I am not dead!!!

So.... Heidi the blog-stalker has gotten to me, so I decided to let y'all know what's up. I am in my last week on a three-week trip to Washington and Eastern Oregon. Sorry I haven't been in contact that much (well... at all), but I will say that I called the office more than last year (as in 2x compared to none... I think that's impressive...). Anyway, I have decided that this adventurer is really the Lewis and Clark type. Go on an expedition, and let people think your are dead until you show up to prove them wrong.

Enough of that. Well, travel season has started out exciting. I have had the good and the bad schools, but really what stood out to me were my many first-time experiences. Here they are:

1. I met a senator of WA, who gave me his card. Very nice man, and I can honestly say I have never met a senator before.
2. I met a self-professed Satanist, gay, pagan-wannabe. Yes, those where his actual words and I met him at a school when he came up to me and said, "I am a Satanist. Are you afraid?" I told him no I wasn't and that I didn't believe that he was a Satanist because he didn't look scary enough.
3. I had an eclare (I don't know how you spell that French dessert) for the first time with an actual French lady. A very fun and authentic experience.
4. Spent the night in a haunted house. Literally. I will expound on this later.
5. Saw my first snow of the season.
6. Finally can say I have now joined the Marty and Jared school-visit professionals. Today I visited 6 different schools, and promptly went back to my hotel and passed out for two hours. Woke up not sure exactly where I was.

There are the quick highlights of my travel season so far. I think the best story really has to be the haunted house, so if you want to read a bit further, I will give you all the creepy details...

This year I decided to branch out and stay in Union, OR. They have a hotel there that was built in the 1920's and still runs. It is four-stories, including a basement, and each room is unique with its own theme. In my mind, it was going to be quaint and a very relaxing experience. Well, I drove into Union on a stormy day, and as I pull up to the hotel, it looks deserted. Not only that, but I notice on the third story of this imposing building, there are black plastic garbage bags taped to the inside of every window. And, in one window there is a ghost. So, picture me standing like an orphan in front of a giant brick building, wide-eyed, cold with the wind blowing fallen leaves briskly through the air, and ominous music playing. Yep, that was me. I walk into a dim, tiled entryway with huge wooden pillars and antique chairs. It actually looked like the Titanic-era, which was kind of cool, but not because I was by myself. I walk up to the desk, ring the bell because literally no one is around, and in walks this friendly grandpa-type. I say "I have a reservation here." That's all. And he says, "Oh, you're Natalie and your room is the Cottage Room on the second floor." Well, come to find out, I am the ONLY PERSON staying in this antique, four-story, haunted house of a hotel. I will say, it was a nice room. But the building itself was so antique, it looked like it was frozen in time and everyone who used to stay had died there. Coming down stairs, the grandpa finds me, and tells me that this hotel is being set up to be a haunted house for the October season. He takes me down to the basement, and tours me through this make-shift cript full of creepy dead bodies. I don't think it needed the dead bodies. It was already creepy. The thought did cross my mind that generally you don't go into a maze-like basement with a man, no matter what age, by yourself, especially if there is NO ONE else there, but it ended up being okay. The sad thing was, I had to go to Baker City that night to visit a church, so I came back to the hotel after 9 pm, and had to pull up to the haunted hotel in the dark. Let's just say I stayed up until 12:30 am, watching a movie so I would be really tired and fall asleep fast. I was trying to avoid hearing creepy noises.

In the end, I lived. When I woke up the next day, I discovered that some people had come to work on the hauntedness of the hotel, and had put up crypt doors outside of the building leading into the basement. They were pretty legit. I took a picture and will show you when I get back. Rumor has it that people have heard actual ghost noises in the hotel and vowed never to stay again (according to local coffee shop owner). I don't know what to think, but I do know that staying in a haunted house, whether real or just commercial, is not for me. NEVER AGAIN!