While I was walking back to work from my lunch break, I was thinking about my boots. I've had them for quite a while, and had worn them in Alaska, when I visited a friend a while back... during the trip, we went to a lodge for an outdoor event (outhouse races!), and found the funniest bathroom we've seen. It had two swinging shutter doors, blocking the toilets from the sinks.
Rather than housing stalls, however, there were just two toilets in the room. There weren't any doors, and there was certainly no divider. My friend and I jokingly said that this bathroom would be very good for when your mother tells you to stay together! Of course we had to document our great find, so all of our friends back in the lower 48 would believe that we'd seen such a thing. After taking a few pictures of the commodes themselves, we decided that we needed a few of us on the porcelain ponies themselves.
For authenticity's sake, we decided that it would be better off if we had our pants down. My friend, however, had snow pants with a bib, so I was elected the pants-puller-downer; I dutifully submitted. (Given the fact that we were in Alaska in the middle of March, we had several layers on, so pulling down the outermost layer wasn't exactly that humiliating.) Without an extra person there, we ended up propping my camera on a few spare rolls of TP and setting the self timer. We mounted up, and waited for the light to flash. As I'm accustomed, I set my camera for the two shot.
The first shot went off without glitch. Right before the second one, though, we heard the door open. Being the silly people we are, both of us let out a shriek of sorts and then burst into fits of laughter. The unassuming woman who had walked in on our photo shoot had quite the site to behold, indeed. In the commotion, my friend had jumped up and hunkered down in the corner, hoping the intruder wouldn't see her hiding there. Meanwhile, I'm sitting on the john with its lid closed, and my snow pants pulled down while my camera flashes off another picture of my flailing feet kicking in laughter. The whole scene, of course, is visible to this woman, seeing as we'd propped the swinging doors open, in order to accommodate the camera.
I remember gasping for breath between laughs to explain that my friend and I had never seen a bathroom like this before. The lady looked at us quizzically, but didn't say anything. I continued the explanation by doing what seemed to placate any awkward situations we landed ourselves in - I told her where we're from. Apparently being from the Northeast forgives a lot of insanity when you're in Alaska. (Perhaps the flip is true, as well?)
In any case, I had thought of that while I was walking back to work this afternoon. I had been wearing those boots during that mishap. It made me smile... and then laugh. I walked by a driveway, and someone happened to catch my laugh. He looked at me, like I was crazy or something. Apparently sane people don't laugh to themselves while they're walking around on chilly (but beautifully sunny!) winter days? That must be the case, seeing as the person in the passenger seat very deliberately turned around to look at me, as they pulled out of the driveway. This, of course, made me laugh more. It was a vicious cycle, to say the least.
I survived, though (both fits of awkwardness)... and got a bit of a laugh out of it.. because it was just so funny. Although, I am very happy I've never seen a two-seater like that in the lower 48... for that, I am very grateful.
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