Paranormal Porterville.

On Memorial Day Weekend I took my friend Stephanie on a road trip with me.  Now this wasn't just any road trip, no.  This was a road trip all about the paranormal.  Yes, ghosts.  And not just any paranormal filled weekend, but one that included Amy Bruni, Britt Griffith (both from Syfy's Ghost Hunters) and Rex (from Destination Truth).

The trip entailed a 3 1/2 hour car ride to Porterville, CA, which is just past Bakersfield off the 99 (which is off of the 5 past the Grapevine for any of you wondering).  On the way there, after sitting for what seemed like hours in traffic up The Grapevine, we pulled into a Sonics since they are so far away and we never get to consume their delicious tots.  After a meal of cheeseburgers, tots and cherry limeades, we continued our drive to our destination:  The Holiday Inn Express, Porterville.  We basically went to bed as soon as we got into our room.  After all, we both worked before the road trip.

The next morning we decided to check the place out.  Because we'd never been to this small town, we wanted to see it all!  We were actually looking for a McDonald's for a quick breakfast.  We ended up in Denny's, right next door to our hotel.  We ate our delicious, fattening (and gluten filled) meal, we picked up my friend April from the hotel (who'd driven separately) and headed to The Barn Theater.

We walked into the theater to heck in and I had a little conversation with Britt's wife, Holly.  April spoke with Britt since it turns out they live in neighboring cities.  I found Amy at the end of the check in table and asked to take a picture with her.  She obliged and was so sweet and shy!

(Remember when Amy Bruni and I were BFF's?)

We then went to the 5 hour lecture (which included a break almost every hour) and learned a lot about the equipment they use, etc.  It was really interesting actually!  They showed a few clips too, not on the show and we were very entertained!  It was really funny too because at one point during a break, Steph, April and I were talking about our O.P.I. nail polish.  Mine was called 'Vodka and Caviar.'  April was trying to recall the name of hers and said 'Sex' about 3 times before Britt finally turned to us and asked us if we said 'sex?'  He then proclaimed he wanted to be on our team!  Haha!

We then broke up into 4 groups (of about 20, unfortunately) and went to our designated places to investigate.  We checked out The Zalud House, The Santa Fe Train Depot (now a senior center), The Porterville Museum and The Barn Theater.  We had a few fun experiences, but for the most part I was just annoyed with all of the other people.  This one couple had a digital camera and without warning anyone, flashed a bajillion pictures.  By the way, we were in dark...

(Ghost Hunters sandwich with Amy Bruni and Britt Griffith.)

While we were with Britt and Rex in the train depot, we were all sitting at tables in one room with the lights out.  There was a shadow that moved across a platform a couple times!  We decided to do an EVP session (electronic voice phenomenon, where you have a digital recorder and record your team asking questions.  When you review it, sometimes you can catch a voice that wasn't there the time you were recording it).  There was a noise, which I thought was the ice machine (Britt later corrected me) and when a couple people went down the hall, a door closed on its own.  No joke!  There was no breeze and no A/C!  Pretty cool huh?

(The Zalud House.)

(Porterville Museum welcome sign.)

(Santa Fe Train Depot.)

While we were in The Barn Theater, we were sitting in a circle on the stage doing an EVP session and Steph, April and I started getting really cold while our backs were facing stage left.  Raven, the gal leading the session, busted out her thermometer and said the room went from 76 degrees to 73.1 degrees!  They had previously checked for any drafts and A/C, etc.  Pretty interesting stuff!

At 2:30am, we finally got back to our hotel completely spent.  Bedtime.

The next morning we went around the town and took pictures of the town as well as the places we investigated.  Then it was time to drive to the outlets in Tulare!  Mandatory Banana Republic visit!

It was such a fun weekend!  I learned a lot and met some new people.  Not to mention I met another one of my girl crushes!  Yay!!