My parents were married in 1948. There were places they wanted to go, but my dad just wasn't able to travel. After my dad passed, my mom took a few trips. On what would have been my parents' 50th anniversary, my sister and brother-in-law decided to take my mom to Cape Cod. My mom had always wanted to go, and this seemed like the perfect time.
My mom was really looking forward to going. She was finally going to be able to see and do all things my sister and I had talked about. Take the ferry to Martha's Vineyard and explore Martha's Vineyard, see the Dunes, go to The Christmas Tree Store, and get her feet in an ocean other than the Pacific.
What my husband and I didn't tell anyone was that we planned to surprise them in Cape Cod that weekend.
We flew into Boston from Chicago, spent the day in Boston seeing the sights with a friend, picked up the rental car, and drove to the Cape.
Only it didn't quite go that smoothly. It rarely does. We went to the rental place to get the car. I had reserved a Mustang; I figured it would be cool driving around the Cape in a 'Stang. The rental place tried to give me Contour*. I don't know if you remember the Contour, but it was like a poor relative of a Taurus. At first, the company wouldn't budge and tried to force me to take the Contour. I stood my ground. They offered me a size upgrade, but I didn't want to learn how to drive an SUV on the road to Cape Cod. In the dark. Finally, an available Mustang appeared. As soon as we get in, we notice it's dirty, as though it's being driven by someone as their everyday car.
Still, we're finally on our way in a Mustang! So we're driving down the very dark highway, and it seems darker than it should be. I don't know what route it is from Boston to Cape Cod, and I don't know if it's still completely unlit, but it was wooded and pitch black driving in 1998. Once I stop behind a car, I discover why it seems so dark. There is a headlight out in the rental.
My husband and I finally make it to the Cape, surprise everyone, and head back to our hotel. In the morning, I call the car rental company. They were nice enough to offer to let me take their car to a dealership and have the headlight replaced. And oh, by the way, they would reimburse me for the headlight. You want me to have YOUR car repaired AND pay for it? On my vacation? WHAT?! No. Next, they offer to let me drive back to Boston to exchange the car. Thanks for playing, but guess again. They finally say that they will drive a car down from Boston for me. They will meet me at Hyannis airport with an upgrade. That works for me because we were going to Hyannis anyway.
They show up with an SUV.
At this point, I don't even care, and at least it's daytime. I just make sure all the lights work, the radio works, and it's clean. I drive around the parking lot to get my bearings, and I'm finally comfortable enough to drive in Massachusetts. If you've ever driven in Massachusetts, you know what I mean.
Anyway, I told this story because it popped into my head when I saw this picture. The photo was taken on the 1998 Cape Cod trip and I love it.
*My apologies if you owned a Contour, but we both know that they were nothing like a Mustang.
No comments:
Post a Comment