Friday, March 19, 2010

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh, roadtrips.............

Hello faithful readers (of which I think I have 3 :) )! 

Sorry there has been no post for a few days.  We were traveling yesterday.  We're in Virginia!!!  YEAH!!!!!  We made it.  We always do, lol.  We spent about 12 hrs on the road.  It would have been less had we not stopped at that bank (need $, right?), Walgreen's, Michael's (always forget something), Cracker Barrel (YUM is the only word necessary), and of course gas and bathroom breaks.  Oh, and let's not forget the backup at the George Washington Bridge.  Stupid, stupid, stupid we are!!!  EVERY time we say 'We should take the Tappanzee Bridge because it's better than the GWB' (yeah, we've done this trip a few times, lol).  We even planned on it this time.  Had our Mapquest directions and everything.  So, you might be asking yourself, 'How did they end up on the GWB?'  The simple answer? We are basically morons who don't know to leave well enough alone. 

We were on 95, and quickly approaching the exit for the Tappanzee.  You see, we have this misguided notion that there is only traffic in NYC at certain hours of the day.  While this may in fact be true, it seems that it's the hours we drive through, regardless of the actual time of day (we slightly suspect this means there is traffic ALL THE TIME in NYC).  Then we think, 'well it won't be so bad this time'.  I have no idea how we come up with this, since there is no rational basis for it.  So, as we are approaching the exit, a decision needs to be made, and fast (I don't drive slow, lol).  We mutually agree to forgo the Tappanzee and instead risk it on the GWB.

And of course, we totally regretted the decision.  You see, we had plenty of time to think about it while sitting basically stationary for a good 15 minutes trying to get onto the GWB.  Here's where we normally would have flipped out completely (neither one of us can stand traffic).  However, we were listening to a Book on CD, so it didn't seem so bad at least (more on that in a few minutes).  We did eventually make it over the Bridge (top level, the only one worth driving IMO).  We looked to our left as we crossed the bridge (ok....Janet looked, I glanced).  And we were treated to a view that makes all the agravation and sitting in traffic worth it - the skyline of NYC.  What a wondering gorgeous sight to see.  I believe it was Janet who said "and THAT'S why we brave the GWB."

I believe that was the worse traffic we encountered.  We had some through DC, but not much else that I can really remember.  And since it was only yesterday, you'd think I would remember bad traffic.

Have you ever rented/bought/borrowed a Book on CD (formerly known as Book on Tape when we all had cassette players in our cars)?  I never have.  Janet never has (that I know of).  We did yesterday.  Cracker Barrel (in all it's awesomeness) rents Books on CD at their stores.  It is pretty cool.  You pay the rental fee (3.49 in our case) and the cost of the Book (approx $22, this might be different for each title, not sure).  When you return the book (to ANY Cracker Barrel in the country!) within 1 week of the purchase date, the price of the book is refunded to you. 

We were going to pick a book we had already read, since we have a tendency to zone out/ignore the radio/talk, etc......  We thought we'd be "rewinding" a lot to re-listen to parts we didn't remember hearing.  How wrong we were!!  We ended up deciding to rent a book neither of us had read.  It was one of Debbie Macomber's Angel books.  If you've never read her books, you really should - they are good!  We rented "Where Angels Go".  It was an awesome story.  We found that the hours just flew by because we were paying attention and listing to the story.  I managed to drive the whole way and not really get tired at all.

Needless to say, we are finding a Cracker Barrel before we leave VA and are going to return the book we have and get another one.  If I ever have to take a trip by myself (driving), I will certainly be looking into getting another Book on CD, they are fabulous! 

Was the story a good one you might be asking?  Well, you'll just have to listen (or read) for yourself - I'm not giving away the story :)   We of course, also had lots of laughing and fun on the trip down. 

We are off to explore DC some today.  After some much needed sleep however.  Wednesday night I only got about 5 hrs of sleep and Janet got less than that.  We apparently are not smart enough to go to bed early when we have to be up and driving for long periods of time.




What do you like to do on roadtrips to keep yourself entertained?

2 comments:

  1. Welcome to Virginia! I couldn't come to the show this weekend (I'm working today and teaching a class tomorrow), so give us the full report when it's all over and you make it back home! Watch out for that bridge traffic, it isn't any better going back the other way.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank God we were smart enough to take the Tappan Zee on the way home! Too bad I slept through most of NY :-)

    ReplyDelete