go on a road trip with my best friends

:)

i DO recommend taking a roadtrip with good friends. it’s a bonding experience to be sure, but in times of pain and sadness, a roadtrip can be cathartic. mostly, though, you get the chance to see new places and find out whether you and your friends can remain friends.

my roadtrip with a good friend was the result of heartbreak—a guy i was supposed to leave the country with dumped me at the last minute (coward!) and i needed to get from the midwest to the west coast (where my parents were) FAST.

it was a tough trip—lots of crying, and with my super-friend doing 95% of the driving and 100% of the listening & advising. but we made many wonderful memories, too:

—marvelling at the corn palace in mitchell, south dakota
—standing within 20 ft. of a wild buffalo near a lake at yellowstone national park
—seeing old faithful explode before our eyes …
—drinking coffee in a poolhall/cafe in missoula, montana
—reading quietly to each other in a hotel room from David Sedaris’s “Me Talk Pretty Someday” ... trying not to wake my son with our stifled belly-laughs
—nearly being smashed by a swerving truck on the rain-soaked road into seattle … then crying and later laughing at the idea that we’d cheated death, all while drinking a lovely red wine in some just-discovered italian restaurant in capitol hill

obviously, i could go on and on. yes, a roadtrip with good friends is a MUST. just make sure you take the right friends, and be prepared to let the road take you now and then.

it doesn’t even matter where, as long as we’re together.