A Little Trip to the Insane Asylum

I love the word SERENDIPITY!  I not only like to say it because it's fun to say, but I like the meaning as well.  It means Happy Accident or the act of finding something valuable or delightful when you are not looking for it.   I also love to have serendipitous moments in my life.  This post is about one of those.

I have fun friends.  I mean REALLY fun friends.  I got to go on a road trip with two of my very funnest friends Kathy and Dawn.  I love to spend time with these crazies because well, they are crazy!  And if crazy isn't fun, then I don't know what is.  Kathy is the one in red with the large nose and mustache and the coke bottle glasses.   You would never guess she was a popular cheerleader and very dignified prom queen at our high school.  Time is hard on all of us. hehehehe  Dawn is the one in pink with the large nose and mustache.  You would never guess she was a graceful and sophisticated drill team member at our high school.  Facial hair (more like lip hair) became a problem for her in her later years.  At least her teeth have stayed inside her gums.  She's one of the lucky ones.  hehehehe     

This is the story of our unplanned trip to the Insane Asylum.

Kathy needed to go to Evanston Wyoming to watch her grandkiddos while her daughter did a walk through on a house they were buying... but the week before she got in a bike accident and ended up with a broken elbow and cracked ribs and so she was unable to drive.  So as fortune would have it - (no, this is not the part about serendipity!  I'm sure Kathy's accident was anything but happy - ha) Kathy needed someone to drive her there.  That is where Dawn and I come in.  We became the drivers.  Dawn drove us up and I drove us back.  Kathy just chilled and talked about where she was going to find her next fix of Australian licorice.   

One of the key forces in my accepting this invite was the fact that in order to get to Evanston you must drive right past Taggarts.  That was pretty much a no brainer for me.  I was in!  We decided to hit it on our way home due to time.  

We arrived safely in Evanston and even resisted stopping at the Pyro store and headed straight to meet her daughter.  While we waited, Dawn -in true character- whipped out some crazy glasses and pacifier suckers for us to pose in.  The three of us love pictures.  We love to take them, we love to stage them, we love to pose for them, we love to look at them, we love to share them.  We love them because we know that is how to secure a memory in our brains since we are starting to get up in the geriatric stage of life. (hehe)  JK   Once those props came out, we got in our element and had fun taking lots of crazy pictures.

click to enlarge

Yes we were in public...

Thanks to the Wyoming wind, I look like a WHO from the Grinch in this one. ↓ Now there is a happy accident.  Serendipity bonafide.  No way I could have planned that.

We had a few of those moments where you just laugh so hard that tears roll down your face and legs.  Those are my best days when that happens.  Sometimes you just really need a good laugh like that.  The whole day ended up being like that.  Not so fun for Kathy because with her cracked ribs it hurt to laugh.  But good for her because her doc told her she needed to laugh to keep stuff moving so she wouldn't get pneumonia. Dawn and I tried to be of service in that department.

We stopped at Arby's and got some lunch and then we met Kathy's darling daughter and took the grandkids to a park while they did the walk through and inspection.  It was an amazing park.  We spent about three hours there playing with her cute grands Chasee, Ryker, and Carter.

Yeah... we had more fun than the kids!

I LOVE this picture! ↑

 We were acting rather crazy and insane!  That's what we do when the three of us get together!

I got on my phone to post one of our pictures on Facebook (that's what I'm doing in the top right photo squatting). ↓ When I was trying to add the photo it asked me if I wanted to post a location.  I clicked on that and it gave me options.  The first option that popped up said:
WYOMING STATE INSANE ASYLUM!  
I started to laugh and laugh because I thought how funny of Google to actually put that in and I knew it had to be a joke.  There are no such things as Insane Asylum's anymore!  We all got a serious good laugh about that one and I posted that as our location.  I about wet my pants with laughter over it.  Now that was a moment of serendipity if I ever saw one.  Here we are being all crazy and insane and it gives me the option to post my location as the Insane Asylum!  Perfect description of the act of finding something valuable or delightful when you are not looking for it.  It delighted me for sure!

We took the kids back and it was sad because Chasee wanted to go with us and asked when me and Dawn could come and play with her again.  She was sad when we left.  Such a cute girl.  All of them were adorable.  

When we left we decided we were going to follow Google Map and go to that location and check it out.  We just HAD TO!  Oh my, we were laughing all the way.  When we arrived at the location we saw this sign:

It didn't say Insane Asylum and so we drove in and checked things out.  We saw a guy walking around and he kind of stopped as we drove by and so we asked him if he knew where the Insane Asylum was.  I couldn't even say it without bursting into laughter.  I tried so hard not to, but I couldn't help it.  He chuckled and was really nice and told us we had arrived.  We asked him if it was really called that and he said he thought so, but then he pointed to another man out walking and said if we really wanted to know to go ask him because he was the director.  We drove over by him but I was kind of reluctant to stop and talk to him, but he stopped and so we did.  I had previously put on my nose and eye glasses (might as well have as much fun as possible) and then rolled down the window and asked him if this was the Insane Asylum.  Once again I couldn't control my laughter as I blurted it out.  Especially while wearing the nose glasses.  It was the kind of laughter where you can't breath because you are trying so hard not to laugh but you can't help it.  He was not amused.  He said that we were at the Wyoming State Hospital and so we told him it came up on Google as the Insane Asylum and he sternly replied, "Well that goes to show you that Google isn't always correct then."  He asked if there was something else we needed and I pointed to Kathy and said, "Yeah- we just need to drop her off!" Once again I started to laugh and I pretty much knew it was time to go after that.  The other guy (the nice one) was on the other side of our car and had a big grin on his face as he watched the whole conversation.  He was a cool guy with a sense of humor.  The director probably thought we were going to cause some trouble. If he only knew... hehehehehe

As we drove out we knew we had to stop and take some photos of us in front of the sign and so we all jumped out and just then a car pulled up behind us and so we thought we were in trouble but it was just a really nice lady that worked there.  She was sweet and even offered to take our picture. 

Once I was able to breath again we headed back into Evanston and stopped at a cute little boutique and found these cute signs.  We decided we had to buy them to remind us of this fun and crazy day.  Mine said Just Be Happy and Dawn's said Be Happy and Kathy's said You Make Me Smile.  All so perfect. The only saying more perfect would have been You Make Me Wet My Pants or I Laughed So Hard I Had Tears Running Down My Legs.

We headed back towards home all excited for our much anticipated stop at Taggarts, but when we pulled in there were no cars!  I then remembered they are closed on Mondays! GROAN!  Now that was NOT a happy accident!  We were bummed. 

But instead of having a meltdown we stopped at Applebee's and had a triple chocolate meltdown to share.  That WAS a happy accident!

 Oh dear, there's only three of us.  Hmm... I wonder which one it could be.  hehehehehe

I love these women.  They make me laugh.  And laughing is so needed in today's world.  They brighten up my life and I  am so glad that they know that a sign of maturity is knowing when to be immature!   We have a lot of fun.  And that's good because life is short and who wants to go to their grave without a smile on their face?  NOT ME!  Without fun and laughter and even silliness, I would end up in the Insane Asylum.  And that would not be a happy accident. ☺