A Wedding Adventure...

This weekend was a very exciting weekend for me for many reasons.
1. I got to shoot a wedding
2. It was the wedding of my college roommate
3. It was my roommate's wedding that I got to travel to
4. It was my roommate's wedding that I got to travel to with my good friend and second shooter, Jamie Muir (who you can see pictured on yesterday's blog :)

Before I tell you about my adventures this weekend, I need to give a couple of disclaimers.
1. I grew up in Oregon where there are like 3 roads and it's impossible to get lost
2. I have a GPS and I trust it. Without fail. Even if it doesn't make sense.
3. I have been driving for 9 years, and I have only gotten one ticket and I've never been in an accident (well except the parked van I hit that one time in college...)

Jamie and I headed out around 12:30 on Friday afternoon. We figured it would take us close to 4 hours to get there so we would be there in plenty of time for the rehearsal at 6:00. Of course... we took the jeep :)

So here we are... riding along in the bumpy, non-air conditioned jeep with all of our equipment. We didn't want to open the windows too much because then we couldn't hear our own thoughts, let alone our conversation. So we began our hot, bumpy ride to Exeter. It was enjoyable enough, but eventually we had to stop and stretch our legs. Now keep in mind that the Jeep is not very secure (you can unzip the windows!!!) so I took my gps out of the dashboard and stuck it in my purse. Without turning it off. Because if I turn it off, when we get back in the car it will have to re-establish where we are... and I just didn't want to wait for that. As I'm sitting in the bathroom of the rest stop I hear an electronic voice from my purse, "Re-calculating route". I just figured it was because we were moving away from the car. We got back in the jeep and continued on our way... or so we thought... Pretty soon, Jamie says, "Why are we going South?" Uh oh. Exeter is VERY much North of where we live. We realized that when I'd heard my GPS talking in my purse, a button had been pushed and it was navigating us to my friend's house back home. So we turned around and went back the right direction.

We had several more mishaps throughout the trip. I guess these are the dangers of being in a small town... At one point I stopped at a red light. We sat there for a few minutes and I apparently decided that we'd sat long enough. So I went. But the light was still red. Oops. Then the GPS was supposed to lead us to the location of the wedding. We're driving along and we hear, "You have reached your destination." So we stopped. And we were in the middle of nowhere. A field of mud to be precise. We spent the next 15 minutes driving ourselves around trying to find where we were supposed to go (keep in mind I've been there). Turns out we were only about a minute away... just up the street a bit.

After the wedding was over, we happened to be parked on a hill facing downward. There was a car right in front of us and we were in heavy gravel. The jeep is a stick shift, so I knew it was going to be interesting. I hit the gas and the wheels just spun. I did this several times and we were getting nowhere. Then I realized something. I said to Jamie, "I have 4-wheel drive... do you think that will help?" She said, "Maybe, you should try it." So After a few minutes of trying to figure out how to get it in 4 wheel drive, I successfully got my Jeep out of the gravel and we headed on down the hill. It was a proud moment for me... and the Jeep. We have bonded just a little bit more.

On the way home, I managed to lose my gas cap somewhere... so today I will be replacing it. I kind of feel like my poor little jeep lost it's finger or something.

It was a great trip and we really had a lot of fun. I know for many of you this was a rather random post, but it was my first real trip for a shoot and I didn't want to forget the fun that we had. I look forward to many more travels for shoots. In fact, I have another one next week to Santa Barbara! Looks like there will be more stories to come!

In other news... I have passed 4000 views! Thanks guys! I know it's been more than that, but since I started keeping track a couple of months ago it's been over 4000. Since it felt like we drove about 4000 miles this weekend, I thought the following google image was appropriate:
In addition to THAT... It's my birthday week :) And I LOVE my birthday week! I will be hitting disneyland, the movies, the aquarium and maybe a couple of other fun adventures. If you have any ideas I'd love to hear them!!! Don't worry, I'll update you!