What Really Happened

Or, How Not to Spend an Evening-

Yesterday I decided to take the kids to the beach, because I was feeling really fried and I just needed to get away. We drove down to Pacific City, and had a good time. It was blissfully not warm. I always take my GPS, because I don't make that drive by myself very often. So, I had changed some settings on my GPS, because it had been sending me on these weird avoid-the-freeway routes. When we left, the GPS told me to go a different way than I usually do. My thought at the time was that maybe it knew a faster way. Error #1- didn't go with my gut. Anyway, what basically happened was that it sent me on a fool's errand up into the unmarked labyrinth of logging roads near Beaver, OR. And that's where I drove around in circles trying to get out. For hours. On unpaved, unmaintained, pothole-y roads in my little Tiburon. Panic was building slowly during this time, since I couldn't get any cell service up there. Finally, at I-don't-even-remember-what-time, it was dark, I hit yet another dead end, and I started to freak out. At that dead end, I happened to be in a spot where I could get a cell signal, so I called my husband. Of course, when the kids heard me start to cry, they started to cry too, so I had to suck it up real quick. I had to call 911, and then wait for dispatch to contact search and rescue. It took them about 4 hours for them to find us once they were contacted... a very nice young man offered to drive my car on the way out, and I said 'YES PLEASE. I am tired of driving.' Coralie talked his ear off all the way down. My car was completely covered in dirt, and I bent my license plate when I slipped into a ditch while trying to turn my car around. I was almost out of gas, so search and rescue put a couple of gallons of gas in my car so I could make it to Tillamook where my husband and in-laws were waiting. Poor husband, he was really freaked out. In-laws were freaked out too. It was 4:30 am by that time, so we just stayed at my in-laws place in Tillamook, since we were all far too tired to drive any more. I slept for 5 hours, took the kids to the cheese factory for ice cream, drove home, hosed off my car, and TOOK A MUCH NEEDED SHOWER.
Coralie has informed me that the next time we go to Pacific City, daddy has to drive us.