"Ah. No music. I can't believe we forgot to bring tunes." Lorelai groans.

"Do you realize that none of us has the vaguest idea where we are?" Rory looked down at the map.

"What is a road trip without tunes?" She grumbles ignoring her daughter's concerns.

"The sun is directly behind us." Rory looks out the window.

"Why did we bring lawn chairs?" Anna grumbles when she has to move around to remove the leg of one from her back.

"Never been in this car for any extended period of time without playing AC/DC." Lorelai went on.

"I have no idea which way it's going." She looks around for the sun.

"Does anyone want water?" Anna reaches back to open the cooler and grab a water bottle.

"I need my Highway to Hell." Lorelai needed some music to keep her up when the teens went to sleep.

"It's right out the windshield there." Rory points at the sun.

"I'll take that as a no." She closed the cooler so the ice wouldn't melt.

"There's nothing on the radio but Top 40 and Christian Rock. Christian Rock, there's an oxymoron for you. I need my tunes." She slammed her hand down on the steering wheel.

"Stop complaining about the tunes!" Rory yells.

"Stop complaining about our whereabouts!" She shouts.

"Well, my complaint is legitimate, yours is infantile." She compared their problems.

"Okay, you're right." She turns on the radio.

"Ew no," Anna reached forward to turn off the country music.

"We have to figure out where we're going." Rory insisted.

"No, we don't." Their mother shook her head.

"Mom," Rory said sternly.

"The point of this is to be spontaneous. To drive and land someplace we've never been and never expected to be." Lorelai explains the purpose of this trip.

"Sounds risky," Rory said.

"Sounds like the start of a horror movie or a bad comedy," Anna commented.

"Sounds exciting." Lorelai corrected them.

"Serendipity has never been kind to us." Rory pointed out how things normally backfired on them.

"Ah, yes, but I talked to serendipity on the phone last night. She feels bad about how she's treated us in the past. We had a nice chat. It's all gonna be different now." She smiles.

"What did that sign say? It says, don't or death on it." Rory looked back at the sign they passed.

"Relax." Lorelai sighs.

"We're doomed!" Anna and Rory cried.

"Wrong. We're being guided by fate." Lorelai spoke in a matter of fact kind of way.

"Everything is fate. So, for all, we know she's guiding us to our deaths." Anna felt like her death was going to be impaled by one of these lawn chairs when her mom made an abrupt stop.

"Be quiet," Lorelai turned around to hush her daughter.

"I think we're lost." Rory looks hopeless out the window.

"We can't be lost. We don't know where we're going." Lorelai laughs.

"You're going to stop before we drive into the Atlantic Ocean," Rory demands.

"I'll try." She shrugs.

"At least we'll know where we are." Rory tried to look on the bright side.

"Unless it's the Pacific." She turns on the radio.

"Coming up, a three-song superset from Hootie and the Blowfish." The radio jockey announces.

"Aghhh!" The Gilmore Girls scream.


They were at a roadside food stand. "You know what, I love road food," Lorelai said.

"I love it too." Rory nods.

"Not that it says much we like all food." Anna looks at the food stands that she assumes were for truckers because it was out in the middle of nowhere.

"I mean, what can be better than what they serve at a Haden's Nut House?" Lorelai looks at the bag of nuts Rory had in her hand.

"Unless you don't like nuts," Rory says.

"As if those people exist. You know, if I was in a rock band touring and stuff, I'd make the bus driver stop at every Haden's Nut House we pass." Lorelai opens the Jeep to get in.

"Wow, your behind the music is gonna be really wild." Rory got in.

"Something tells me, you would never make it to any show on time." Anna squeezed her way into the back seat.

Lorelai pulled the jeep out and drove down the road. "Okay, so if we continue on the way we've been going…who are you calling?" Rory looks at her mom who was dialing the phone.

"Uh, Sookie." She put the phone to her ear.

"Now?" Rory asked.

"Uh, well, I didn't get a chance to call her before we left so she doesn't know about the…" She didn't need to finish her sentence.

"Oh." Her daughters let out.

"Yeah." She nods.

"You okay?" Rory asked.

"Oh, I guess. It's just, um…Hi Sookie, it's me." Lorelai spoke to her friend when she picked up. They listened as their mom gave Sookie the bad news and told her to spread it around town.

Lorelai hangs up the phone to see one of her daughter's betraying her. "That had better not be a map."

"I'm sorry, but I'm openly defying your no map policy." Rory apologizes in the most sorry, not sorry way possible.

"Rory." She gasped.

"Mom, it's gonna be dark in a couple of hours and I don't want to sleep in the car," Rory argues.

"Oh my god, I didn't even think of that. I can not sleep back here. I can barely sit back here. We need to find a motel or something." Anna leaned forward to look at the map also.

"Ugh, my sense of adventure did not translate to my offsprings." She sighs in disappointment.

"Now, to the best of my map reading abilities, we're headed towards Portsmouth, New Hampshire." She pointed down at where they were.

"Portsmouth. Huh." Lorelai hums.

"What?" Anna asked.

"I actually have a friend in Portsmouth. Donald, uhh, something-or-other Stein." She couldn't remember his last name.

"A close personal friend, huh?" Rory raised an eyebrow.

"Donald moved there a couple of years ago and opened a B&B." She told them.

"Ughhh." They reacted.

"No, it's actually supposed to be pretty cool." She shook her head.

"A cool B&B?" Rory question.

"Yes." Lorelai nods.

"That's like saying an understated Nicholas Cage movie." Rory didn't believe her.

"Listen, I myself am not usually a fan of the B&B, but Donald's place is different," Lorelai told them.

"Who cares as long as we got somewhere to sleep." Anna would go anywhere to lay down and take a nap.

"Every room is decorated in a different weird style for a different century." She remembers Donald explaining his concept.

"That is kinda cool." Rory agrees.

"Okay, let's go." Lorelai nods.

"Let's call," Rory argues.

"Let's go," Lorelai repeats.

"Let's call," Rory repeats herself also. Anna groans in the back at them having this argument.

"Sense of adventure." Lorelai sings.

"Let's go." Rory sighs.

"Yes!" Anna cheers.


They walk into the B&B carrying their bags. A blonde woman is sitting behind the front desk. "Hello there."

"Hi." Lorelai smiles.

"Would you like to ring the bell?" She points to the bell sitting on top of her desk.

"What?" Lorelai asked.

"Would you like to ring the bell, you, or your daughters?" She keeps pointing at it.

"I don't understand." She didn't see why she would need to ring the bell.

"I'm not usually sitting here when guests arrive, so people ring the bell and they love to ring the bell, and you didn't get to ring the bell." She explained the question.

"I got this." Anna rings the bell.

"Well done." The lady smiled at her.

"Thank you." She smiled.

"Uh, do you have a room available?" Lorelai asked.

"Yes, we most certainly do, you lucky pretty things you." She stood up.

"See they have a room." Lorelai smiled at her daughters.

"Good." Rory nods.

"Um, does Donald happen to be here?" She asked about her friend.

"Oh no no, I bought this place from Donald last year. It's my place now. I'm LaDonn." She introduced herself.

"Hi. Oh, yes, I noticed it was a little different. Actually, very different." She looks around the palace.

"Oh, did you see it before?" She asked.

"Pictures," Lorelai remembers the photos he sent.

"Well, it was wacky, just like Donald. It was fun, you know, but just a little too woo-woo. It was just too eclectic. I don't care for eclectic things. I don't think B&B-ers do either." She checks them in on her paper.

"No, you wouldn't want anything out of the normal," Lorelai said sarcastically.

"Okay, room number 3 is all yours. Welcome to the Cheshire Cat." She hands Lorelai a key on a chain.

"Nice name. I'm gonna consult with my daughters for just one second." She pulls her children away from the desk. "We must leave this place immediately."

"And sleep where?" Rory asked.

"Uh, a hollow tree, a riverbank, I don't care." She wasn't staying in this creepy place.

"Mom, I'm tired and I'm starving." Rory sighs.

"Okay, she's named the place after an Alice in Wonderland character. This is my worst nightmare." She holds up the keychain that had the cat on it.

"And dying of exposure in a Jeep is mine," Rory whispers.

"I love Alice in Wonderland. I hope the rooms are themed around it." Anna said even though nothing in the lobby gave a hint of that.

"Okay, okay." Lorelai nods. They walk back to LaDonn. "So, just point the way to room three."

"I'll take you there myself. Let me just grab your bags." She walks around the desk to grab their bags.

"Oh, we can do that." Rory didn't want her to hurt herself carrying their heavy bags.

"No no no no no, you are my guests. I won't hear of it. There you go. Do you wanna ring the bell? You haven't rung the bell." She looks back at the other women who didn't get to.

"Maybe some other time," Rory said. Lorelai shook her head.

"Follow me." She walks to the staircase. "Watch out for Sammy." She told them.

"Wowsie wowza." Lorelai looks down at the pet.

"Hi, Sammy." Anna pet the fat gray cat.

"That's either Sammy or the cat that ate Sammy," Rory whispers.

They walk up the steps past the cat. LaDonn walks into room three carrying the bags, followed by the Gilmore Girls.

"Aghhh!" Lorelia had an involuntary reaction to seeing the room. There was a yellow flowery wallpaper that matched the bed, lamp, and everything in the room. It was too much of the same ugly thing.

"What is it, dear?" LaDonn looked over her shoulders.

"Uhh, there's just a lot…" Lorelai tried to explain.

"A lot of flowers." Rory finished the sentence.

"Yeah, like a ton of flowers." Anna looks around the room.

"A plethora of flowers." Lorelai nods.

"A load of flowers." Rory couldn't describe it any other way nicely.

"Thank you! I get so many compliments for this room." LaDonn took their reaction as a compliment somehow even though their faces were shocked and horrified.

"Yeah, are they moving?" For a second Lorelai thought she was having a stroke.

"It looks like it, doesn't it? There's foil in the paper and it gives it that illusion. Isn't it terrific?" She touched the wallpaper.

"Unbelievable." Lorelai walks into the room. Rory and Anna slowly did the same.

"B&B-ers love a peaceful setting so that they can unwind from their hectic lives. What business are you in, dear?" She asked Lorelai.

"Oh, me? Uh, publishing." She lied.

"How interesting." She nods.

"Mm." Lorelai hummed hoping she wouldn't ask too many questions.

"Now if you need anything, you just ring down or come down 'cause I love company. And, oh, I don't want to forget to give you our activity list. Never a dull moment around here." She hands her a piece of paper.

"Thanks, LaDonn," Lorelai says to the woman's back as she walks away.

"Yes, thank you." Anna and Rory echo. LaDonn closes the door on her way out.

"Okay, I think we just found the first room in the history of the world that would've made Liberace say Whoa. Step back. No one's that gay." Lorelia couldn't tear her eyes away from the ugly wallpaper.

"Please, gays have better taste than this." Anna shook her head.

"Oh, look. This is a book that past guests have written in." Rory picked up a big book that was open on the desk. "'This room made my soul soar.'"

"Ugh." Lorelai gags.

"She wrote that herself." Anna stares at the moving flowers on the wall. "Do you think she wanted people to feel like they were in The Yellow Wallpaper?"

"That would make her an evil genius." Rory looks at her mom who was already acting like she was going out of her mind.

"Alright, enough grossness. Let's go eat." Lorelai took the book for her hands and put it back on the desk.

"Oh, food. I'm starving." Rory agrees. They start to walk down the steps when Lorelai puts her arm out to stop them.

"What?" Anna asked why they stopped.

"Dentists. Boston dentists. Cocktail hour at the Cheshire Cat." Lorelai points to the people downstairs in the living room.

"So?" Rory asked.

"So our exit is blocked." She didn't see a way they could get to the door without being noticed.

"Let's just rush past them," Anna suggested.

"Too risky." She shook her head.

"They're not assassins." Rory scoffs.

"Rory, if they catch us they'll clamp onto us like leeches, and you know what that means," Lorelai asked.

"What?" Rory wonders.

"Chitchat. Stomach-churning, mind-numbing, soul-deadening chitchat." She groans thinking about it.

"Mom, I'm starving. I'm going down there, you can stay here." Rory points down the steps.

"You're that hungry, huh?" She asked.

"Mom, all we ate were nuts. So, yes we are that hungry?" Anna nods along with her sister.

"Hungry enough to answer a hundred probing questions but only slightly differentiated from each other about Chilton, life in a small town, and your hunky hunky boyfriend? Why don't you have a boyfriend?" She asked her daughters making them walk back to the room.


Lorelai sits on the bed looking through her purse while Rory is in the bathroom. Anna was sitting at the desk drawing flowers that resembled those from Alice in Wonderland in the guest book.

"Ohh, ahh, I struck gold!" She pulled something out of her purse.

"What is it?" Rory pops out of the bathroom.

"Certs." She looks at the mint closely.

"Let me catch my breath." Rory sarcastically rolled her eyes.

"I cannot for the life of me remember the last time I bought Certs." She looks up at the ceiling.

"Which would make those really old." Rory sat down on the bed.

"Please don't eat it," Anna begs her mom.

"Fuzzy." Lorelai puts it back in her purse. They move to sit at the head of the bed. They could hear music coming from downstairs.

"Perfect." Rory sighs.

"A nice capper to the day." Lorelai gave a bitter laugh.

"In the course of three hours, they've participated in every insane B&B group activity known to man." Rory hit the bed.

"Who wants to spend their vacation with strangers?" Anna wonders.

"Let's just hope they finish with a mass suicide." Lorelai hugs her legs to her chest.

"We get cranky when we're hungry." Rory pointed out.

"Well, plus we're above everyone else on the planet." Lorelai shrugs.

"Clearly." Rory smiled. "So what do you want to do?"

"I don't know. We could go to sleep." She figures the faster they go to sleep the faster they would be out of here.

"Mm, it's 8:23." Rory looks at the clock.

"Good Lord." Lorelai and Anna groan.

"I'm not really sleepy," Rory told them.

"I'm not either, which is weird because we've been up since five." For half the day Anna felt like passing out but now that she was in bed she was wide awake.

"Me neither. We could sing." Lorelai suggested.

"Sing?" Anna and Rory asked.

"Yeah, we could sing Anarchy in the UK at the top of our lungs." She thought of a song that no one downstairs would approve of.

"Oh, that would be good. Or, uh, we could talk." Rory suggested what she had wanted to do since her mom told her she was calling off the wedding.

"Oh, okay." Lorelai hesitated. "What about?"

"Oh, I don't know. Umm, Max?" She tried to be casual about it.

"I'm going to take a shower." Anna got up to avoid this fight. She grabbed her clothes and went into the bathroom. Even the shower couldn't drown out their yelling. Rory likes Max so much that she couldn't see the obvious fact in front of her like Anna could. Their mother was ashamed to say she didn't have a solid reason. Max was perfect on paper for her, but she didn't feel that strongly about him.


The next morning, Lorelai sits on a trunk at the edge of the bed. Anna was at the desk drawing the blue caterpillar sitting on the mushroom, smoking his hookah. She was going to make it so they could write their statement in his smoke.

Rory walks out of the bathroom. "What's with the face?" She asked her mother.

"Hmm, they're taller." She stares at the wallpaper.

"Not this again." She groans.

"There's more of them." She went on.

"Mom, the flowers on the wallpaper are not growing or reproducing." Rory tied a jacket around her waist.

"Okay, the statement is ready to write." Anna finishes her drawing. Lorelai got up to write the thought she had about this room.

"Wait a minute." Rory tried to stop her, but it was too late. "Satanic forces are at work here. Mom." She read her mom's words.

"She's going to rip out my drawing. I've been working hard on that." Anna glares.

"Let's see if I can change it here. Sat and forever am at work here." Rory fixed it the best she could.

"That doesn't make any sense." Lorelai shook her head.

"And it doesn't invoke the Dark Prince so I think it's preferable." She closed the book.

"Whatever." She thought hers was better and true.

"Hey?" Rory asked.

"What?" Lorelai looks at her.

"Last night?" She wonders.

"Oh, we're good." Lorelai nods.

"Okay." Rory smiled. Anna smiled too, happy that they were okay. If not, it would feel like a highway to hell when they were stuck in the jeep together.

"You know what isn't good?" Lorelai looks over at Anna.

"What?" She asked.

"I ate the fuzzy Certs." She rubs her stomach.

"Gross!" Anna crunches her nose.

"They tasted like keys." She told them.

"Okay, enough. I have got to eat. Do you think the coast is clear downstairs?" Rory points to the floor.

"Let's check the schedule." Lorelia got up to look at the paper she was given. "Early morning nature walk, 7:30. Regional history talk, 8:15, bluppity blah bah bah bah. We're in luck. Breakfast just ended and the arts and crafts workshop doesn't begin for another thirteen minutes."

"We've got a window!" Anna stood up.

"It must be when they all shower." Lorelia nods.

"Grab your bag!" Rory ran over to hers. They grab their bags and run out of the room. They were rushing towards the door and didn't see LaDonn and some guests standing by the window.

"Hello, strangers!" LaDonn calls out to them.

"Uhh, geez." Lorelai cried.

"We've all been so worried about you three." The owner told them.

"What are you people doing?" Lorelai turns around. Anna and Rory put a fake smile on before doing the same.

"We're watching hummingbirds," LaDonn told them.

"They're still out there if you wanna scooch in." A lady points to a free space.

"They're the darndest things. Flap their wings a hundred times a second. It's an engineering marvel." A man explains to them.

"That was not on the freaking list." Lorelai was upset that her perfect escape was ruined.

"We don't put things like this on the freaking list, because the delights of nature aren't on any kind of time schedule." LaDonn smiled.

"No, Lordy." Lorelai sighs.

"So push in some chairs. We're gonna make some fresh scones." The lady told them. They perk up at the food being mentioned.

"Yeah, they're for tea this afternoon. I just brought out the first test batch. Have a taste." She points at the basket.

Anna sat down not giving her family much of a choice but to follow her lead. "A taste would not be bad." Rory sat down next to her.

"Uh, maybe just a quick taste." Lorelai hurried to sit down when the good smell hit her.

A couple joins them at the table. "So, LaDonn says you're in publishing." The lady smiled at Lorelai.

"Huh?" Lorelai didn't remember her lie right away.

"Publishing, you're in publishing?" The lady said, thinking that Lorelai must not have heard her.

"Oh yes, I am." She nods.

"Books, huh? You should find a field with less paperwork." The man's jokes.

"Good one." She reaches for another scone.

"Mmm! Hey!" Rory and Anna grumbled.

"You have two, I still have one!" She said with her mouth full.

"So, uh, publishing?" The lady asked again.

"Mm-hmm. Yes, I do publish. Um, it's kind of a dry line of work, not much to talk about." She shrugs.

"Who wants to talk about work on vacation anyways." Anna tried to help her mom.

"Oh, nonsense. It's fascinating." LaDonn waved off the hints they were giving.

"So what kind of books do you publish?" The lady asked when the owner walked away.

"Umm, mainly youth-oriented ones." Lorelai hopes that they'd lose interest.

There was no hope of that when the lady smiled, "Children's books?"

"Sure." Lorelai nods.

"Oh, any that we've heard of?" She asked.

"Probably not." She shook her head.

"No, wait, please. Give me some titles. I'll write them down and then when I get home, I'll look them up. Dave, do you have your space pen?" She put on her glass and took some paper out from her purse before turning to her husband.

"Do you have to ask?" He pulled out a pen from his shirt pocket.

"Oh, he loves his space pen." She laughs.

"They write underwater." The man told them.

"Cool." Rory wondered why anyone would need to write underwater.

"So, what are the titles?" The woman looks at Lorelai.

"Well, there's um, Goodnight, Spoon and um, The Horse that Wanted to Bark." She spat out the first things she thought of.

"Oh, I think I've read that to my grandson. The horse learns to bark, and then he. . . oh, what happens at the end?" The lady told LaDonn who joined their table.

"He dies." Lorelai had enough of the peppy people.

"But he learned to bark though, so it's actually an upper." Rory tried to save it.

The lady laughed it off before moving onto the next question. "So, where are your offices?"

"They're in the umm…in the building with the uhh, over on the road…would you guys excuse me for just a second? I have to make a very important call concerning publishing." She grabs her cellphone from her purse as she stands up.

"Oh, well that's just fine. It'll give us a chance to get to know your lovely daughters here." LaDonn points at them making their eyes go wide.

"They're so quiet. But we'll change all that." The lady said, making the group laugh.

"Mom, you promised not to do any business while on vacation." Rory grabs her mom's arm.

"Honey, publishing waits for no man. Gotta keep the presses pressing." She walks away.

"So, tell us about your school." They smile at them making Anna grab Rory's hand from under the table.

They answer the question as politely as they could even when they got personal. When they found out Anna was single, the lady squealed. "We have a son just a bit older than you."

"He's not good enough for her." The husband shook his head.

"Oh, Dave. He's a freshman at Brown." She sighs at her husband before smiling at Anna.

"He majors in MTV." Dave jokes.

"Oh, you're horrible!" She slapped her husband's arm.

"Honey, you don't even know what she likes." He reminds her.

"What is your type?" The woman asked.

"Mom! I saved you a scone, you love me right?" Anna grabbed her mom's arm when she came back to the table.

"Uh, sorry everybody. I'm gonna have to drag them away now." Lorelai smiled at the table. Anna and Rory grab their bags and pull their mom away.

"Lovely talking to you dear. Oh, so cute." They waved to the teens.

"I now have abandonment issues," Rory grumbles to their mom once they are back in the lobby.

"I had to make a call." She told them.

"You left us hanging. I almost got married off." Anna exaggerates.

"I owe you one." She admits.

"Big time." Anna and Rory say.

"Alright. Well, you're out now, what do you wanna do?" She changes the subject.

"Kill you," Rory said with no hesitation.

"And?" She asked.

"I don't know. What do you wanna do?" Anna looks between her mother and sister.

"Bounce tennis balls off of Sammy?" Lorelai looks over at the fat cat.

"No not the fat kitty." Anna shook her head.

"Why don't you pull out the map you're hiding?" Lorelai looks over at Rory.

"I'm not hiding a map." She denies. Lorelai and Anna stare at her. "Well, I didn't want to drive around aimlessly again today." She pulls out the map.

"I got it, I got it. So what's near?" Lorelai and Anna look at the map.

"Um, Concord." Rory read.

"What is that, like look at grapes?" Lorelai scoffs.

"Manchester." She told her.

"Uh, been there, done that." Lorelai waved.

"You've never been there." Anna rolls her eyes.

"Well, I feel like I have." She told her.

"Salem," Rory suggested.

"A gravesite of innocent women that got slaughtered by a paranoid town." Anna shook her head.

"Boston, Newton, Needham…" Rory went on to name cities near them.

"Oh, go go go go back." Lorelai stops her.

"What? Boston, Newton?" She looked at her mother.

"I know where we're going." She walks to the door.

"Where are we going?" Rory asked.

"You will love it." She smiled.

"Well, if you tell me where we're going I can chart a course and I can…" She folds up her map. Lorelai walks over and crumbles up the map. "You're folding it wrong!" She cried.

"Is it smaller?" She asked.

"Yes." She looks at her ruined map.

"Then it's not wrong." She hands it back to her. "Let's go." She walks to the door with Anna. She looks over her shoulder when she realizes Rory wasn't following her. "I will get you a new one when we get there." They walk out of the door.

"Where are we going?" Rory ran after her.


They were standing in front of the entrance gate to Harvard. "I don't believe it." Rory stared up in awes.

"Believe it, 'cause there it is." She smiled at her daughter's smiling face.

"Harvard University." She sighs.

"It's really real." Anna watches the college students walking by.

"It looks just like the pictures." Rory stares in.

"Beautiful." Lorelai nods.

"What are we doing here?" Rory asked.

"We are beholding your future." She waved her hands in front of her.

"It's big," Rory noted.

"You have a big future." Lorelai nods.

"I can't believe it. I'm actually standing outside of Harvard." She gushes.

"Come on." Lorelai hooks an arm with her daughter's.

"Wait. Come on where?" Rory asked.

"Inside." She nods.

"We can't go inside." She shook her head.

"Why, is there a force field or something around the place?" Lorelai scoffs.

"This is Harvard." Rory reminds them where they were.

"Come on, Rory. We came all the way here, we have to go inside." Anna tried to pull her sister but she wouldn't budge.

"This is Harvard. You can't just go inside. You need a guide." She read all about it, she knew how it works.

"I'll be your guide." Lorelai points to herself.

"What do you know about Harvard?" Rory never saw her mom read more than a pamphlet about the place.

"I know this. Look, there's Harvard." She points at the gate.

"Mom." She whines.

"Hey, don't you want to see it? Huh? The place where you'll be living and studying and developing very naïve but pretentious world views that will come crashing down the minute you graduate?" She didn't paint a pretty picture but it seemed to tempt her daughter.

"Yeah, I do." She nods.

"So? Come on, you know you want to. All the other kids are doing it." She sways her side to side.

"Harvard." Rory sighs as they walk in.


"Wow! Harvard is over 300 years old." Lorelai read from the guidebook they got at the gift shop.

"Founded in 1636." Rory knew that since she decided she was going to Harvard as a child.

"That means that almost everyone who ever went to Harvard is dead now. Are you sure you still want to go here?" She teases.

"Yes, I'm sure." She nods.

Anna grabbed the book to read about Harvard. "They developed the pacemaker here. Also, discovered how electromagnetism and radioactivity are two manifestations of the same force and postulated the existence of a charmed quark. I was wondering who did that."

"The smarties at Harvard." Rory brags.

Lorelai grabs the book back from Anna. "Holy smokes. They get an average of 18,000 applicants every year and only 2,000 get in. Those are not good odds."

"Mom." Rory whines.

"No no no, you're different. Past graduates. Henry James…isn't that a beer?" She read a name.

"And a novelist. Go on." Rory rolled her eyes.

"John Adams. That's a beer!" Lorelai points at the name.

"Our second president. He's very in right now." Rory laughs.

"W.E.B. Du Bois, Yo-Yo Ma. Oh cool! Fred Gwynn." She stopped at the name she recognized.

"Who?" Rory asked.

"Herman Munster. Now I'm impressed." She laughs.

"Do you want anything?" Rory points at the coffee vendor.

"Yeah, a nice cold Henry James." Lorelai orders.

"Or some coffee?" Rory offers.

"Or some coffee." Anna nods.

"I'm ordering coffee at Harvard." Rory giggles as she stands in line.

Lorelai and Anna read a bulletin board. "Hey, there's people looking for roommates. Tons of them. Wanted, girl to share a two-bedroom apartment located on a quiet street, quiet building, so a quiet roomie is a must. Join a convent and cloister yourself, you loser." Lorelai points at a paper.

"You say that but Rory could be her roommate." Anna pointed out.

"Mom, Anna, it's gonna be two years before I go to Harvard. These people will have roommates or have graduated by then." She walks over to them.

"Who says these are for you?" Lorelai turns to her.

"Who are they for?" Rory pushed her eyebrows together.

"Me. If you're gonna live in a dorm, I need a room nearby so I can come to visit. I'm going to be looking for an apartment in Philadelphia too." She nodded at Anna.

"How often are you gonna visit?" Rory asked.

"I don't know, every other week. I'll visit you for one week and Anna, the next week. Too much? What's too much?" She tilts her head.

Rory walks back to the vendor. "You're going to need a lot of money for gas alone." Anna giggles turning to the board.

A male student walks up to the bulletin board. "Man, there are a lot of postings here."

"Oh yeah, there sure are." Lorelai nods.

"Are you looking for a place to live?" He not so subtly checks her out.

"Uhh, maybe." She shrugs.

"Well, there's a lot of choices. Something for everybody." He kept the conversation going.

"Yeah, yeah. Unless you're one of those existentialists who can't really figure out what they want." She jokes.

"Good point, good point. Hey, I think we have a class together. Contract Law, Professor Chefferson?" He told her.

"Oh yeah, Chef's class." Lorelai was happy to be mistaken for a college student.

"Right. I've been meaning to say hi to you." He smiles.

"Really?" Lorelai smiled.

"Yeah." He nods.

"Oh, hi." She waved.

"Hi." He says back.

"Hi." She giggles. Anna rolls her eyes at the interaction as she pretends to read the bulletin board.

"So, do you like the class?" He asked.

"Um, it's not too bad." She shrugs.

"He's kinda got a monotone voice. If I don't cafe up he puts me right to sleep." He gave his opinion.

"Oh, I'm about to cafe up right now just for the hell of it." She kids.

"Okay. So I'll see you in class. And maybe at that Phi Cap party tonight?" He vaguely asks her out.

"Ginchy!" She taps his arms. Anna had to bite her lip to stop from laughing.

"Cool. Bye." He walks away.

"Bye." She waves. Rory came over with the coffee. "I think I'm gonna like college! Ooh, did you hear? I used 'existentialist' in a sentence!"

"I heard!" She passes out the coffees.

"You also said the word ginchy." Anna giggles.

"I know, I've always wanted to do that." Lorelai laughs.

"It was very impressive." Rory laughs along with them.


They were walking when Rory suddenly stopped to stare at a building. "Oh my."

"What's this?" Anna looks up at the building.

"It's the library," Rory told her. "The biggest library I've ever seen."

"Uh oh. Brace yourself." Lorelai read through the book.

"What?" Rory asked.

"This is just one of the libraries." She told her.

"One of the libraries?" Rory gasps.

"This building is one component of a thirteen million volume collection housed in more than ninety different libraries. It's the oldest library in the United States and the largest academic library in the world. Breathe, breathe." She stopped reading from the book when she saw Rory go still.

"I'm a failure." Rory hung her head.

"What?" Anna and Lorelai asked.

"I am stupid." Rory berates herself.

"Oh stop," Lorelai told her.

"I am uninformed and ignorant and. . .I can't even think of a second synonym for uninformed. I suck." She felt like she was never going to be able to go here.

"Honey." Lorelai sighs.

"Thirteen million volumes? I've read like, what, three hundred books in my entire life and I'm already sixteen? Do you know how long it would take me to read thirteen million books?" It was an impossible goal.

"All the books are for the different majors, they're not all for you." Anna pointed out.

"Okay, but every kid coming to Harvard is inevitably reading books, and different books and I want to be able to converse intelligently with each of them and I can't do that unless I read books, at least a few from every genre and sub-genre." She freaks out.

"Okay, come on. I'm getting you out of here." Lorelai pulls her away from the library.

"I sleep too much." She sighs.

"No, you don't sleep enough." Anna shook her head. It was summer and her sister still spent half the night studying.

"I've been frittering away my whole life." She complained.

"You don't fritter," Lorelai told her.

"Did I mention I suck?" She asked.

"Yes," They nod.

"Well, I do." She clarified.


They were walking past a dormitory. "This is a dorm? Not bad, huh?" Lorelai looks over at Rory smiling.

"Pretty, actually." She nods.

"Come on, let's see what it looks like on the inside." She nods toward the building.

"It says Residents Only in plain English." Rory was ignored by her mother and sister as they walked into the building. She follows them in and down the hallways. "We're gonna get in trouble." She warns.

"You're such a worrywart. Ooh, get in character." She bumps them with her elbows.

"What?" They asked.

"Hey there!" Lorelai calls to two female students walking down the hall.

"Hi." They said back.

"I'm Angie, this is Trish and Christy." She points to herself then Rory and Anna.

"Hi." The teen's wave.

"How's it going?" Lorelai said.

"Not bad." The one girl said clearly confused as to why Lorelai was talking to them.

"Oh, cool. We're just kinda hanging out between classes. We got Chef next. So, we'll probably see you at the Phi Alpha Beta thing tomorrow, right?" Lorelai spoke of the only class that she knew.

"Maybe." The girl didn't want Lorelai to know what she was doing.

"Yeah, I know, we're not sure either. They can be so totally lame. Gag me." Lorelai nods.

"Yeah. See ya." The students leave.

"You do realize that all of your college jargon comes from Happy Days and the Valley Girls song?" Rory looks at her mother in disbelief.

They stop in front of a room with the door open. "Unh! Lookie here." Anna nods to the door.

"What?" Rory asked.

"Ooh, I wanna see a room. Hello!" Lorelai knocks on a door.

"They have pictures of their rooms on their website," Rory told them.

"Those pictures make them look nicer than they are. Let's see reality." Anna peeks inside. "Coast is clear." She nods to them. She and Lorelai walk into the room.

"The coast is not clear." Rory hissed at them.

"Susie!" Lorelai yelled.

"We're now officially breaking and entering," Rory ran in after them.

"Susie!" Lorelai called out again.

"Why are you saying that?" Rory asked.

"'Cause it's our cover in case we get caught. Plus there's a thirty percent chance that the girl living in this room is named Susie. Wow, tiny." She looks around the small room.

"It is tiny." Anna agrees. No wonder so many people were outside.

"Your Oxford English Dictionary's gonna need a room of its own." Lorelai teased.

"It'll fit somewhere." Rory shrugs.

"One window, brick wall. You're gonna need a better view." Lorelai looks out the window.

"Well, this isn't my room, to begin with." Rory reminds her.

"At least there are two beds. Somewhere for me to sleep." Lorelai sat on a bed.

"What about me?" Anna points to herself.

"We just can't visit at the same time." Lorelai reasoned.

"That would be my roommate's bed." Rory put a stop to their silly argument.

"Oh, you don't want a roommate." Lorelai shook her head.

"I don't think I have a choice." Rory rolled her eyes.

"They just force someone on you?" She gasps.

"It's all part of the socializing experience," Rory told her.

"What if it's a lemon?" Anna asked.

"Then I'm stuck with a lemon." She shrugs.

"Hari Krishna banging a tambourine all night?" Lorelai gave an example.

"Then I have to get earplugs." Rory has already thought about this.

"Serial killer?" Anna asked.

"Then I sleep with a gat strapped to my ankle." Rory narrows her eyes.

"Someone who likes Linkin Park?" Lorelai said.

"Hey!" Anna put her hands on her hips. She liked that band, she could listen to their album on repeat.

"Then I have to drop out." Rory winks at her sister.

"Mm-hmm. Ah, look! I had these same pants back in high school." She grabs a pair of pants off a chair.

"Can we just go now pleased?" Rory didn't want to get caught in here.

"I'm in again." Lorelai cheers.

"Mom." Rory hisses.

"Okay. Just come over here and let me take a picture with you sitting at the desk." She pulls a chair out.

"What?" Rory said even though she made her way over.

"Yeah, really get into it. Pretend like you're studying." She pushes Rory into the seat as she grabs her camera.

"Uhh, okay." Rory grabbed a pen and held it up.

"What… is that…you're writing in the air?" Lorelai critiques.

"Can we just take the picture?" Rory put the pen on the paper.

"Okay, okay." She snapped a picture.

"Let's go." Rory orders.

They exit the room as a girl enters. "Oh, hey Susie." They hurry down the hallway.


They were walking down the hallway of another building. "God, these classrooms are huge." Rory looks into the window of one.

"Better to fit those big Harvard brains." Lorelai smiled.

They stand in the doorway of one of the lecture halls and listen. ". . . had given birth. Reckon on everything, expect everything. What sort of thought is this?"

"Depressing?" A student answers.

"On the surface, maybe. But go underneath. What is he postulating beyond fatalism?" The professors pushed on.

"Are we allowed to be hearing this?" Lorelai whispers.

"I don't know." Rory shrugs.

"They wouldn't charge you a hundred bucks or something just for listening to part of a class?" She wonders.

"I don't think Harvard would nickel and dime people like that." Rory shook her head.

"Hey, I'm gonna find a lady's room. You know, sneak a smoke, see if anybody slipped an aspirin in my coke." Lorelai walks away.

"Okay, Rizzo. I'd like to listen a little bit more." Rory walks in. Anna followed her and took an empty seat at the back. Rory drops her empty coffee cup causing everyone to turn around to see what the noise was.

"In or out?" The professor asked.

"Excuse me?" She asked.

"If you're going to take the class, you have to take a seat." He told her.

"Oh, uhh, okay. Sorry." She sat down next to Anna.

"Okay, where were we?" He went back to his lecture.

Anna was bored out of her mind, but Rory couldn't have been more excited. She had a big smile as she gave her opinion. "That's an interesting point, Professor, but I'm not sure I agree with it. That's because stoicism was not about giving up things, of money and luxuries and stuff."

"That's right. By the time he was in his early forties, Seneca had earned enough money to acquire villas, farms, he ate well, he loved expensive furniture, but he didn't consider that a non-philosophical way to live." The teacher agrees with her.

"It's all kind of relative though," Rory said.

"Oh, here we go." The student in front of her sighs.

"What?" She asked.

"We can't get through a class without debating relativism." He told her.

"I just meant that luxury to some is not necessarily luxury to others." Rory offers her opinion.

"Yeah, but who can live in luxury that doesn't?" Anna puts her two cents in.

"A better subject for another time." The professor wanted to get them back on track.

"Oh sorry." Rory apologizes for them.

"No, no, your point is well taken, but it's different from the matter at hand. What we're talking about is Seneca's choosing the better, more comfortable of two options while remaining a stoic." He went on with his lesson plan.

The girls looked to see their mom was back. Rory patted the guy in front of her shoulder. "Thanks. This was fun." He looked at her confused as they walked out. "Did you see me?" Rory asked after she closed the door.

"Yes." Lorelai nods.

"I was in college." Rory bounces in excitement as they walk down the hallway.

"It was amazing!" Lorelai couldn't believe it when she saw her.

"Did I look like I belonged?" Rory asked.

"Completely. You're a natural" Anna nods.

"I can't even remember how it happened. I just sort of got swept up and then the teacher asked a question, and before I knew it…" She couldn't help but jump in when she got the chance.

"You were blowing them away." Lorelai smiled.

"Well, I don't know if I was blowing them away but suddenly I was talking and I couldn't stop." Rory still had adrenaline running through her veins.

"I know that feeling." Lorelai nods.

"College is gonna be amazing. I can't wait. I love college. I love Harvard. I love fatalism." She ran down the hallways.


LaDonn carries their bags down the stairs while the Gilmore Girls follow. "Oh, please LaDonn, we can carry the bags," Lorelai told her.

"Nonsense." She shook her head.

"But they're so heavy." Rory thought her bag alone was heavy and this woman was carrying three bags downstairs.

"I'll just get them down the stairs for you. Whew. Let me catch my breath here." She stopped midway to breathe.

"Oh, wow! Sammy's AWOL, huh?" Lorelai pointed at the empty step.

"Hmm?" LaDonn looks up at her confused.

"Oh, Sammy. It's like the first time that she hasn't been there on the stairs." Anna looks down in surprise at the fat cat being gone. She wanted to give her a goodbye pet.

"What, my Sammy?" LaDonn asked.

"Yes." Lorelai nods.

"Oh, she's rarely ever on the stairs." She shook her head.

"Oh no, she's always right there." Lorelai points to the step. If it wasn't for the breathing she would assume the cat was a realistic stuffed animal.

"On the stairs?" She asked.

"Yes." She nods.

"No, she has her favorite places, but not on the stairs." Her owner argued.

"There has not been one moment over our entire stay when she has not been right there." Lorelai was beginning to think this lady was crazy.

"On the stairs?" She asked again.

"Yes." She nods.

"Oh, she's hardly ever on the stairs." She walks down the rest of the stairs to go to the desk.

"Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown." Rory shook her head at her mother.

They walk to the front desk. "Everything's on your card. I hope you enjoyed your stay. Did you enjoy your stay?" LaDonn asked.

"Very much." Lorelai nods.

"Aw, very much?" She tilts her head.

"I sat and forever am at work here," Lorelai repeats what was written in the guest book not knowing what else to say.

"What?" LaDonn was confused.

"It was great," Rory said.

"Sammy was my favorite part." Anna smiled.

"Well, there you go. Drive safely, and tell all your friends about the Cheshire Cat." She hands them the receipt.

"Oh, you bet we will." Lorelai gave a thumbs up.

"As soon as you leave, I'm gonna do my favorite part of the job." LaDonn smiled.

"Oh, what's that?" Lorelai asked.

"I'm gonna read what you wrote in our guestbook." She said, making them freeze up.

"Give us a five-minute headstart?" Lorelai blinks.

"Beg pardon?" She tilts her head.

"Thank you." Rory sang. They pick up their bags and walk out the front door to get into the jeep, so they could get away as fast as possible.


They were driving through Stars Hollow. "You know what I love most about Harvard?" Rory looks over at her mother.

"No, what?" Lorelai asked.

"They don't sell giant foam fingers." She smiled. They would know they bought everything they could from the gift shop, including a model of the gate.

"No, they've got class out the wazoo. Home." She sings when they drive past the gazebo.

"Feel like we've been gone a long time," Rory noted.

"You know what's weird? Every time I leave town, even for just a little while, I always expect everything to look different." Lorelai looks around the town.

"And it never does." Anna found it comforting.

"It never does." Rory nods.

They drive by townies offering sympathetic looks, including Miss Patty dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, and Kirk with his arms wide open. "Need a hug?"

"Patty's good." Lorelai sighs.

"The best." Anna nods.


They pull into their driveway. "So, what about dinner?" Lorelai asked.

"It should probably be something healthy since we've been eating junk the whole trip," Rory suggested.

"We had lettuce on our burgers last night." Lorelai defends herself.

"You picked it off." Anna reminds her.

"But it left its essence." She could still taste the lettuce juice left behind.

"There was lettuce essence on our burgers?" Rory didn't look convinced.

"Definitely." She nods.

"And that satisfied our vegetable requirement?" Rory asked.

"For the week." She nods.

"We can't argue with cold hard facts." Anna got out of the jeep, not being able to sit back there any longer.

Lorelai notices the chuppah in the front yard and stares at it. "What?" Rory asked. She follows her mom's line of vision. "Oh, I forgot about that."

"Me too. Well, everything's the same." Lorelia and Rory got out of the jeep. The girls get everything out of the jeep while Lorelai walks over to the chuppah and starts to cry as she stares at it.


Lorelai is showing slides of the road trip as Emily, Anna, and Rory sit on the couch. "This is Sever Hall, one of the oldest buildings in Harvard."

"Focus the picture Lorelai," Emily demands.

"It is focused," Lorelai told her.

"That's how it came out," Rory adds on.

"It's hurting my eyes." Emily looks at the blurry picture of a building.

"It does." Anna agreed, now that she saw it in a big format.

"Come on Mom, they're supposed to be a little arty." Lorelai wanted her to get excited.

"Plus she doesn't know how to use her camera," Rory said.

"She wouldn't let me or Rory take over camera duty," Anna remembers telling her Rachel showed her a few tricks making Lorelai scoff.

"I've only had it for six years. I had to take the picture, so you guys could be in it." She told them her reasons.

"It's like I have glaucoma." Emily looks down at the floor waiting for the clicking of the next slide to look up. "What's that?"

"That is a Harvard squirrel," Lorelai told her.

"Good grief." Emily crossed her arms over her chest.

"Sitting on a Harvard rock." Rory smiled.

"Eating a Harvard nut," Anna adds on.

"Doesn't he look smart?" Lorelai smiled at her best shot.

"He looks dirty. Next." Emily waves her hand for the next slide.

"That's Rory's dorm, and part of my finger," Lorelai said before any question could be asked.

"Mostly your finger." Anna didn't know why she included this shot.

"It's not my dorm yet. We just saw a dorm and figured it might be mine." Rory corrected her.

"Why in the world do you insist on taking slides?" Emily sighs.

"I like the slides," Lorelai said.

"But prints are so much easier, and faster to get through." Emily put emphasis on the last part.

"That's what I hate about prints. You give people this big pile of pictures that you're so proud of and they end up just flipping through them super fast without really seeing them or giving you a chance to narrate them like you can with slides." She loved the control it gave her.

"I stopped her from adding music," Rory told her.

"I stopped her from putting on a one-woman play for them." Anna read that horrible script.

"I'm eternally grateful." Emily nods.

"I like the bigness of the slides too. Makes you feel like you're really there." She looks at her worst shot.

"Yes, this one makes me feel just like I'm in your finger." Emily rolls her eyes.

"Oh. You're just jealous that we didn't invite you to come along." Lorelai shut off the machine and turned on the lights.

"Next time." Rory nods.

"Next time you go to Harvard, you're going to do it properly, with a scheduled visit and a guide." Emily insisted.

"I told them about the guide." Rory gave her sister a pointed look.

"With a guide, you get the basics. We got the real-life experience of socializing, dorms, classes, and most importantly coffee." Anna listed the things they got.

"And why would you go out of town now so soon before your wedding? Didn't your fiancé mind?" Emily looks over at her daughter. Rory and Anna shot a sympathetic look her way.

"Oh, well…" She didn't know how to tell her the news.

"I mean, you act as if this coming weekend is just going to be business as usual and not the most important day of your life." Emily crossed her legs and put her hands on top of her knees.

"Mom," Lorelai spoke.

Emily looks at her granddaughter's sad faces before asking Lorelai, "What?"

"Well, it's about this weekend Mom." She was nervous to tell her.

"Yes?" She waited for the news.

"I should've told you before." Lorelai sighs.

"Oh my God, you didn't!" Emily gasps.

"What?" She asked.

"You did it!" Emily put a hand over her chest.

"I did what?" She asked again.

"You eloped!" She stood up.

"Mom," Lorelai yelled.

"I knew it! I knew you'd do anything to keep me out of this wedding." She pointed a finger at her.

"Mom, that's not…" Lorelai shook her head.

"Well, that is just cruel, Lorelai. A mother waits and plans for this day, even your mother." Anna cringed knowing her grandmother was going to feel like an ass when she found out.

"Yes, but…" Lorelai got cut off again.

"I bought a new dress, I got my hair done." Emily listed.

"It looks nice." She compliments her hair.

"And tonight you just waltz in here, torture me for hours with these ridiculous slides, only to let me know at the last possible minute…" Emily pointed at the door they came through.

"Max and I are not together anymore. The wedding is off." She rushed her words knowing it was the only way she could get them out.

"The wedding's off?" Emily asked.

"Yes." She nods.

"Are you sure?" She didn't want to find out years later that they were married.

"Yes, I'm sure." She said.

"Oh." She sat back down.

"Mom?" Lorelai was surprised by her quiet reaction.

"Who called it off?" Emily asked.

"I did." She said. Emily nods her head. "You're thinking you're not surprised."

"No, I wasn't." She denied.

"You're thinking, Yes, I won that five bucks from Dad." She wanted to get the drama over with.

"Who would like dessert?" Emily looked over at her grandchildren. Anna raised her hand.

"What Mom? What are you thinking? Just tell me." Lorelai demands.

"I was thinking I guess I have to return your gift." She told her.

"My gift?" Lorelai was shocked.

"That's right." She nods.

"You'll have to return my gift. That's…that's what you were thinking?" She narrowed her eyes.

"That's right." She didn't see what was confusing about her statement.

"That's it?" Lorelai wanted to be sure.

"That's it." She confirmed.

"Oh. So, you got me a gift already?" Lorelai smiled.

"You were getting married. Gifts are expected. It's the proper thing to do. So how's ice cream sound?" She looked at the teens.

"Ice cream sounds great." Rory smiled.

"Chocolate if you have it." Anna requests.

Emily walks out of the room with Lorelai following her. "So, what'd you get me, Mom?"

"That went over well." Anna turns to Rory.

"Better than we could have dreamed." Rory agrees. The girls smiled as they listened to their mom and grandma playfully argue with each other.


Later that night, Lorelai, Anna, and Rory get out of the Jeep across the street from Luke's. "Hey, am I too far from the curb?" Lorelai asked.

"Oh, you're within five feet." Rory let her know she was within her legal limit.

"Close enough for jazz." She told them.

"What?" Her daughters look confused.

"Huh?" Lorelai waited for them to get it.

"Pick it up?" Rory asked.

"You got it." She points a finger at her.

"Rory! Anna!" Lane runs towards them.

"Oh my God, Lane!" They ran to her.

"I'm back!" Lane cheers as they hug each other.

"I see!" Rory stood back to look at her.

"Oh, did you ever think this day would come?" Lane asked.

"I had hoped. I had dreams." Anna smiled.

"I escaped from Korea, I'm home. Hi Lorelai." She waved to the older woman.

"Welcome home, sweetie." She smiled at her daughter's best friend.

"It's so amazing to be back. When I got off the plane, I kissed the tarmac." She told them.

"Just like the Pope." Rory nods.

"It was hot and I burned my lips." She learned the hard way that it wasn't a good idea.

"Maybe that's why the Pope always looks so grumpy." Rory nods.

"Let's just resting bitch face." Anna corrected.

"I'm back!" Lane put her arms out.

"I know!" The sibling giggled.

"Did you get my letters?" She asked.

"Yeah, the first one was a little intense," Rory told her.

"Yeah, we did a lot of research about Korea after that." Anna nods.

"Which one was that?" Lane asked.

"The one that said Korea equals death with a bunch of exclamation points and your very sad face cut up plastered all over it," Rory told her.

"Okay, so that was a tad dramatic." She admits.

"A tad?" Anna laughs.

"Was it awful?" Rory asked.

"You know what, it wasn't." She smiled.

"Really?" Lorelai asked.

"Some of it was great." She had fun which she didn't think was going to be possible for her this summer.

"I want to hear all about it," Anna demands.

"Some of the food's not so bad, and then my cousins were actually pretty interesting, and the best part, Korea is bootleg heaven. I totally scored in Seoul. Elvis Costello at the Marquee in 1978. A barely coherent Nico doing Dora songs in 1974, and even more barely coherent, Iggy Pop doing David Bowie songs naked in 1981." She told them.

"How did you get them past customs?" Rory wonders.

"Or better yet pass your mother?" Anna asked.

"Well, I strapped them to my body like in Midnight Express." She told them.

"Cool." They nod.

"I'll be at Luke's." Lorelai walks towards Luke's Diner.

"Okay. So it was just an open-ended plane ticket?" Rory asked.

"Just to save money. I guess I kind of overreacted." She shrugs.

"Kind of? You did everything but tie a string with you at one end and the Statue of Liberty at the other." Rory laughs.

"So any summer loving?" Anna wiggles her eyebrows.

"Not that fun." She shook her head. The girls laughed, happy to be together again.

"So fill me in. What have you been up to? I've gotta know everything." Lane wanted to know everything they did.

"I've been to Harvard," Rory told her.

"No way. Oh my God! How? When?" Lane jumps up and down.

Lorelai walks over. "Well, we just got back. Mom, is it okay if we go to Lane's for a bit?" Rory points to her and her sister.

"Oh, yeah. I'll meet you back at the house." She nods.

"Okay." The girls held hands as they walked across the street.