Good Times: The Road Trip

I just thought I would share a funny and endearing little story with the world.

It was the summer of 2008 and we travelled the three hour trip to Sauble Beach (pretty much the nicest beach around here).

It was supposed to be perfect, tons of fun and a fabulous weekend of relaxation and soaking up the sun.

So after being stuck an extra hour in a traffic jam just getting into the city we finally get there and lay out our towels. By this time it is like 4 or 5 o'clock. Not exactly prime beach hours, especially not for tanning.

So there is a group of teenagers playing football or something like that, and are totally being reckless on this ridiculously crowded beach,

and WHAAP! My mom gets nailed by the ball in the middle of the back (she is laying face down on her towel). She turns over with the most annoyed look on her face. Some bimbo trots up and picks up the ball, "Oh-Em-Geeeee Likee I am SOO Sorry." (she didnt say that exactly but you catch my drift)

No less than two minutes later

SMACK! Mom is hit again right on the side of the head. Now she is totally pissed. I fear for their personal safety, lives even.

They just stood there, staring. Uh, hello, maybe you should stop now. You bunch of idiots.

They just run over, say the same thing and pick up the ball.

I say, "If that ball hits me, I am so throwing it all the way down the opposite end of the beach, just to piss them off."

We decide five minutes later to pick up and move to a fresher spot closer to the water that has just recently been vacated.

Alas! Away from threatening ball and stupid teenagers.

TING! I get smoked in the back of the head with an apple core. Who throws an apple core.

Whether they did it on purpose or were littering, they should have gotten up off of their lazy butts and walked the 30 second trip to the garbage can. Seriously.

So I was sure they had seen me get hit, it was devastating, and that they were pretending it was not their fault, snickering and pointing.

I guess that is just paranoia mixed with humiliation.

We decide to wrap it up and go grab a bite to eat. Good thing that went over well. If it hadn't I may have exploded.

SO then we begin calling hotels and motels, for a place to stay the night. That way we could get a fresh start to the next day, a full and complete day at the beach. Great, right?

Wrong. Our luck could not get any worse.

Turns out, there is some big basketball tournament or whatever in town, or the next town over.

EVERYTHING is completely booked.

EVERYTHING within an hour radius has no vacancy. We even called every bed and breakfast within an hour radius, and nada.

By this time, it is almost midnight. My Mom's cell phone is dead. Needs to be charged. So we stop at the Sauble Beach Tim Hortons for some juice and timbits (aka doughnut holes).

They graciously allow my Mom to use their power outlet in the staff room to charge her phone. So we chill outside for a bit. We decided, with no other options, our last resort was to sleep in the car. The tiny car cramped with our cooler and our towels and our stuff.

So my sister and I get ready for nighty-night in the public restroom. i couldn't help feeling like a bum, reminiscing of the avril lavigne music video ('home' i think it is..? she wants to go home, and nobody is home. ...) as well as the pursuit of happyness with will smith. The scene where he is sleeping in the bathroom. Nothing that extreme, but it was thought of in that moment. Washed my face

So I called shot gun. tilted the seat way back and covering the windows with towels and etcetera to keep the light out.

My sister called back seat and Mom got the drivers side, putting up with the ever-annoying steering wheel.

It was one of the worst sleeps of my life, who knew THIS Tim Hortons was the busiest Tim Hortons ever, at all hours of the night. Ughhhhh.....

So by about 6:30 am we decide that there was no more sleep to be had.
We popped over to McDonalds (ba-da-ba-ba-ba) for some breaky.
At least this worked out. I did not know how much more bad luck I could take.
Mmm. McGriddle with hasbrown and OJ. Yum Yum.
Then to the little Italian cafe in the downtown strip at the beach for a latte.
then I sipped it as I watched the early morning sun, warming in its glow..
Only to freeze shock my entire body when my sister and I double dared each other to run as fast as we could into the chilly morning lake. Brrrrr! Cold.
Not so bad once you get in, and kind of refreshing, gives you a little wake up.
I guess it was my shower, seeing as how I didn't get one in a nice cozy hotel.
Anyhoo. Got out, set up our beach blankets and fell asleep for about two or three hours,
really catching up on lost sleep I guess.
The rest of the day went great :)
With the money we didn't spend, we got to go shopping (sweet!)
Now, in retrospect it was definitely a sacrifice worth making :)
Who doesn't love shopping, come on.
And then we drove home in the sunset, sand still clinging to our clothes and hair,
and nice golden tan to take home with us.
We have decided that this will be a tradition. Why bother wasting money on a hotel.
Lets just camp out in our car, and then sleep on the beach and splurge with our money on cute sales!

To good times!
<3