july 1st 2008 tuesday 11:35 pm hi, july. please give me adventures like the ones june supplied me with. xoxo alexis a few days ago i hung out with a friend. with no predetermined destination ahead of us we drove aimlessly around searching for a spot to take pictures. we were equipped with our yashica & olympus around our necks along with our digitals tucked into our bags. twenty minutes later my car was sitting in the grass near a forest trail. we ended up walking on the main trail for ten minutes. someone placed a small parrot made out of foam into one of the branches. it was one of the three digital shots i decided to take. we skipped over to another trail. we were on that one for nearly thirty minutes when we decided to stop in front of water. i took my flip flops off (not proper shoes to be wearing while walking through a trail lined with trees, water, flowers, bugs etc.), rolled my jeans up, walked across the cold stone blocks, and dipped my feet into the stream. naturally cold, better than a pool. it didn't last long. we walked on going higher and higher it seemed into the forest. along the way there were many other trails to choose from. we obviously made the wrong choice because we walked for another hour only to find ourselves on a rocky trail leading to... black pavement. pavement that had newly built houses lined along it. we ended up in a neighborhood which we never heard of. there were so many trails behind us that we didn't know whether to turn around and find our way back or walk into the neighborhood. we walked onto the pavement. i took my cell phone out and tried calling a few people to ask for directions on where we were. no one answered. my friend called someone and wanted them to put the address of the street we were on into google earth or mapquest. the street was on neither because it was new. we decided to walk not knowing what we were doing really. behind us was a car that both of us had not seen. it was leaving the neighborhood. i flagged the car down as it passed slowly wanting to know where we were. the windows rolled down. a man was driving and a woman who i assumed was his wife was in the passengers seat. i asked them if they knew how to get to the main road from where i was standing. the couple told me they weren't from here. they were checking out the neighborhood as a potential area to live in. i sighed and said thanks. i turned back to my friend and we walked on. the car crept next to us and i could hear the woman's voice faintly asking us, "do you want a ride?" we both turned around. i looked at my friend trying to read her face for the answer. the couple in the car seemed genuinely concerned. i could hear the woman's voice again, "do you want a ride? we won't hurt you." the next thing i knew i was in the back seat scrunched up next to my friend even though there was enough space for both of us. our seat belts weren't on. it's not something i do often or at all... getting into cars with strangers. the wife turned around and asked us what road we were looking for. my friend told her the street name and we looked at our surroundings. it occurred to my friend and me while in the backseat of two seemingly nice strangers car that we had wandered far into the woods. enough to end up in a new neighborhood miles away from the main road we were looking for. part of the drive was in silence. the wife turned around every now and then to ask us questions. her first one was if we were college students. she was trying to make small talk, i suppose. we both replied at the same time, "yes." a few more minutes of silence and a few more general questions afterwards the car was on the main road. we found the street we needed to turn on to. "you can just drop us off right here," my friend said pointing to the big iron gate at the entrance of the park. my friend and i shuffled out of the car. i remember saying "thank you so much" and the wife said she was glad they could help us. honestly, the husband looked a little annoyed about all of it. he also looked and sounded a bit tense on the drive to the entrance as if we were the ones who were going to kill them. i was suspecting that his wife was the one who wanted to help us. the car sped away and i looked at my friend. she let out a laugh and so did i. i think it was a laugh of relief. i looked at her and said, "today was the weirdest, most awkward, and hilarious day of 2008 so far."