2008 Road Trip

As T said, we are still standing. At times, I know that I look back and wonder how, but we are. While it would have been easier at times to just curl up in a ball and never get out of bed, we both, somehow, found the strength to get through another day. Of course, on more days than I can count, it was vodka and each other. We both know that we have to be strong for our family, so we try to silently fall apart when no one else is watching. After two hard blows, and the regular day to day stress, T and I decided that because the one thing that we learned was that life is short, and also because we have spent the majority of our lives taking care of everybody else, we needed to start taking care of ourselves. Thus, the 2008 Road Trip was born.

I was sitting in a continuing legal education seminar and happened to be reading USA Today. I came across an article written about girlfriend trips and, in particular, creative safaris for women. It was a one week abstract art class. While my father was an artist, I didn’t inherit his talent. That being said, I figured that talent wasn’t necessary, since it was abstract (not as easy as it sounds). I immediately called T and told her that I found just the trip for us. It was in Carmel, CA, it was only women, and we could stay at the quaint little hotel owned by Doris Day. What could be better? T, being the ever so optimistic one, said, “Great, when do we leave?”

After our reservations were made and confirmed, we decided that getting to the destination is just as important as the destination itself. So we decided driving that driving my convertible, with the top down, wind blowing through our hair, and blasting the music, would be just the ticket. I immediately set out looking for visors for our trip. Not finding anything with bling (which you can never have too much of), I gathered up my rhinestones, lettering, and a few other incidentals and made two stunning visors to memorialize our trip. I then loaded some T&L favorite tunes on the ipod, and we were ready to roll.

Aside from everything else, T and I are in search of the perfect Martini, the perfect Crème Brulee and the perfect Lobster Bisque. When we are not playing with construction or the law, we are playing food critics. We decided that we would drive as far as Reno the first day and then drive into Carmel on the second day. When we arrived in Reno, our rooms were everything and more. It was a great start. We then went to the restaurant where we were greeted with a fabulous martini. After telling our waiter that we were in search of the perfect crème brulee and lobster bisque, he immediately brought us a sample of the lobster bisque from one of the other restaurants in the hotel (since it was not on the menu at the restaurant where we were eating). It was wonderful. Then to top off the meal, he brought us not one, but two crème brulees (again not served at our restaurant). We then played a little pai gow poker where I won enough money to pay for the nursery furniture for my granddaughter that was due a few months later. Day One – absolutely perfect.

Now, I don’t want to be a story p-i-g, so T will tell you about day two. Take it away T….