Memory Lane

As I was trying to fall asleep last night, the most random memory came back. Six years ago (feels like twenty), my cousins and I took a crazy road trip to Seattle. At the time we thought we were so cool, and we begged our parents to let us go, no adults, to have some fun over a few days. It did not seem like a big deal at the time, but thinking about it now, especially since having kids, I can't believe they let us go. We were all between the ages of 15-20, and there were seven of us that actually made the trip. I guess I may have sort of been the chaperon, in all the wisdom of my twenty years. Wisdom that up to that point, included a lot of infatuation about boys, clothes, and the impending glory of a college social life. (This was all just a few weeks before heading up to BYU-Idaho). This is what I remember, and the cousins can chime in on this one to jog my memory.

Cramming into one hotel room, and being afraid we would be discovered. We all filtered in so as to appear less conspicuous. We also didn't let housekeeping come in the whole time we were there for the same fear. I laughed as I thought about this.

Shopping, shopping, and more shopping. I can't believe that we really didn't plan to do anything else. We talked about different stuff, but just ended up buying lots of clothes. What else do teenage girls dream of except shopping sprees? This is why it took us beyond seven hours (I think) to get to Seattle when it should have taken four. We had to stop in Ellensburg. And at the North Bend outlets. And that huge mall in Bellevue. Ridiculous.

Which leads to this point. By the time we were in the Seattle area, it was rush hour. We had to pull off in Redmond, and figure out where the heck we were on the map, and how we were supposed to get to the hotel. At that point, I thought we might never make it. I was amazed at Kristin's driving skills in traffic, and sincerely thankful I wasn't driving. Thinking about it now, I am amazed my aunt and uncle let us take their suburban on this venture. I mean, really, seven teenage girls in one vehicle, driving in unfamiliar territory is sort of asking for it in my opinion.

I am glad that nothing terrible happened to any of us. That someone wasn't abducted, or got lost or something. I think we were all pretty smart in that category; we stuck together. But there was that one creepy guy who came up to Kari in Pike's Place Market, said he was fresh out of jail and wanted to take her on a date or something. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Kari). Um, definitely no. At that point we all high-tailed it out of there, looking behind us constantly to make sure he wasn't following us.

Swimming in the hotel pool at midnight with those random guys on a vacation with their families. I can't remember exactly, but I'm sure there was a whole lot of flirting going on.

Sleeping in until 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning. Those days are gone forever.

So will I let my daughters escape my clutches for a trip like this someday? Maybe. I feel like the world is already a much different place than it was 6 years ago, and I can't begin to imagine what it may be like in 15 years, when Evelyn comes bounding up to me to ask if she and her 8 best friends can go on a road trip unattended. We'll see.

I went looking through my photo album today to find some pictures of this trip and there were all of six. Lame. And none of them were very good. They look even worse than they used to compared to digital pictures. If I had posted a picture, we probably would have made a comment on how we didn't like how we looked anyway. Thanks for walking down memory lane with me.