Air is blowing through defrost vents and not through the front vents. In the diagnostic sequence, is there a fuse that I need to be looking for first? I could not find one in the manual. If not, can someone send me a picture of what vacuum hoses to check? Would I just need to do a visual inspection on them or does a mechanic need to do a smoke test (or whatever they do)? I assume that after checking them, the next step is to check the blend door actuator? How would I check this? Thanks for walking me through this!

 

There is a good possibility the actuator as you mentioned could be defective.
I don't know if you want to get involved with replacing the actuator and it might be a good idea to check a few videos on U Tube to get some idea of what is involved.
There are other questions that need to be answered and it might be better if you had a shop check it out.