Fact or Fiction - do I really care?

Most of you who know me, know that when I put my mind to something, watch out. I admit to being a little bit obsessive when I like something. Can you imagine? I know it is hard to believe. I love to read. I must confess that I read crap. I do not go for the great novels, the business books, the self improvement books. I go for the cheesy murder mysteries, the campy gossip girl type books and chick lit where the girl always ends up with the guy. What adds to the fun is when a place in the book actually exists in real life and I can go and visit.

My friend Michelle (Helen Keller or HK for short) has born the brunt of my location quests over the years. Before we both got married, we used to take a couple of trips a year together to different places. One year we went to Boston in November. Beside it being crazy cold and us being nutso for taking a duck boat tour and nearly suffering hypothermia, I also made her go off in search of the Isabella Stewart Gardiner museum. I had just read a book about a murder at the museum and I wanted to check it out. We rented a car that they delivered to our hotel and that was a debacle. There were 2 groups of people clamoring for 1 car. After a 1/2 hour of yelling, negotiating and generally being a pain in the a**, we were off to the museum. Armed with just a Boston map (no google maps or Garmin for us), we were off like a herd of turtles to find this museum. After driving in circles and passing about 12 Dunkin Donuts (and stopping at 1 for sustenance), we finally found the museum. We took our pictures and approached the museum to go in. After determining that the $10 admission fee was too much just to go in and look at art, we abandoned this pursuit and we were off to our next location!

Then I decided to read the entire Margaret Truman series - Murder in the Smithsonian, Murder in the White House, Murder in Foggy Bottom, Murder at Union Square, etc. When HK and I went to visit Washington D.C. in July 2004, it was crazy hot. Like 95 degrees and ridiculously humid. We must have walked 20 miles that weekend, looked liked drowned rats from sweating so much, blisters from walking all over the city and generally miserable with heat exhaustion. We went all over the city, checking out the places in the book, exploring the city, all without finding one dead body like the books.

Next up, was a book called Angel's Flight where a murder took place on a funicular (aka incline). Well imagine my surprise when I found out that this actually exists in downtown L.A. Tim, Wendy and I piled in the car and braved LA Rush Hour (it really is a contest to survive with your sanity) and off we went. We found it and Tim asked "I drive an hour and a half for this sh*t. Why does this even exist?" This funicular was about 50 feet long and transported lazy people up a small hill. It had been shut down in real life because 9 people died on it. How does that happen? It is literally 2 feet up the ground and moves at like 10 mph, how does such an accident occur? So we had driven all that way and could not even take a ride on it :(.

While my book adventures often don't turn out as easy or exciting as I would like, I am already planning our trip to Forks to see where Bella and Edward live, (for people who have lived under a rock for the past 2 years - they are from Twilight), where they hang out and Jacob's Indian reservation. God help this little town of 3,000 when I invade!