Spring Break Memories

Spring break begins this weekend, and it conjures up plenty of nostalgia from my younger days. It's also the 20th anniversary of one of my more memorable spring breaks - senior year beach trip. Twenty years ago this week, nine of us piled into three cars and headed to Sandestin, FL, for a week of unchaperoned drunken frivolity. Somehow, we were able to obtain a reservation at the Sandestin Hilton. I can't remember how we pulled it off but I seem to remember one of the guys posing as his father on the phone.

The next order of business before our momentous departure was to buy the beer. My dear late friend, Andrew, determined that we would need 46 cases of Miller Lite to take with us. Why 46? Well, allow me to explain. Nine guys, five days, a case of beer each every day and one extra case just for the hell of it. My friend David worked part-time at a drug store and persuaded a 21 year-old co-worker to buy the beer for us at Sam's Club. We then transported the beer to my mom's basement for storage - she never knew about it, until one night years later when the horrible truth was revealed to her. In fact, we ended up having to take a third vehicle just to load the beer. Think about it. Nine underage boys transporting 46 cases of beer across state lines. How stupid were we?

Once we checked in, we realized it would be a long week. The space was no bigger than the standard hotel room with two double beds, one closet and a bathroom. How all nine of us were able to survive the week without killing each other is a miracle (probably had something to do with the beer consumption). The first thing we did upon our arrival was a ceremonial ear-piercing. The aforementioned Andrew had gotten his ear pierced recently, and told David that he could pierce his with little pain or difficulty. So David chugged a few beers and allowed Andrew to numb his ear lobe with ice and pierce it with a needle (a la Frenchy and Sandy in Grease). My friend Philip had brought a whole turkey that his mom had sent along for us to have each day for lunch. Although she had the best of intentions, the carcass ended up splattered all over the wall by the second day and remained there until we checked out. Needless to say, the room smelled like a rat's asshole by the end of our trip.

The rest of the week was a blur, but we did manage to consume all of the beer, which inevitably led to a massive beer can pyramid in the corner of the room. Another highlight was the night that a fire alarm went off, resulting in all of the hotel guests congregating in the lobby. My friend Rob met a girl during the confusion and was making positive progress... until we started hollering "Rob has a boner!" across the room, causing him to awkwardly attempt to change the subject and blush uncontrollably. He still hasn't gotten over it. But we all made it back in one piece with no one having been arrested or seriously injured (except for David's ear and Rob's ego).