Bucket List

At long, long last we are having a great stretch of summer weather.  Upper 70's, low 80's, no humidity to speak of, not a cloud in the sky.  Simply amazing.

So my friend Lisa calls and asks if we could hang out, maybe go for a drive on Sunday.  Sure.  Seemed like a great idea.  A long weekend, great weather, hanging out with a friend.  Sounds like a blast.

So the drive.  Well, Lisa has recently acquired a Porsche Boxster convertible.  Periwinkle blue.  This thing is gorgeous.  And I have a thing for Porsche.

It started with a boyfriend in college - TJ.  Long before the sweetie.  Anyway, he raced Porsche 914's.  And I can tell you almost every date was in his car.  We had a blast.

Time warp a few years into the future.  Perhaps more than a few years, to this weekend.  Lisa was going to let me drive.  How cool was that?! 

I settle into the drivers seat, push in the clutch and turn it on.  What a great throaty engine sound!  It was hot.  In a couple of blocks I had a pretty good feel.  It shifts like a dream.  I was even able to pull away from a stop in third gear without stalling.  The third gear thing was a mistake, but the point is that it didn't stall!

Where did we go?  Part of the North Cascades Highway.  We have a lot of great twisty mountain highways in Washington State and Highway 20 is definitely one of them. 

There are a couple of small towns along the highway before you get deep into the pass and you need to go 30 mph in town.  No kidding.  The small town police are just waiting to write a ticket that will fund filling another pothole.  And we saw a couple of folks pulled over.  Now you know they are dying to pull over a couple of old ladies in a convertible.  I was pleased to disappoint. 

But, I can tell you that car does not want to go 30.  More like 50 would be better, and without even breaking a sweat.  God it was fun.  Especially once we go out of traffic.  Wind whipping through your hair.  Flying through corners. It was fantastic!

I used to think owning a two-seater convertible in Seattle was foolish. Perhaps it is, given that you can really only drive them with the top down for a few months.  But oh my gosh it was just about the most fun you can have legally.  I am a convert.  Gabbing and belly laughing with Lisa was just icing on the cake.   It was definitely a bucket list day for me.

Here are some pics from a couple of stops we made.