Fox and Squirrel go on an Adventure

I'm taking a break from my other cyber memoir "My First Trip to the Great Escape", to impart the account of my most recent trip to the theme park, with my dear friend Acacia. Like other memoirs of mine (All amusement park themed, it seems) it will be in parts, and I hope what few readers I have will be able to keep up and not get mixed up.

Part 1: You Can't Have an Adventure on an Empty Stomach
Acacia and I first hatched our plan for a Great Escape trip on a warm summer's day. We'd spent the day swimming at the Saxton's River Rec, shopping in Rutland, and visiting the Laurel Glen cemetery in Cuttingsville, Vermont. At some point during our long day, we decided to plan a special trip. Would we go to Salem, MA? Would we go to The Montshire Museum? It had to be special. Somehow, we decided upon the Great Escape, seeing as neither of us had been there in years.

For me, the planning was rather strenuous; I had to scrounge up enough cash to buy a ticket and to pay for gas and parking (The Great Escape charged for parking!). We also had to pick a date, and arrange a schedule. There was much to do and so little time to do it! I was having anxiety attacks from the stress. But thanks to my mother's help and a bit of good luck, everything worked out. We ordered the tickets online, and my mom bought food to pack a picnic. We'd take our trip on a Monday, to beat the weekend crowds.

It had been decided that on the night before our trip I would sleep at Acacia's, for reasons of convenience. So on Sunday, August 9th, Acacia arrived at my house, in her little midnight blue car. I had packed us two bags of food for the night and the next day, sandwich makings, snacks and juice boxes. In my Sweeney Todd bag I had packed my overnight things- pajamas, clothes for the next day, items of that sort. In my purple backpack, I packed items I would need for the park- my bathing suit, my towel, medications, my money and our tickets.

Acacia and I drove to her house in good spirits. I however, was just a tiny bit anxious, triggered by my usual apprehension of going on any trips without my family (how did I survive Hershey?) and the fact that The Great Escape only accepted online tickets if you had a photo ID, which I did not have. But you'll find dear reader, that my fears were unfounded. I was not carded, not even once, during our trip.

Acacia lives in a lovely old house in Chester, with a beautiful view of the river. The rooms are gorgeous, and well decorated with various curios and knick-knacks. The house belongs to her grandparents, and she lives there during college vacations. It is also haunted, but I will discuss that later.
Once inside, we put away our food and settled in for an entertaining evening. Acacia graciously offered me a Woodchuck Hard Cider, which I accepted gladly, for I enjoy the crisp tartness of hard cider. Drinks in hand, we entered the living room, to entertain ourselves in various and sundry ways.

It was a boisterous night. We watched an anime called Axis Powers Hetalia and a couple of TV programs. We laughed and we ate sandwiches.
The night wore on.  At one point, Acacia retired to the bathroom to shave her legs, giving me a chance to use the internet. We had long talks about life, the universe and everything, accompanied by plenty of music.
Soon, it was time to go to bed. We camped out in the living room; I had the couch while Acacia took the floor. We got settled in, and turned out the lights.

Sleep did not come. Besides my anxiety and excitement, my insomnia was caused by the fact that Acacia's house had it's share of spirits. Weird vibes and sounds filled the darkness. As a result, I panicked and Acacia turned on the light. As with most hauntings, the bad feelings recede when the light is on, and I felt at ease. To further my comfort, Acacia brought out incense and tarot cards. She lit the incense, releasing a sweet smell reminiscent of my childhood, an incense my mother must have used. Then she performed a tarot reading.

During the reading, we discussed my on and off again boyfriend Scott, for the trials of our affair had been plaguing me for the past two years. It helped some and I had intense feelings of comfort and ease, thanks to the ritual and the sweet incense. We returned to bed, much more willing to sleep than before. I did eventually sleep some, and had very bizarre dreams. I tend to have weird dreams whenever I sleep away from home. I woke up several times during the night, but managed to fall back asleep.

We woke up about six in the morning, ready to get on the road. I changed out of my pajamas and put on clean underwear, socks and a bra. Then, I pulled on my Torrid capris, (the same ones I wore to Hershey) and my purple t-shirt with the meditating fairy. I put on my black converse sneakers with the rainbow laces, my pentacle, my purple goddess earrings and tied my hair back into an efficient ponytail. Acacia put on a pair of khaki colored shorts, a t-shirt, the color of which escapes my memory, (I want to say it was a pale sage green) and a pair of sandals. Not flip-flops, wedges, or slides, but a pair of good proper sandals which stay put.

We had everything packed up, our food, our bathing suits and everything else, but it was only 6:15. We had hopped out of bed and gotten dressed and packed in record time. Acacia was not quite ready to leave, so she suggested making breakfast; you can't have an adventure on an empty stomach, after all.
So we made pancakes. We mixed the batter, and fried them right up. They fell apart easily and were a little misshapen, but they were still very tasty. We slathered them in butter and pancake syrup (even though we're Vermonters, we sadly lacked real maple syrup), poured ourselves glasses of milk and sat down to breakfast.

It was a good breakfast; we ate heartily and I downed two glasses of milk. We chatted over our breakfast, one of the subjects being the fact that the syrup bottle said "Pancake and Waffle Syrup". You can't call it maple, because it is not maple. It is not even close, it's artificially flavored imitation maple. It doesn't even have maple in it, I think. It tastes like it, but it's a vague, overly sweet maple-y flavor. It's not bad, but it's not the real thing. Like silicone tits, you can look at them, they're pretty if they're done right, but they'll never feel as nice as the real thing.
After breakfast, I took my Cylexa and a Xanax for my anxiety and we chilled for awhile (Or did we chill before we had breakfast?). I was anxious to leave, but Acacia was the driver and since she had the keys, she made the decisions.

We left around seven. I put in my American Indian flute music, but it made us too sleepy, so we switched to more cheerful music to gear us up. We drove to Springfield, in order to stop at Acacia's bank so she could get some money. I didn't mind too much, until we discovered we had at least a half an hour before her bank opened! We waited that grueling 30 minutes reading New England ghost stories to each other. When the bank opened, we went in and Acacia withdrew some money from her account. Then we got back in the car, and made ready to journey to Lake George.

But we forgot the map. Not having a map put a damper on our plans. A big one. So we sped back to Chester and ran into the house to get the map, while I reminded myself that everything would work out fine. Once we fetched the map, we could officially begin our adventure.

Stay tuned for part 2!