This story is in no way meant to offend Catholics. It is is meant to give you a laugh by sharing memories of a vacation I took with my sister Pam.

In 2004, my sister, who is 16 years my senior, and also in the counseling field (you'll wonder soon if there's a theme here) persuaded me to go on a road trip with her to Colorado. I told her I didn't have the money, and asked if maybe it could wait until the next summer. Her very clever response was "Hey, I ain't gonna be around forever, ya know." She had me and she knew it. I said "OK; let's do it..." But there's always a twist with my sister. After she hooked me, she said, "Hey, wouldn't it be fun to travel across country in costume?" I figured she was bluffing, so I said, "Sure, hilarious!"

She called me a week later telling me she just purchased us two nun outfits. You heard me. Nun outfits. The picture formed in my mind of us traveling the byways of America dressed as, well, nuns, and I wasn't sure what to think. But I was already committed, so I figured our fate was in the power of Someone more powerful than ourselves. So we donned our habits, pointed our rental car west and hit the gas.

The first thing I realized was our costumes apparently looked quite authentic, because we would stop at a diner for lunch, and the waitresses would be just so darn ... respectful. I wondered what they thought of two nuns sitting hunkered over a burrito combo plate.

I was self-conscious about the situation for quite awhile, but it did finally grow on me. We drove to our vacation destination, and I have to be honest, I took my outfit off quite a bit because my habit began making my hair sweat. I bet you didn't know hair itself could sweat, but in a hot car, believe me, it can.

Although it wasn't a "traditional" vacation by any means, we had some of the best sisterly bonding we've ever had.

The perfect finale to our trip occurred in the tiny Arriba, Colo., when we stopped for gas to head home. I was in regular clothes and came out of the restroom to find my sister in her costume just chatting it up with the help behind the counter of the gas station, eating popcorn while she did so. They found her so darn charming they asked if they could take her picture for the local newspaper! (She's always one upping me.) Long story short ... four months later we receive the paper, The Flagler News, dated Oct. 21, complete with an article on how this "very special" nun visited the town Arriba, and yes, there is my sister's photo munching on popcorn.

Guess what. Pam asked me last weekend if we could take a trip this summer. I'm afraid. Very afraid.

• STACY BRANNAN of Seneca is a social worker at Marseilles Elementary School. She can be reached through The Times by e-mailing paulc@mywebtimes.com.