One night last fall I was on my way home from work and my friend Sarah called me from Oklahoma. Our conversation was as follows:
Sarah: “Did you see what I left on your Facebook?”
Me: “No, I’m on the choo-choo train. Not home yet. Why?. . . Oh, God, what did you do?” (this was before my phone was smart)
Sarah: “I don’t want to tell you yet, just call me when you get home and look at your Facebook. You’re going to think I’m crazy . . . ”
Sarah is one of my most favorite people of all time. We’ve been besties since middle school and were inseparable through the thick and thin of high school. I even lived with her family the second half of our senior year after my family moved to Chicago. Anyways, you remember The Goonies, right? The classic Eighties “Gang-of-Kids-Looking-for-Pirate-Treasure-to-Save-the-Town-From-Being-Turned-Into-a-Golf-Course” movie? It has been our movie ever since the first time I stayed the night at Sarah’s house in the 7th grade. It was on TV, and when they edited the part where Mama Fratelli said “Kid’s suck,” and changed it to just “Kids . . . ” we were OUTRAGED!!
These are our 8th grade pictures, I think. These are the only pictures of us I could find without going to momndad’s to dig through boxes in the garage . . .
We haven’t changed a bit, right??
So I get home and she’s posted on my FB that she had a dream about The Goonies. And there’s a bunch of pictures and excerpts from Wikipedia about the movie on my wall. Specifically that it took place in Astoria, Oregon (and not some made-up movie town), and you can visit Astoria and see all the places where the movie was filmed. People actually make pilgrimages to Astoria just for that reason.
When I call her crazy ass back, she proceeds to tell me that she had a very vivid dream about riding bikes in Astoria with the cast of The Goonies, and it was gray and rainy and we MUST plan a trip to Oregon to see all the Goonies sights. We have to go when it’s gray and rainy, and we will take photos in the actual places where the movie was filmed. I agreed that it would be fun, and yeah, we should try and do that someday. We’ll put it on our bucket list! But after she called me back several times that night, I could see that she wasn’t going to let this one go. She gets her mind set on something and there’s not a whole lot you can do to talk her out of it. Only this time it was slightly more urgent, like, “We may have kids soon, and I just want to have one awesome, crazy trip with you before all that happens!” Oh, Sarey, damn you and your damn reasonable logic!
So we went to Oregon in February.
And it turns out, she was right. It was a crazy awesome trip, and we did it just in time, because as I FINALLY type this up, she and her hubs are getting ready to have a baby. In like a week. (!!!!!!!) So, Sarey, this is for you.
NOTE: I am splitting this awesomeness into two parts. The first is the Goonies Adventure part, and because this is a blog about Adventure and Food, the second part will focus on the food. (I know it was a while ago that we went, but it’s all good because I totally took notes!!)
dishertation 