The Great Escape

One of my favorite bloggers, Michelle at Scribbit, hosts a monthly writing contest. This is a good thing since one of my New Year's resolutions was to use my blog to work on my mad writing skillz and what better motivation than that of winning fabulous prizes? So here is my entry.

The Great Escape

On Thursday night, I am packing my new Christmas luggage and stowing it in the back of the minivan. An early bedtime will be followed by hours of tossing and turning in giddy excitement. I can never sleep the night before a big trip and this is one to get excited over. You see, very early Friday morning, I am meeting three friends for a girls only weekend away. No men, no kids, no laundry or dishes. Just the four of us eating, shopping, eating, doing crafts, eating, sightseeing, and did I mention eating?

The plan is to pick everyone up and head out of town by 7am, which means it'll be at least 8 before everyone shows up, we get all the luggage loaded up, and actually get on the road. Just over 3 hours on the road and we'll be in Charleston, SC. It's the perfect destination for a girls' getaway with the history, plantations, beach, and (of course) shopping!

The first order of business when we arrive is lunch and one of the girls swears she knows the perfect little cafe. From there, we can drop our bags off at the bed and breakfast, then head out again to do a little shopping and make sure we know how to get to the tour office for our sightseeing tour on Saturday (more about that in a moment). Friday evening, we're taking over the sitting area at the B&B for a craft and I've got the perfect one planned. We're designing our own hats - think the Red Hat Society. Surely at some point you've seen a group of women piling off a tour bus, wearing their distinctive red and purple hats. You have to admire their sense of self-confidence and the way they live life fully when they're wearing those hats. I have one whole suitcase of flowers, ribbon, buttons, pins, and all kinds of things that could be used to make the coolest sisterhood hats in the world. There's also another suitcase filled with snacks and chocolate, but we won't talk about that.

After a late night of talking, laughing, and snacking, we'll be up just in time for breakfast Saturday morning, then we'll don our hats and it's off to the tour office. You see, we've saved our pocket change and we're going on a day-long sightseeing tour that includes a carriage ride through the downtown historic district and lunch at a beautiful plantation, with the entire afternoon to explore the house and gardens. We will happily model our hats in the hundreds of photos we'll take and enjoy the envious glances of other women as they watch our fun and fellowship. Saturday night will be more shopping, eating, and just hanging out before we collapse into bed from exhaustion.

Sunday morning will be another breakfast and check-out time, but the fun isn't over yet. We're planning to drive around the coastline and admire the views, then spend the afternoon wandering around Freshfields Village. None of us have been there before, but the list of shops alone is enough to make us pretty sure it'll be fabulous.

By about 4 o'clock, we'll have to bid farewell to Charleston and head back toward our homes and our responsibilities. I'm sure we'll all be missing our families and it'll feel wonderful to sleep in our own beds again, but we'll also be sad to see the trip come to an end. We'll sort out our suitcases and shopping bags, give hugs all around, and go back to our real lives. Those hats, however, will sit in a place of honor and they'll be calling us to another adventure and soon!

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Yawn....hummnn...wha?....Oh? It was only a dream? But...but...it seemed so real!

You know, if I started saving my pocket change now and start talking it up to my friends, I bet we could make it a *real* Great Escape by the time the weather's warm enough to enjoy the ride in an open carriage.

So who wants to escape with me?