misadventures

English hubby and I have a mantra of sorts that came to be when Sweetpea was a toddler.

You can't manufacture a good time.

Apple Farm, Philo, CA (a favourite stop on the way home)

This isn't as negative as it might sound. It was our way of being content in circumstances beyond our control. That no matter the planning and anticipation, sometimes events don't quite work out the way we intend. But you make the best of it and ultimately, you look back at those times with fondness or at least a sense of humour.

Such was our camping trip this past weekend. A two hour drive became five when we broke down in a cellular service-free valley 20 miles from the campground. Sweetpea and English hubby traipsed half a mile up a long driveway to phone AAA from a winery just shutting its doors.  For the next two hours we waited, trying to text our friends at the campsite to let them know we'd be late, using stones to draw hopscotch squares on the driveway of the winery.  We hope they didn't mind when they showed up the next morning.

A salt-of-the-earth local mechanic diagnosed a dead alternator, and put in a new battery with enough juice to get us to the campground and then back to his shop the next day, where he had a friend drive a new part from a bigger town an hour away.  He delivered the car to us at 8 p.m. Saturday night.

A weekend of camping for the bargain price of $500.  But our friends had drinks and food prepared for us and calmed our nerves with their friendship.  Plus a gin and tonic or two.  There were campfires and s'mores and walks under towering redwoods and swims in rivers and laughing kids and conversations that made us hiccup with laughter.

A bargain.