Jeanne, Michelle, and I joined Leslie, Raine, Joset, Karen, and JB for a quick Baguio getaway. We left home past midnight. We hitched a ride with James who dropped us off where Leslie was waiting. We transferred our bags, picked up JB, and met up with the rest of the group at Shell NLEX.
After buying coffee and some necessities, we started off. Leslie and I took turns driving. During his turn, I was napping at the back when he woke me up and asked me if I know how to open a car. We were at a gas station for a restroom break. And Karen’s car had autolocked with the key inside!
I sleepily got down and joked about breaking the glass but Karen wasn’t laughing. I asked for some wire and Karen found some attached to a septic tank cover. I whipped out my trusty Leatherman Wave and cut off the wire. With the wire, I tried probing the lock through the door handles but to no avail. Since Karen’s car uses pins, I thought about fishing it and tried pulling down the front door windows, again to no avail. Joset suggested we try the rear door windows since they are manual. With a bit of team effort, we rolled it down a bit. That’s all I needed. I quickly fashioned a crude hook with the Leatherman and after a few tries and adjustments, it caught the pin and we were able to finally get in. Whew!
With the little excitement concluded, we continued driving on and up the twisty mountain road to Baguio. Just a bit after sunrise, we reached the village where we were going to stay. It’s in a quiet subdivision a small distance from the city proper. We dropped off our bags, freshened up a bit, then went on to the city. We had breakfast at Cafe By The Ruins (expensive, and horrible parking). Then we visited Burnham Park (crowded) and Tam-Awan Village (interesting). We were tired so we went back to the house early and just had dinner at a nearby hotel.
There was a fireplace at the house, so after dinner we prepared for a smores party. Unfortunately, the wood wouldn’t catch fire! JB tried. I tried. Michelle tried. Joset tried the longest. We all failed. What can I say? Wood was fake :P Too bad, since Jeanne really wanted to toast some marshmallows. Michelle just gave her some untoasted ones and after a bit, we all slept.
The next day, we got up early and visited Strawberry Fields (La Trinidad actually), Bell Church (closed due to the Chinese New Year), Good Shepherd, Mines View (crowded), and Camp John Hay. Then we went back to the house, packed up, cleaned up, and headed back to Manila.
It wasn’t bad for a weekend getaway. We weren’t able to go to the Botanical Garden, The Mansion, Wright Park, and a few other sites. But there’s always next time.