Station Wagon Detour to Coastal Cliffs

Station Wagon Detour to Coastal Cliffs

I was on a road trip with Mark, my best friend from high school, but he somehow looked like my current coworker Dave. We were driving my mom's old station wagon through what was supposed to be our hometown, except the main street stretched on for miles into rugged, winding coastal cliffs we'd never seen before. We had this urgent mission to reach an old diner before sunset to return a borrowed camera, but the road kept turning into gravel switchbacks. My phone had zero bars and the gas light flickered on, giving me that tight anxious feeling in my chest. Instead of panicking, Mark just laughed and told me to take a steep dirt detour through some pine trees. We crested the hill just as the sun was dipping below the water, spilling gold light across the dashboard. We hadn't reached the diner, but finding that hidden overlook felt like this massive, exhilarating breakthrough, and I woke up feeling surprisingly adventurous and nostalgic.