The amazing Rhonda over at 'Because Mom Said So' has thought up this wonderful thing to do for one of her lucky readers... She's decided to share her miles that she racked up while
traveling across the States last summer for her two oldest daughter's weddings (you should read about the work that went into them! Goodness!)..... (Click on her link above to see the contest).
I'm entering in hopes to win the grand prize (who are we kidding, the
only prize!) of a round trip ticket with my name on it to and from Connecticut!!!! Geee!
And with how today has gone (that post will follow unless I take a break from this one, then it's before this post), I could use a pick-me-up!
So here we go..... The rules state that I have to post a "humorous travel story"... Ha! That shouldn't be too hard... Except that I don't recall traveling a whole lot in my life.... And if I did it was pretty boring in the 1.5hrs to the lake lot and then back on weekends...... I was pretty young when we did the house boating stuff.... And remind me later to post about my DQ adventure leading to Lactose Intolerance. *L*
In the meantime I shall write about the summer of 1990. I would have been 7 years of age. I remember some parts of this story stronger then others so I actually had to do some research on this! Wish me luck!
It was 1990, me being 7 years of age. My Mom, her boyfriend, her best-friend and I crammed ourselves into my Mom's tiny two-door hatchback Toyota Tercel. Have you seen these things? They're like a glorified clown car, honestly! *L* Anyhoo, we crammed the four of us and all of our belongings for the trip into our car and started towards the U.S. of A! Oh yes baby, we were heading to the USA on a single Mom's budget!
Now quite honestly I don't know a whole lot of what happened during this amazing trip we took..... Or the majority of it. But what I do remember is sleeping in a tiny hotel room.... And then near the end of our trip we went horse back riding. I was thrilled! I may not have shown it, as I was painfully shy then.... But I remember being really excited for this! My Mom's boyfriend dropped us girls off at the stables and took off for a bit. I remember walking to where all the horses were and being amazed at just how tall they were! *L* We met the leader of the trail ride and then they paired us up with a horse. I was old enough to have a horse of my own! Geeee!!!! (Remember, I'm 7 and a total city girl!)..... So off we go. We were in the mountains and they decided to take us up this one mountain cliff that they did all the time. Everything was so vibrant... Green. And the air smelt wonderful! I remember watching an eagle flying in the air and that's when I realized just how high we were.... This whole time I had been keeping my mind focused on watching the horse in front of me, watching the ground for holes, etc. and listening to my Mom talk behind me.... All of a sudden the sky started to get dark and huge rain clouds appeared. At this point I wasn't all that scared. I remember thinking that I wouldn't get cold as I had my pink little summer jacket with me! If only I could figure out a way to un-grip my tiny hands from the horn of the saddle.... Hummm.... *L* We were about 40 minutes in and then it happened. A crack of lightening and thunder happened and my lazy horse took off! I'm on the side of a mountain with, honestly, just enough width for my horse to walk on and this new, young, still being trained horse....
takes off! What in the world??!! I remember looking back at my Mom while I bounced along, up and down, up and down.... hearing her scream after me. All I could hear was "HOLD ON!
DON'T LET GO!!!!". Yeah okay... My horse is running at, well horse speed on the side of a steep, rocky mountain cliff and what did you think I was going to do, a circus trick??!! ACK!!! *LOL* So I hold on for dear life! I can hear my Mom trying to catch up to me but it was hard as there wasn't a whole lot of wiggle room up there.... Eventually my horse had to stop galloping for there was the line of horses ahead of us and unless it wanted to push it's way past and throw them off the cliff, it was going to stop! And it did! Apparently from my Mom's point of view all she could see was my horse take off in a full gallop while she dealt with her heart in her throat! *L* I've been informed that she was yelling at the leader and those behind him to get their horses running so mine wouldn't try to go around them... As there was a 300 foot drop on our left side and a wall of mountain on our right. Thankfully my Mom is a quick thinker on her feet and an even quicker thinker on a horse!
We made it back to the main point where they pried me off the horse probably amazed that I hadn't cried the whole way back! *LOL*
A few days later it was time for us to pack up and head home. While in the States we had bought a silly amount of fireworks to shoot off for July 1st (Canada Day)... Well let me tell you a little secret, Canadians aren't allowed to bring fireworks back from the States. Ha! Imagine our surprise when we figured this one out.... We had been staying at the
Waterton Lakes National Park and decided it would be a good idea to drive to the other side of the Park's border and shoot off the fireworks then head back into Canada..... Nothing could possibly go wrong here, right??! Riiiiiiight..... *L*
My Mom, her boyfriend and best-friend really wanted to put on a show for me.... And that they did! They found a flat space that looked like a big quarry. The 'shore' was all rocks of all sizes including boulders. I remember those quite well. Around nightfall the grown-ups started to set off some fireworks... They ended up not being 'all that'..... So us girls took a moment to stand and chat about which one should be lit next...'Cause, ya know, that's what girls do! ;P In the meantime my Mom's boyfriend decides to forgo the small rockets we'd been letting off and goes for the BIG rocket. Like boys do. He lights it and starts to run back to us. When he was about half way to where we were standing the rocket takes off.... It flew three feet in the air and then...turns...
for us! To heck with this, all of us start to run as fast as our feet would go (imagine Fred Flintstone in his car or a cartoon character trying to get away.... Oh yes!).... As we're all running from this rocket that has decided to try and take out the humans I see my Mom's best-friend fall over a boulder! Do we stop and try to help her? Heck no, run like the wind! The three of us (my Mom, her boyfriend and I) keep running! Eventually my Mom and I ended up running together and this is where it happens..... My Mom looks at me... Looks behind us at the human-bound rocket and makes that split decision.
She. Shoves. Me.
Apparently she had hopes that I would somehow find refuge behind a boulder, sort-of like her best-friend did, while letting the mad flying rocket chase her.
Save her little girl!
INSTEAD the stupid rocket chased me!
ME!!!! I'm 7, what in the world could I have possibly done to make this rocket take a sharp left and chase me??!!
So here's my split decision.....
I hit the bloody ground!!! *LOL*
The rocket just barely misses me on it's way over and crashes into the rocks.
Well then.... That's enough of that. After regrouping and wiping ourselves off (believe me I have no desire to ever run that fast again on a rocky shore like that!) we decide it's time to head back into Canada where we were camping.....
Then we realize it....
We weren't far enough out of the border for the National Park....... And you can hear the sirens of a RCMP car......
I remember everyone being very calm and not moving a muscle.
Somehow we didn't get caught..... We booted it back to our safe land without the huge fine we could have ended up with....
To this day the things that happened in this holiday are still some of my most favorite memories as a child. I mean who gets to have their horse take off on the side of a cliff and then have a rocket attempt to harm them all in the span of a week and a bit??!! Honestly! *LOL*
I would like to let my Mom know that I do not hold anything against her for the decisions she made during the above trip.... Although I may have to hold it against you for the rest of
your life.... *LOL* j/j
And that fellow bloggers is my hopefully-somewhat humorous travel story that I hope you enjoyed!
*fingers crossed!*
Ahhh memories!
*Not my Mom's actual car, but exactly the same!
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