Favorite Week of Fall Tour

Hi Friends!
I hope your all doing well and loving the beautiful Fall weather. I know I am, esp those Carmel Apple Spice drinks from Starbucks. Nothing says Fall like a hot drink and beautiful scenery. :)
SPEAKING of beautiful scenery, our next week of tour Loretta and I were in Mount Vernon, Wa and it was so lovely. We were not necessarily in a big town but we were at least around people. We somehow managed to go to the mall everyday. It was nice to be around people but it was also nice to be around STUFF. We didn't buy anything except maybe an Orange Julius drink which for my East Coast friends is a type of smoothie.
My homestay that week was so fun! They were from Norway and were also housing two of their friends from Norway. I was the foreigner in that house. Haha! It kind of reminded me of a movie, I would hear someone speaking Norwegian upstairs AND downstairs. I was surrounded. They were so incredibly welcoming though. Their home had a beautiful view of the mountains and it kind of reminded me of a cabin out in the woods. Each room was filled with some intricate items from places they had travelled. Something that seemed absolutely oridinary like a picture had some kind of story behind it. I LOVE that kind of stuff. An example: they had a picture of mountains hanging on their wall that was actually sheep skin that had been stained by some local artist when they were visiting Wisconson.

I stayed in their son's bedroom while he slept downstairs but it was so funny. He was OBSESSED with dogs and his room showed it. It definitely wasn't a girly room but I had a bed to sleep in so my needs were met. Their house was also next to a graveyard and across the street was an old school house. It wasn't haunted but thoughout that week I jokingly said it was but the joke was on me because I started to believe it. I had a lot of weird dreams that week. >:(

Since we were in the woods, Loretta and I went bike riding and hung out outside by going in their awesome treehouse that just so happend to have a Zip Line! Way cool. We also had many phone conversations that week. One with Kelly Combs while we had spaghetti that I fixed in Loretta's kitchen so it was like a little dinner date. (Loretta was in a barn that was made into an Apt which was pretty cool.) We also had a couple skype/phone convos with Jordan Williams. He's swell! I also got to catch up with my main Gill Allison. Now that I think about it, I think I talk to her every week. She's about to start her own adventure and is moving to Italy, I'm going to miss her.....

I digress. Loretta and I wandered around downtown at some local shops before eating the best Thia food I've ever had which was followed by watching a production of RENT. It was community theatre but I was pretty impressed. It might have been the fact that I didn't know anyone onstage so if they had quirks I didn't see them. I let myself get wrapped up in the story which was nice. I already miss going to dance class and the whole rehearsal process but it made me miss the fact that a cast almost becomes your family for a few weeks. Loretta's my cast family right now so that helps. :)

As you can see Mount Vernon has been one of my favorite weeks, it was just full of all kinds of things to do. On top of that we had an awesome cast. Every single one of them was a homeschooler and they were each very talented. Our performance space was at a church which was a first for us; normally we're in gyms or some kind of highschool theatre. One of our rehearsal spaces was Noah's Ark. Yep. Thats what I said, NOAH'S ARK! Coolest youth group building EVER! The man who is now the preacher at His Place Church went to film school and when he took over his Dad's position as the Pastor, he applied his set design and overall film education. He made a giant ark for the kids and added all kinds of fun details, it was really something.
Our contact and the cast really spoiled Loretta and I all week. The kids were sooooo well behaved and they showered us with gifts, drawings, flowers, and Origami. Hahaha! I sent some of them home but some we have pinned up in our truck. I have a blue origami frog in the truck and his name is George Hopper after George Hopper road in Mount Vernon. Sometimes I'm really creative. Loretta and I both didn't want to leave because it was such a nice area and the people were so kind. We didn't think anyone could top it or come close to their hospitality, at least for awhile.
We were right.
-Jen