in which there is a road trip

So… hey. Here’s the post I promised last week. I swear, this moving crap is taking over my life! So ready to be out of here. Prepare yourselves, this one is gonna be a doozy.

Two weekends ago, a couple of my friends from college came into town for a few days. There were six of us total: Brent, Dom and Dan (who live in Philly) and Lindsey, Jesse and I (who live here in Phoenix). We all went to college together, but knew each other for different reasons at different times. Brent, Jesse and I lived on the same floor (three rooms in a row, to be precise) our freshman year, and were instantly crazy tight. Brent, Dom and Dan were all Civil Engineering majors. Brent and Jesse lived together sophomore and junior year. Dom and I dated sophomore year and again briefly junior year.* Brent, Jesse and Dom lived together senior year. Brent and Lindsey dated senior year. Jesse and I dated senior year.

Now, I hadn’t seen Brent, Dom or Dan since graduation. Dom and I could barely be considered friends, as we hadn’t spoken beyond polite hellos and goodbyes our senior year. We were still weird after breaking up. Plus, I was dating his roommate. Awkward? Yes.

Anyway… a quick summary of the trip is as follows:

Thursday: The boys & Lindsey went mountain biking while I was at work. After I got off work and they were done biking, we all went to Lindsey’s for dinner and drinks. Lots of drinks. My head still hurts thinking about it.

Friday: Jesse had to work. Brent, Dom, Dan, Lindsey & I piled into Lindsey’s car and drove up to the Grand Canyon. The backseat was so small that Dom, Dan and I were basically on top of each other. A good way to get reacquainted. Plus, the middle seat (where I was sitting) for some reason only had half of a seat belt. It had the shoulder part, but nowhere to buckle it. Very strange. We ended up looping my seat belt through Dan’s. Luckily, we didn’t crash the car. I probably would have shot out of the windshield and died. Awesome. Anyway, we made it up to the Grand Canyon and hiked around for about six hours. Yes, you read that correctly: SIX. Long day, but awesome. We all caught up, joked around and had a great time. When we were done hiking, we piled back into the car and drove down to Flagstaff, where we met Jesse at a hotel. We went out for dinner and drinks. Lots of drinks. I had four very, very strong margaritas. I promptly slipped on some ice and fell on my ass on the way back to the hotel. Awesome.

Saturday: We piled into two cars (so much more space!) and drove down to Sedona, where we said we were going to hike for an hour or two. We actually hiked for about six or seven. It was so gorgeous and the weather was so beautiful that we just didn’t want to stop. We hiked the Broken Arrow trail, which I highly recommend if you go to Sedona. It is super gorgeous, and not too hard. It goes to Submarine Rock, which you can climb on top of and have an amazing view. Dom, Dan, Jesse and I also hiked partway up Chicken Point, which is a little like off-roading, only on foot. There are bits and pieces of trail, but you have to make your own way a little bit. It was a bit terrifying, but really rewarding when we were done. We were easily 150 feet up in the air. Probably much more. It was gorgeous. When we were finally done, we drove back down to Phoenix and headed over to Lindsey’s for dinner again.

Saturday Night: Yes, Saturday night gets its own section. We ate an amazing dinner of shrimp scampi and drank way too much. I had (I think) two beers, a Jack+Coke, and at least a bottle and a half of wine. We were all rather ridiculous. And the booze let the conversation flow, especially between Dom and I. Now, as I said, we haven’t spoken at all since graduation. And all of a sudden, we found ourselves telling each other everything. Talking about stuff we never talk about with anyone. For hours. And I mean, hours. We started talking at about 10pm, and ended up going for a walk around Lindsey’s neighborhood. We finally came back inside to go to sleep at 3am! It was nuts. It was super amazing to reconnect with him.

Sunday: Since we had all crashed at Lindsey’s, Jesse and I brought the boys to the airport on our way home in the morning. And then I spent the day recovering. I think I actually spent the week recovering. I have not been that physically active or been that drunk that often in at least two years. I was achy all week. It was an amazing weekend. Best weekend I’ve had in a really long time.

Okay, I need to stop this post now. It’s getting a little out of control. Cue second post……

*I have a problem with dating friends and friends of friends. All of my boyfriends in college were pretty good friends with each other. It’s kind of a problem sometimes.