scars and such

or Erin and Ashlea's Series of Ill-Fated Events, part 1.

Almost a year ago, Erin and I decided that we were boyless and bored and wanted to take a trip somewhere. She was in the middle of a semester at grad school and I was still working with Miss Amrei so we decided to wait until Christmas break. I'd never been to upstate New York or Vermont, but Erin said it was lovely in the summer and she really wanted to see it in the winter. Wahoo, trip decided and planned! We had several weeks to get excited about it and I was really ready to be somewhere with mountains and skiing again. Road trips with Erin are always fantastic and a road trip to the home Ben and Jerry's was a great thing to look forward too.

We decided to leave the day after Christmas around lunchtime so that Erin could have breakfast with her momma on her birthday. The plan was to pick up a rental car in Champaign, you know something with 4 wheel drive for snowy mountains, drive up to Niagara Falls for the night and then head down into Vermont for a few days before spending New Years Eve in New York City. It was a fabulous set-up for a wonderful road trip.

December 26, 2009- The reservations were made, the luggage was packed, the maps were printed, the diet coke was in the cooler. All I needed was an Erin and a rental car. Erin arrived shortly after noon and we went straight to the airport to pick up our 4 wheel drive jeep that I had reserved weeks before. And Ill-Fated event #1, as it was the day after Christmas in Champaign, IL, the lady who ran the car rental desk decided to go home early. I had called to see what their hours were and they told me 8-3, so I thought 12:30 would be ok. Nope, not so much! Stupid rental car lady!

So plan B, Chicago wasn't too far out of our way and they have rental car counters that never close. So a little more money spent to park a car in Chicago, but other than that no serious harm done. And we're off!

On the way to the airport, I called the car rental people and asked how to go about renting a car when we were driving to the airport. The lady who answered the phone said that I could just drive in and pick up a car. 'Wow, that sounds easy. This is going to be a great trip.'

As we got to Chicago, the weather started to get a little grey and rainy, but we were determined to have a good trip, no matter what. We got to the airport without any problems, picked out an awesome jeep to drive for the week and who doesn't love driving a new car?, and headed to the nearby hotel where we had paid to park my car for the week. By the time we left the airport the roads were covered in a light dusting of snow that was pretty, but didn't increase my confidence in Chicago driver's any.

And Ill-fated event #2: The roads at the airport were pretty snowy and hard to see. When I asked the guy at the rental counter he said to pull out of the parking lot and turn left to get where we needed to be. So we did. I drove my car and Erin followed in the rental car. About a 1/2 mile from the hotel, the little light that says you have a low tire came on in my car. Boo, boo, boo. But we weren't taking my car, so it could sit with a low tire for a few days and get some air when we got back. However, when I got out of my car, the tire wasn't low, it was completely flat and had a huge hole in it. And worse yet, the rental car did too! A quick phone call to the airport let us know that sadly the tire spikes at the airport were malfunctioning and poking large holes in tires even though you weren't going the wrong way. ARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH!

An hour and a half later, the AAA guy shows up to change the tires. He was very friendly and we were very glad to have him around because changing a tire in cold, snowy, sleet doesn't sound very appealing. It is now however 7 pm and we haven't even left Chicago yet. Plans of getting to Niagara Falls by bedtime are very quickly falling apart and the weather just keeps getting worse. Awesome trip so far.

Being our typical selves, Erin and I embraced the adventure and decided that we would just drive through the night to get to Niagara and take a nap when we got there. Getting out of Chicago was a nightmare, but about halfway across Indiana, the snow stopped and roads got nicer. Cruising along in the dark can actually be really fun and we had a lot of fun laughing about the mis-adventurous start to our trip.

And Niagara Falls is absolutely beautiful at 4 am. The mist from the falls freezes on everything and there is a glorious, though slightly slippery, coating of glittery, shimmery frost on everything. It was very pretty and after being in the car for that many hours, walking around in the cold air was magnificent. Plus there are no crowds that early. So much for plans, but yay for vacation. Also in true Erin and Ashlea fashion, we decided that there was no point in paying for a hotel room when it was already 6 am and we would have to check out in a few hours anyway. We would just take a nap in the car and then sleep when we got to Vermont.

So we slept in the Days Inn parking lot and cleaned up in the Burger King bathroom. A little black eyeliner goes a long way in making you look cute even though you are exhausted and not clean. We went out to Old Fort Niagara before we got back on the road and it was so pretty. The water was cold and grey, but the beach was still pretty and even the leaves piled on the ground still looked beautiful. Plus it's pretty cool to look across the water and see Canada on the other side. By the time we were ready to leave town, it had started snowing again, but it was only noon and we had plenty of sunshine left.

The drive through upstate New York into Vermont is amazingly pretty and even without much sleep didn't seem horribly long. We arrived at our hotel around 10pm and went straight to bed so we could get up in the morning and go out to the ski resort. Because we were exhausted and cold, Erin decided to put her contacts in a cup of water by the sink rather than going back out to the car to find contact solution and a case.

A whole night without sleep makes you pretty tired and hotel beds are comfy, so we slept quite a bit later than intended the next morning, which meant no hotel breakfast. But we needed to run a couple of errands before we went to snowboarding school anyway so no big deal. Vermont is a state that is trying desperately to remain unbusy and city-fied, which is quite refreshing when you've been running around like a crazy person for months on end. It was great to see all the small businesses and friendly people. Plus Vermont houses are phenomenal. The drive to the ski resort was so pretty and a coating of snow and ice makes the world seem magical. Neither of us had ever snow boarded before so we were planning to take a class and then play on the mountain for the afternoon. There's nothing better than having a grown-up excuse to go play in the snow and we were ready for a new adventure. If only we had known what was in store!

Stay tuned for scars and such part II, it's a great story!