virginia

My sister (Heidi- the one that was in the car crash on Monday) has been accepted into a summer scholars program where she'll be in Virginia from July 1st until the 27th (I think...). Now, being the ultra-prepared people that we are (hah) we decided to drive down the night before she was supposed to arrive and thus have extra time to relax at the hotel before the crazy unpacking moving heidi in rush.

Well... it didn't exactly turn out to be relaxing. The day (Saturday) started out great. Everything fit into the car- amazing, considering how much stuff that was packed (stuff for heidi + stuff for us- snacks/drinks/extra clothes etc). However, about 26miles into our journey my car decided it didn't feel like going to VA, and proceeded to allow me to drift it into a pull-off area alongside the highway before it died completely (hopefully not permanently).

My mom called my dad, my dad called our friend Mark (who previously was going to take my dad to work) and asked him to come get him at the house and then bring him (dad) to us, and then take my mom and I to a rental car agency while Heidi and Dad stayed with the car. Done, done, and done. $111 later, the car was rented for 2 days and we were back on the road to pick up Heidi, call for AAA to tow my car, and say thanks to Mark. He really helped a lot and wouldn't accept gas/time money.

Anyways, now instead of my 1993 Grand Am (a bit on the small side being as it's a sports car) we were driving a much smoother 2001 Ford Taurus. I did rather well on the way down to VA, no wrong turns (I saved that for the ride home) and I drove the whole 300 miles each way myself (with a few breaks for food/bathroom etc...).

And then! We checked into the hotel. Where I proceeded to take this picture:


and then Heidi took this one of my reflection:


Long story short(er), the hotel wasn't that great and dropping heidi off at the school was hard. I was sad of course but I mean come on, shes going to get to experience all kinds of stuff and she'll have fun... she's already had a lot of fun she says and she's only been there a couple of days now. So I wasn't too upset. Plus I get my bedroom to myself now for a whole month! haha

Part of the ride home was spent trying to cheer up my mom (she was a lot happier after Heidi called to let her know she was ok) and then just general goofing around. This is where my hand spent most of the trip:
(on the radio station change button)


This is a picture of me driving on the way home... I'm laughing cause I was yelling at my mom for taking this picture... I asked what the point was, all she was going to get was a picture of my ear:

to which she replied that I have a "sexy ear!!!" which made us both laugh hysterically. In case you were wondering, it's not sexy:


Today I returned the rental car and walked the mile home. It feels like I've been going non-stop since I've got home, and there's no end in sight. Sigh.