Get a cup of tea.....go to the bathroom...get comfy...because this is a long story....
And you all know I love to tell a good story...
Back in 1992 I took daughter on the "East Coast College Tour".....
From Atlanta to Maine.....with many stops along the way...
We started out in a rented LeBaron Convertible because every good road trip starts with a
Convertible..
I was doing fine until we hit a rest stop somewhere in Virginia.....I had driven for hours and hours....When I asked daughter when we would be crossing into Maryland she advised me that we were only half way through the state of Virginia....
At that point I was ready to crawl into the back seat of the car and have a nervous breakdown...
Well before we knew it and no worse for the wear we arrived at our first stop in Philadelphia...My brother lived there at the time and we thought we would make a stop and check out the University of Pennsylvania.....Not very impressed by the campus being in the middle of a big city we stayed the night at brothers then moved on to daughter's appointment at Yale.....
Okay....not much of an improvement.....interview went well and we moved on to Boston....
getting into Boston early in the day we toured the campus of Harvard then went over to check out Boston University.....well....to be honest with this one we only made it to the college bookstore/gift shop....
Again big city.....so we moved on.....
Now I know your tempted to stop reading at this point but hang it there because it's about to get good......
I bet your wondering why you haven't seen any pictures yet.....Me too....
I have no idea why I didn't take any pictures of anything up until this point....
I'm thinking when I stopped at the Maine Welcome Center they gave me a disposable camera...instructed me to take some pictures then return it on the way out of the state....
That would be the only explanation I can come up with......
You see what I didn't know at the time......until we hit the State of Maine was that daughter had more plans then just visiting Bowdoin College......
Yes, the daughter snookered me into driving her all the way to Maine to find Mel Gibson....
You see Mel was in the town filming a movie and at the time.....well....daughter just thought he was the greatest...
Who knew that he would turn out to age very badly and become a drunk!!
Have you people seen him lately?
Anyhoo......we arrived very late into the night at our destination......
The Harpswell Inn....a lovely B&B......with strange Inn-Keepers...
The man of the house was an alumni of Bowdoin so we thought how perfect...
Daughter can pick his brain about the college before we went over for her interview the next day...
To say they were a bit pissed because we arrived so late is an understatement....
We were scurried off to our room and told breakfast would we served in the morning in the dining room.....
The next morning all we got out of Mr. B&B was an unfriendly hello....
Not a very good representative of the college.....
Well we decided to check out early and take a little ride up the coast in hopes of finding Mel....
Oh Sure......
Like looking for a needle in a haystack....
Daughters interview was at 3:00 so we knew we had to be back by then.....
So off we go...top down.....beautiful weather....beautiful scenery....and our first stop...
The Maine Prison Store....
Very unusual concept but cool none the less...
The prisoners make do-dads with wood like little Moose recipe card holders and when something sells the money goes into their account for when they get out........
We continued North up the coast to Camden....we heard that Mel was filming there that day and we figured how big can Camden be....
We continued North up the coast to Camden....we heard that Mel was filming there that day and we figured how big can Camden be....
It was very scenic....lots of boats in the harbor and we had a wonderful lunch atCappy's Chowder House...
The finest New England Clam Chowder I have ever had....We still talk about it to this day...
But where was Mel???
I drove all this way under false pretenses and No Mel?
Well....Mel had moved down to Rockport.....So we headed down to Rockport....
It was starting to get fun at this point.....
BINGO!!!movie set......we saw it from the road and quickly turned the car around...
We might actually get to see Mel in the flesh and you have to admit back in 92' he was something to look at......Now....not so much.
How do you sneak your way onto a closed movie set......Well.....you make nice to the local police force....When this friendly cop heard we had driven all the way from Georgia.....He told us where to go to wrangle our way onto the set.
They were filming down by the harbor and we were able to go and sit on the set and watch them film....daughter even had the nerve to go to the "craft table" and get herself a drink....I think she still has the cup she drank out of....Mel was a few hundred yards away and yes...we did get pictures....daughter must have them because they are no where to be found during the making of this post.............But believe me.....he was there...and we were there...
the movie was.....The Man Without A Face".....
Did we make it back to Bowdoin for daughter's interview.....?Ofcourse not.....we were having too much fun....What a terrible mother....
Oh heck it gets too cold in the winter in Maine anyway...
The ride home was somewhat uneventful accept for two minor incidents...
Driving back into New York I made the mistake of taking the ramp to the top level of the GWB...
Around....and Around...and Around....and Around....it was horrifying.....
I was so scared because I knew I was going to hit the side wall......
I made it through okay but I must say I will never drive over that bridge ever again....
Then somewhere in the Carolina's we pulled off the highway and while pulling into a gas station we hit the curb and blew a tire..... Not having any skills to change a tire we stood there looking pathetic....hoping some kind man would come to our aid....
When out of the blue walks up a man and offers to change the tire....
Here's where it gets creepy.....
I was wearing at the time a gold half moon charm on a gold chain....
After he got finished changing the tire he was standing in front of me looking at the necklace....
He made some comment about looking at what he was wearing around his neck....
Karma....Maybe....
He was wearing the same gold moon but in the opposite direction.....
So the two charms would have made a full moon....
Daughter.......can you verify this.....
In an instant he was gone and we had no idea where he came from or where he went to.....
One of those "sends shivers up your spine moments"......
One more college stop at Duke University....You know they won't let you walk on the grass there.....didn't think that was a nice feature....and one more stop at Hertz to pick up a new rental car with a good tire and we headed for home.....
As we come to a close......your probably asking where did daughter decide to go to school...
Well....the road trip proved to be just a fun experience for the girls....
A real bonding moment in time.....
Looking for a large University......but not in a large city.....
Some thing with real Rah Rah...ambiance......
Maybe a little bit of Ivy on the buildings......
Yes.....just one more Road Trip.....
All 18 hours to Ithaca New York.....
We reached the school........and what did we see.....
The Artificial Insemination Lab Building.....for large animals.....
Not a good first impression.....Daughter wanted to turn around and drive home....
OOOps.....we came in the wrong entrance.....
The Main Entrance to the University was beautiful......
And it was here where she made herself at home for the next 7 years.....
And Mel Gibson was no where in sight!!
May all your future College tours be as fun as this one!!REVISION!!!!
see post above.....
18 comments:
I remember seeing the Mel pics. He was in good shape then.
I still have the wooden moose recipe card holder from the Maine Prison gift shop you gave me. It has a moose head and moose body glued to opposite sides of a spring clothes pin. He is retired from kitchen duty now and has a plush job holding memo's in my home office.
Necie
You do know how to tell a story lovely lady! I could so go on a road trip like this with you and your daughter!! It would be a hoot!
Loved the pictures!!
LOL! Great story and your daughter is so cute! I have to admit I like Mel Gibson way back then too...not so much these days.
I don't drive over the George Washington bridge either ..all those lanes gives me the willies!
I still love Mel, and he still looks good to me! heehe. What a fun story, you two must have college shopped when she was like 12, she looks so young. Sounds like a great and memorable Mother/Daughter trip! Cindy
Way more exciting than our college hunt experiences. Well, except when I drove over the parking curb at LaSalle's parking lot. Then got lost in West Philly.
I remember our trips to different colleges as well. What great memories.
Great story and memories you have here too. Loved it.
What a trip! Mel was cute back then but I agree, he hasn't aged well. He is also a womanizing drunken jerk, cute is as cute does right? Anyway, it sounds like a great adventure to take with a daughter and a wonderful memory for both of you. Great story for all of us too:>)
Great story and I have a tie to that MG movie too. When just a little one, DS had a reading for the part of the little boy...he was into acting then and got picked from his agent's book of head shots...didn't get the part, but it sure was one exciting time at our household!
No cross country college trips for our household. Both kids chose the Big 10 school 10 minutes away! What we saved on gas we made up on feeding half of the university...
Ellen
PS...this is the first blog I've read in over a week!
Hi other Sue, friend of Susie Q !! Sorry to be so lax getting back to ya- I just want to say thanks for stopping by for a visit. I came over and read and laughed and commiserated with your posts! I told Sue that I thought only weird things happen to me. Anybody that is with me always gets into trouble when I am around. Can you imagine what would happen if three Sue's made the rounds together?! You are such a vivid writer. I have enjoyed my visit here and will have to come back later.
:-) Sue
What a cute post! I enjoyed the whole story. The high school/ college years were so much fun, a great time of bonding with the woman who used to be your little girl. Wonderful memories!
Whoa...moon man is downright FREAKY!!
The things that happen to you...
Well, you've brought back memories for me. I took a few of those college trips with my kids, and we had some interesting trips as well. No Mel Gibson stories, however one evening, driving on
I-195 late in the evening, my daughter and I were the only ones on the road (you know how lonely that road can be sometimes, right??) when a car appeared next to us. It stayed with us for a minute or so - and then was just as quickly GONE! We had passed no exits, and we didn't see him pull off to the side of the road. We had an eerie feeling then.
I think your fella was your guardian angel.
Oh! I was thinking of you Sunday night as I drove through Princeton, on the way to Princeton U. for my son's hockey game.
Such a pretty town/school.
jenny
Okay, first off a couple of revisions-- can we please make it clear that I did not spend 7 YEARS IN COLLEGE!!! I also went to law school while I was there, and in fact it was really only 6 1/2 years since I graduated from undergrad in 3 1/2 years! I don't want to sound like some kind of moron!!
AND, let's not forget that after the rest stop in Virgnia you handed over the keys to me, a sixteen year old at the time, to drive on 95 from Virgnia, through DC to Philly! (I'm sure you're still recovering from that drive!) ;)
And, in a final, also random twist of fate, while at Cornell, I got to know a girl who ended up becoming an actress and dated Nick Stahl, the child actor who was in The Man Without a Face.
Random!
ps. look at those pictures. I look okay at Cornell, but geesh-- bad hair and mom jeans in Maine. No wonder I couldn't get a date in high school!
I did a similar tour, but went no further than Virginia, with my son when he was 16. You better believe I let him drive. He loved it, and I hate driving.
It must have been a total riot at the B&B when the Jersey girls arrived to shake up the peace and quiet:) I thought I saw half moon man driving around here showing your photo and asking where you live:) he was also looking for Mel:) Great fun road trip story. Yes I have been on that bridge ramp many times and it does make you dizzy.
Joyce
If your daughter is as funny as you, you must had a great time on your little college rode trip...with a little Mel thrown in, great shots of Maine, I love it there...could eat the lobster all day long...our college trips up and down California were definitely uninspiring...you can tell a story Sue!!
What a great story, Sue (some nice bonding with your daughter).
I enjoyed the photos!
Hugs,
Donna
Hi Sue....
What a great story...and a wonderful memory for you and your daughter. We're suckers for them, aren't we? I don't know that I'd have driven a gazillion miles to find Mel Gibson, but I've done lots of things for my sweet girl too.
Thanks for the scoop about the artery deal. If things don't improve I'll check that next. Ear, Eye, Nose and Throat yesterday. (He offered me a job, didn't take it)...and one of those lovely check the inside from top and bottom in a couple of weeks. They think it could be reflux causing all this stuff. Just get to the bottom of it already fellas!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Hugs,
Spencer
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