As the story begins, I am setting out on the longest road trip I have ever done all by myself, all the way from DC to NY. My companions? AAA Maps, country music mix tapes, Diet Cokes, and written-out directions carefully taped to my passenger side dashboard. Actually the weather could not have been worse -- pouring rain, visibility was really bad on the highways, and the traffic was stopped up for a lot of it. The 4 hour trip took me over 6 hours. But thank God, MiniMi (my car) and I finally made it to the hotel in Saddlebrook around 4:30 p.m.

I checked in and promptly took a nap. My roommate, Jean, had called to say her plane would be delayed. So I couldn't remember when and where the rest of us were meeting! I called down to Chre and Jack's room to check on what was up. I heard a male voice sleepily answer "Hellooooo?" "Hi, this is Mimi, did I wake you up?" "Uhhhhhh" "I'll call back later" "Uhhhhhhhhh" "Bye" "Uhhhhhh" Oh no, was I ever embarrassed! But now I had to get ready to hit the town! New short black dress, did my hair and makeup and jewelry. The only question was, did I wear black flats or the sexy black "FMS" sandals I brought specially for the trip? Choices, choices, and no roommate yet to help me choose! I went with the 3-inch black strappy heels, just in honor of our frequent discussions of this shoe on MN:)

Finally, I reached Chre, and she confirmed we were meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the lobby, which we did do. I got there first, and I was watching all sorts of people walking by, wondering if they were my unknown MN friends? Chre, Jack came down just as Miss Tif drove up. My first impression of them all was very good. Miss Tif was a sweetheart, and Chre was friendly and a lot of fun to be around, and Jack was also very friendly and good to me, not to mention gorgeous besides (and despite my fears, not mad at me for waking him up)! We first went to Miss Tif's house to check on her dog, and then we went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Miss Tif's town. She promised Jack if the food was greasy, we'd get it for free. Unluckily, the food was delicious! :) We just ate and chatted and all got to know each other. As I remember, we were telling Chinese horoscopes from the place mats, and then we were reading palms. Finally the fortune cookies came and we read fortunes "in bed"!

By now it was kind of late, so we headed out to the Comedy Club. We drove to NY across the bridge and the skyline view was beautiful! Then Miss Tif and I were right on the block where the club should be but we couldn't see it. On my cell phone we kept calling for directions and they kept telling us we were in the right spot but we couldn't see it. Then we parked, and lo and behold, there was the club across the street! We got to the club and it was so exciting to see everyone there!!! Right away I recognized Aleja and Mel, and there were Jack and Chre. By my excellent powers of deduction I figured the other male was Keith, the pretty Asian woman was Jinx, and the short brunette was Jean. The show was already going on so we just sat down and ordered out $7 beers (that's right, you heard correctly, $7 beers) and listened. The comedians were really funny. After the show we sat there till they kicked us out, then we all stood and chatted outside on the street. Everyone was so friendly, as I'd expected.

Then we got back in cars and went back to the hotel. For the first time that weekend (but definitely not the last) I was treated to the unique experience of Chre's racecar driving style, with Mel in the car covering her eyes every time we came near to a truck and yelling "I'm not looking!" At the hotel, we all hung out in Chre and Jack's room until the next door neighbor called to complain we were too loud. Well it WAS midnight, but please! So we all went to Bennigan�s and got a long table and we got drinks and various forms of chocolate cake. I'm ashamed to say, but a whole table of Chocoholics was unable to finish these rich treats. We talked and drank and hung out until the place closed at 2:00. The 4 of us hotel guests went back to the hotel and the others went home. Keith was going to a Karaoke bar and asked us to come along! I said I was too tired. But then Jack came down to my room and it was like � Did I say tired? Who's tired, not me! We stayed up late talking and getting to know each other. I think it was around 5am when he went upstairs and I went to sleep.

Saturday, August 19:

The alarm went off at 9am. Oh my God I wanted to die! Jean and I took turns showering and got ready for the amusement park trip. Last night everyone was teasing me and saying "Oh Mimi, she's always late"! So, I was VERY proud that second only to Chre and Jack, Jean and I were the first ones downstairs! The other 2 went and got us all some breakfast and Jean and I chatted while we waited for everyone to arrive. About 11am everyone was there. I met Bren and Helen for the first time, and I took them upstairs to drop off their stuff in my room. Both were very friendly. Then we all split up in cars to go to the amusement park.

Now I have only one word: Traffic. Unless it's 2words: Heavy Traffic. It took us about 3 hours to get to the Six Flags because of the traffic. Luckily in my car (Chre, Jack, and Mel) I had good company and good conversation. We finally got to the park around 2:15pm.

We had a fun time at the park. We rode all sorts of rides, ate all sorts of junk foods, did a beer stop in mid-afternoon, got henna tattoos, played games (no luck in winning a stuffed dog!), and rode even more roller coasters! I had fun chatting with people in line, as well as flirting and laughing at dirty jokes! I got to know Helen who obviously I never knew from MN. And for the couple of roller coasters I didn't go on, it was nice to sit and talk with the other people who were chicken like me :) Bren was so nice to sit and hold our bags all the time. Once I was sitting on the grass with Bren and Miss Tif and I fell asleep there and I woke up and Miss Tif had put grass all over my stomach! She also made certain funny comments and I shrieked and could not stop laughing! By the end of the day it got colder, and we were tired and glad to go home when the park closed.

We made it back to the hotel around midnight. Especially after the previous night, I was SO tired! We had planned to go to Miss Tif's but everyone was too worn out to do so. All 11 of us were hanging around in Jack & Chre's room again. I kind of dozed off on the bed. Then I woke up and asked, "Jean, where are we?" "Mimi do you remember going in the elevator?" "Oh yeah...." "So we're not in our room, right?" "Oh yeah...." Keith again asked if anyone wanted to go to the bar with him. It was the perfect time to go but we were all too beat to go. No "baaaaaaah-going" that night! So we all went our separate ways and went to sleep.

Sunday, August 20:

Today was the barbecue at Jinx's! I wore a new embroidered blouse, kind of like a hippie shirt, and jean shorts and sandals. We all met in the lobby again and this time I drove over in Bren and Helen's car. It was fun to ride with them and hear their stories. Because we got off at the wrong exit, we were a little late, but we did make it there!

Jinx has a very nice house. And let me tell you, she and her husband did and amazing job in planning for the barbecue! I was very impressed. There was more food than I could eat in 10 lifetimes, all of it delicious. She and Miss Tif had made us goodie bags including party hats, bubbles, water guns, cameras, and candy candy candy! We hung around inside, then we brought the food out in tables in the backyard, spread out some blankets and chairs, and had a nice outdoor barbecue party all afternoon long. My compliments to the chefs, including Mr. Jinx for the chili, Miss Tif for the burgers, and Keith for the yummy-looking cakes we were unfortunately too full to eat! I was happy that people liked my chocolate-dipped choc chip cookies. Also my compliments to the bartender, Chre, who mixed us yummy Creamsicles, Mudslides, Almond Mudslides, and Strawberry Daiquiris all day long. After the hectic fun of the previous day, it was nice to chill out and just relax with friends all day long. Even Samson (Miss Tif's dog) was there, and he was just chilling along with us.

Some memories of that afternoon? Miss Tif blasting Jack with the water gun, in an unfortunate location! Playing darts on the really cool dartboard that kept score, and realizing I am not so bad at it. Trying to play foosball and realizing I AM pretty bad at it. Listening to a recording where Gerdje told us how to pronounce her name, and now I think I can do it! Jean telling everyone, "Mimi and I talked about it in bed last night", then everyone cracked up because it sounded like we were "intimate" roommates! Eating and drinking, then drinking and eating. Finding Jinx's Victoria's Secret camera and deciding that such a camera should have X-rated pictures on it.... and providing such pictures! What was I thinking? I was not! Ack! Everyone was talking about playing �I never� but not getting around to it. Eating some delicious chocolate-dipped strawberries in some very sexy ways. Taking a break to take Samson for a walk with Chre and Miss Tif. Then we decided to write postcards, which took a while. After that, we did lemon drop shots. The shot was all vodka and then you had to eat the lemon slice covered with sugar. Yikes! But I did it. No way was I driving home that night!

At the end we sat around chatting in Jinx's living room, nobody wanted to leave! We said goodbye to Bren and Helen who were driving home for good. Then we all took cars back to the hotel or to Miss Tif's house. Jack, Keith, and Chre all came and hung out in me & Jean's room, where we talked for a couple more hours and drank some beers that we took from Jinx's. Then they went to go to bed. Jack had to leave that night to go to work the next morning (boo hoo!), so I walked him out to his car. Then I did come back and crash. Another late night! What else is new when you're having so much fun with MN'ers? And Jean was a great roommate.

Monday, August 21:

We woke up, showered, got ready and checked out. Jean and I met Chre in the lobby. We were waiting for the others to come and have lunch together. Jinx showed up and she told us how things were going on MN. The previous day we had decided to say we all hated each other, at least until Wednesday afternoon. We were coming up with all sorts of complaints and insults, and saying them loudly and laughing hysterically, and the desk clerks and the guests were looking at us funny! The only thing is sometimes I would get clueless and forget it was a joke. Jean said, "And Mimi didn't even pay me for the room!" I said "Yes I did!....oh yeah" That sort of thing. Well, natural blonde and all!

Keith, Mel, and Miss Tif showed up and we went to Bennigan's for lunch. Keith had even printed out the posts from MN that we laughed at some more. It was a great trip, we all really got along, and nobody wanted to leave. After lunch we went to Dairy Queen for some Blizzards. (Yum!) Then since it was about 3:30, sadly, we really had to go. There were planes to catch and jobs to get to. I drove off down the Garden State Parkway and the whole way home, I kept remembering the adventures of the weekend and the friends I made. Thank you everyone for a terrific, amazing experience. I am glad, not only that you put up with me (LOL), but to call you my friends. Hope to see you all again!

The End!