Life is a highway, I want to ride it all night long*

This past weekend was the weekend of driving. Other than the fact that I was EXHAUSTED by 4pm on Sunday, I had a good time for the most part. I got to see a bunch of different people, and had fun.


I left work a little early on Friday (like 4PM, instead of the normal 5PM). I hopped on the PA turnpike and headed up to L’s house in North Jersey (because I am an awesome sister and said I would watch her kids for her all day on Saturday while she packed). I headed up after work on Friday so I wouldn’t have to wake up early on a Saturday to get up to her house in time (remember that reasoning, it’s kind of amusing later).

The PA turnpike was awesome. No traffic. I was able to get to NJ in about 30 minutes (that’s awesome, it’s usually closer to 45-60 minutes due to traffic). The PA and NJ Turnpikes connect via this 1.5 mile-ish long road that is considered to be part of the NJ Turnpike, even though it’s not actually a real part of the turnpike. There is an exit about 100 feet past the bridge to get off onto RT 130, but if you don’t take that exit, you go through a toll and then there is nowhere to go other than straight to the turnpike. Google maps showed the turnpike was ok, so I didn’t take the Rt 130 exit. I took the toll that’s about ¼ mile past that exit and hit a solid wall of traffic. Brake lights as far as you could see. Sigh.

It took 40ish minutes to go that last mile on the “extension” part of the turnpike before actually getting on to the ACTUAL turnpike. Once I got to the actual turnpike, I hit more traffic, and construction, and flooding, and closed roads. All in all, it took about 4 hours to get to L’s house. It normally takes 2-2.5 hours (even with bad traffic, it’s usually only a 2.5 hour trip). It was awful. And, I didn’t eat dinner before heading up b/c I figured I’d be there by around 6.

Traffic and hunger are not a good combination for me. I was SO grumpy. Ugh.

Saturday morning, I woke up around 8 thinking I should head upstairs (I slept in her in-law’s guest room downstairs) b/c I had told L that I would be there around 9am. I get ready and head upstairs and everyone was still hanging around and hadn’t even eaten breakfast which seemed odd to me. They usually get up and eat pretty early. About an hour later, I look down at my phone and realized it was only 8:15. I had woken up an hour earlier than necessary b/c I can’t tell time half asleep. I was so upset. I really wanted that extra hour of sleep (it was the whole reason for coming up the night before).

I spent the day playing with Little J, Little H, and Baby T. JH showed up later that afternoon (with lunch! She’s so awesome) and we took the kids to the park for an hour or so.

After we got back, I showered, and JH and I headed to Jersey City to get some dinner (I was craving banana pancakes). We met up with Mike and his roommate and some other friends at a local diner there. I ended up staying the night in Jersey City and had to drive to DE on Sunday morning to pick up J and JP’s truck, then take the truck to PA to get the ugly chairs mentioned yesterday, then back to DE with the truck. I picked up my car in DE and headed back to PA b/c I was exhausted and couldn’t bring myself to drive to my mom’s house in Jersey to pick up Little O before heading back to PA.

So, I was basically driving all evening Friday, a little bit on Saturday, and then from 8:30-4:00 on Sunday.

I got back to PA and took a nice hour long nap, and then finally went to bed around 9. Today, I have to go look at that chest after work and head to my mom’s to pick up the dog.

Then, I can go back to my hotel and refuse to drive anywhere other than work for the next few days.

It will probably all start over again this weekend. So, who wants to come visit this weekend and save me from driving all over the country?
*Tom Cochrane