phone and
   takes a selfie with a stranger

3. Speaking of how difficult it is to leave the resort, let's just recognize that if you are not specifically leaving on some kind of excursion, it really is next to impossible to get out of that valley/bay.  Rent kayaks/paddle boards - can't leave the bay.  Hikes - don't leave the valley.  Of course, the valley/bay area is beautiful.
   
4. Before going, try to set up to do an activity every day, or at least have a game plan for what activities you want to do and then make sure to set them up ASAP when you land.  Actually, even if you have stuff set up, it's a good idea to double check and make sure that it is actually set up, so check with the resort/hotel staff to ensure it is going to happen.  We had a pretty not so great experience where we had set up a kayaking/snorkeling tour before we went and we didn't double check it when we got there...and day of, found out we weren't on the list.  That being said, there are a TON of really cool things to do.  Some favorites were snorkeling/diving, a boat island tour,and  a tour of Mision San Francisco Javier.  You can also rent kayaks, paddle boards, and snorkeling gear at THE resort, but be aware that they won't let you leave the bay.
   
5. Go with good friends and/or family.  There are some trips that you can take by yourself and still have a really enjoyable, fantastic time.  I'd say this is not one of those.  There's so much down time, even while you're out doing a boat tour or driving to the Mision that you'll want people there to talk and laugh with.  Even the activities are more fun with people you like around.  Yes, you can paddle board by yourself, but it's way more fun to have people there who will laugh when you fall off while trying to do yoga or a headstand on the paddle board.  I'm just saying that my own trip to Loreto wouldn't have been nearly as enjoyable without people I cared for there.

   

   Because I was a sea lion in another life

   

   You can't see it, but there's sweat dripping down my back...it was
   about 105 degrees that day.

   

   See?  Aren't we cute? Much better to travel with people you love.

6. Lastly, take a camera, but don't rely on the camera.  This is probably the piece of advice I wish I could give every tourist for every destination.  There are going to be amazing views that you need your camera for.  Take it and take the pictures.  BUT, don't rely on your camera to make memories for you.  YOU have to make memories for yourself.  Take a picture of those beautiful sunsets.  Then sit in those comfy rocking chairs and actually enjoy that sunset, because there's never going to be another sunset just like that one.
   

Pictures that Sum Up working in a Public Library

1.  Mismatched slippers are actually not the weirdest thing that I've seen worn...yesterday there was a guy wearing four pairs of sunglasses (two on his head, one over his eyes, and a fourth on string around his neck - and yes, I also wish I was faster and sneakier at taking pictures).

2.  Instruments...and other odds and ends.  Students are always bringing in (and playing) their instruments, dioramas, art projects, and whatever other projects teachers can think up.  To be fair, sometimes adults bring in weird things too.  I've seen people bring huge backpacking packs filled with food, stuffed animals (weird, right?), and we've had several homeless patrons try to bring in their shopping carts.

3.  Patrons taking off their shoes...and sometimes other clothing items that make you go, "Sir, you must wear pants in the library.  No, we don't have a sign saying that's a rule, but I'm one hundred percent certain that it is definitely a rule."

4.  Children who are able to spend hours reading in strange and unusual positions.

5.  Animals...but really.  I burst out laughing when I read the article about the woman who tried to take a peacock onto a flight as a "therapy animal" because I hear the same thing about a plethora of species every day.  I've never had a peacock, though... #lifegoals

6.  Random notes put in books, dvds, cds, and even just on the shelves and walls.  One time we had a group of girls come through and leave 32 STICKY NOTES all over the library.  It was actually pretty adorable, because they had filled them with cute uplifting notes.  Kids: 1 Librarians:0

7.  Clothes...you'd be shocked how many people walk into the library in a costume, even when it's  not Halloween.  This picture is from a snowy day on December, because why tell your kid, "Put on your coat" when you can say, "Put on your cloak".

"I don't understand that reference"

Who doesn't want to come home on their birthday to having their room redecorated with their favorite Supernatural character?

And because, what are friends for, if not to encourage unhealthy obsessions?

Happy birthday to the girl who will run a 10K last minute,  ride a dinosaur, drink unhealthily large sodas, go to the Highland Games, run a mud run, watch jousting at the Ren Faire, and play late night tennis with me.  We always laugh together and I couldn't ask for a better friend.

#SQUASH??  #KerfuffleshouldbeKerfluffle #Let'sTravelTogether

Thoughts on Tennis Players

A few weeks ago  my sister hosted the twelfth annual McTournament (it might have been sixth or seventh...it's really hard to remember...).  I was tossed into a ring of insane tennis matches and came to the conclusion that there are four types of tennis players.

The Fun Tennis Player:

This is the person who has no idea what they're doing, but you love playing with them regardless because it's a laugh fest.

The Good Tennis Player

These are the players that I know I can hang with and if it's a good day, I can win too!

The Really Good Tennis Player

These people got mad skills.  They'll make me work up a sweat.  I probably won't win the match, but I'll make them work for it.

The Scary Good Tennis Player

These people walk onto the court with the goal of making you weep copiously as you try to hide your face behind your racket.  These are the kind of people that even when they mess up, they STILL win.  And they look good doing it, too.  Which is totally unfair.

Here's to being runner up AGAIN.  At least we got beat by a girl who definitely qualified as scary good.

Wednesday with the Weasleys

LOVE.  THIS.

Can we just ignore that the person who made this can't spell mischief?  LOL