Road Trippin'

Seeing my family (some for the first time in over a decade!)this past week brought up a lot of memories for me. First, it was so great to catch up and see what everyone has been up to. It's crazy that most of us have our own kiddos now!

In talking with my cousin, Camie, I was reminded of memories of the family beach house in Cannon Beach, OR (they filmed some of the Goonies there!)and summer trips. Pretty much every summer, we stuffed the family Jeep (complete with wood paneling)with my parents, me and my brother, and usually a dog. The luggage was strapped down to the roof. Think of the movie Vacation. Except, we never drove with a dead relative strapped to the roof or kill a dog that was accidentally hooked onto the bumper. The similarities to Vacation are coincidental. The brother and sister in the back, bitching at each other and annoying each other on purpose. "Mom! She's LOOKING at me!" "MOOOOM! He's in my space!" "Dad, he just gave me a wet willy!" The father with visions of the perfect vacation and rambling historical facts and blaring the oldies and attempting to sing, oblivious to any sort of ruckus that might have been occurring. The petite, blonde, ever patient mom sitting in front trying to be the mediator. The smells from the back seat. The smell of dog fart and dog barf. My dad also always had rose tinted glasses and when the sun started to set, he would pass them around so we could see the colors it was through his glasses. Now that I'm thinking about that, it probably wasn't the best idea to take off his RX glasses while driving with the setting sun in his face. Ah, who thought it would be a good idea to cram us all in this small, confined space for days at a time? Then putting us all in a 2 bed hotel room with 1 bathroom and 1 TV. Formula for arguing a lot.

Our most frequent road trip was to Portland, OR and Cannon Beach, OR. It was so exciting after asking for the 10,371 time "are we there yet?" when yes, you actually are. We'd pull up in front of the beach house and unload our stuff. The smell. The smell of salty air in a musky house that had been closed up for months. We would fight over who got which room. Get everything set up, unload the groceries, and then settle in. Old board games, puzzles, ancient bikes sitting in the garage, a dinky little TV, and endless possibilities for entertainment. We would wonder around in the lush forest behind the house, trying to avoid sink holes. We saw little raccoons who had made their home under the deck. We would ride bikes all over the town. Down to the beach, down to the little downtown, where we would hit up the toy store and market. I even set up a lemonade stand, where I made $29. This was significant since my mom lost her purse that night, and my money was the only money we had for gas and such until it was located. I had "beach house" friends. The ones you only see once a year. Think of the movie Beaches. There was a cool girl that lived with her grandparents. There was the white trash family in the duplex house down the street. The girls across the street that were from Washington. We always had a blast! I learned how to ride my first 2 wheel bike there. Memories.

One time, my cousin, Camie, my nana, and her new kitten Muffy took a solo trip to the house for a weekend. I was in charge of the menu. I had the menus planned and the grocery lists written up. It was a special girl's trip. We played Gin Rummy until the wee hours of the morning. The next day, Camie and I went to the beach to play. We made a mermaid in the sand, complete with algae to make scales on her tail, and seaweed for her hair. It was a work of art if I do say so! It took us like 2 hours to make. Then we decided to leave, and a little shit of a kid ran up to it and started to jump on it and ruin it! Oh, was I pissed. I noticed he had been digging a huge hole in the sand. I asked him if it was his hole. He said yes. So, I walked right on over and filled it back up! Revenge. I still remember his face of disbelief. You ruin my work of art, I'll do it back! Hahaha. We rode down to the general market, and stocked up on Archie comic books and smores stuff. We were obsessed with Archie. I think we bought them out. We got home, and boy, was Nana mad! We were gone way to long and she was worried. She grounded us. That made us mad. I think we made her cry. In retrospect, we were little brats! But, overall, it was a good weekend.

I went back there a few years ago, and Lilli got to see the 'ol beach house. It was nice to share it with her and show her the things I used to see/do when I was little. It's different going back as an adult. Perhaps I'll brave it one day when she's older...but road trips can have their moments! Maybe I'll invest in a car that has one of those fancy DVD players. How far cars have come. All we had was car bingo and Walkmans. I could only listen to so much Paula Abdul trying to block out my dad singing The Bear Went Over the Mountain. I will always remember those trips though. There's a little beach house in my heart. :)