and 897 miles later...

This weekend, I drove over to the beautiful neighboring state of Tennessee to visit my dear Costa Rica pal. Our original plans didn't quite work out, but we had an amazing time anyways. I drove with Shauna in my good old trusty companion, Luisa, who hit her 60,000 mile mark on our way there right after we crossed the state line. She's old, but just hasn't been driven a lot. But she did great and lasted the entire way. Although, every time I got anywhere near 75 mph she started shaking: her way of saying, Ellen, if you do that, you're not making it home.

We arrived at our destination Friday night at around 9 pm and had a rip-roaring first night. Well, not really, but for me it was fun. Saturday started off with some pancakes and a multi-hour long video chat with our good friend Marquillos, and his extremely sketchy friend Diego. There were a couple power outages down in Costa Rica while we were chatting ("i need to leave right now i beleive because this can get burn...") and Marco was adamant that he would burn his hands if he continued to type so he would sign off, but the virtual phone would ring the second the lights came back on. We then went to see our friend at her gig at a coffee store in their hometown. She had a whole set and rocked it. We stopped by a big rock (it was more impressive than I just made it sound) and ate at a local Mexican restaurant. Then it was time for pee-wee football! I had never been to a high school football game, let alone a pee-wee one. Those parents are inSANE crazy fans. They all have shirts that say, "My Spartan is 88" or whatever their kid's number is. It's great. Brittney's little brother was playing (and scored a touchdown within the first two minutes of the game) and I met some of her hometown buds and family.

Saturday was full of dancing. Brit and I decided that we were going to learn the choreography to the Cafe Tacvba dance to their song Dejate Caer. The moves look really simple, but throw in some other variables (*wink*), and it took us a while to get them right. We video-taped every try, and I figure that I will put our best take up on my blog instead of Facebook or something, because, let's face it, who really reads this thing anyways? Here it is:

It's always sad to say goodbye, obviously, but it does seem that we live a lot closer than we do. I have seen her more than I have seen my dad in the past year, and that's kind of pathetic. I'm glad that we're able to find the time to see each other, and I hope it continues.

I did have a rather nice time driving all those hours (minus the necks and calf cramping) because I am in love with North Carolina's mountains! They are simply gorgeous. When we drove there, it rained the entire time and I felt like I was driving to Guapiles, CR, and that the beach would be just beyond the mountains. They are so pretty. A little nerve-racking to be driving through, but so pretty. I think I want to live in Asheville and be a hippy with a sweet house on the side of a cliff with no electricity and an outhouse in our backyard. That would be pretty much amazing.

I'll have to look into that.

Peace.