The vacation part only lasted 34 hours and driving took 20 hours. But I got away this weekend and actually had fun! My brother and I left Quincy at 5:30 PM Friday and took 95 South all the way to the Washington DC area then we used some random beltway highways and ended up at my uncle's house in Reston, VA at 2:30 AM. My brother drove the entire way down because he's a road trip pro. Me? I had worked an 8 hour day so I was the navigator. We used AAA's triptik directions and a roadmap. Yup, old school for us. None of this GPS nonsense.
Through an honest mistake in choosing a toll lane we discovered my fastlane transponder works at every tollbooth down 95. We also noticed some bizarre signage patterns on the Jersey turnpike. They put up an exit sign about 10 miles before the exit so we got on high alert thinking it's like MA where we have a couple miles left. After a while we'd wonder if we had missed the exit or the highway magically split and we didn't notice. Then BAM! Shit the exit on the left! I like that the NJ rest stops have names of famous people. We stopped at Edison on the way down then James Fenimore Cooper and Joyce Something with a W on the way back.
Reston, VA is a gorgeous planned community with a huge variety of attractions. My uncle's house is a gorgeous modern architecture abode that has a huge back yard. Also, they own a precious 6 year old dog named Biscuit who is a cockapoo. I'm usually not a dog person but I completely and utterly fell in love with Biscuit. Saturday we ventured to this resort and had an amazing time. The beach is gorgeous the water is a bit weird. It's really warm and shallow at first and then you're chest deep. The bay floor is very gross in texture we called it muck or cold diarrhea. Alot of our time in the water was swimming then trying to stand, then exclaiming, "Ew muck!" and swimming onward to try to find a place that wasn't so gross. Also, my brother got stung by a jellyfish. No huge medical drama thank goodness. He just had a tingling arm and huge welts. Then, we went to the pool which is huge and beyond awesome. The chlorine level was perfect - not stinky or stinging your eyes but definitely clean feeling.
I forgot the cutest part. As the family was packing up the SUV with beach gear, Biscuit hopped on the drivers seat and sat there waiting. When we noticed him and started talking to him, he gave us these eyes and hid under the driving column. So, we took him along. He got to swim, play with other dogs, get all sandy, and wipe himself out. All of us were wiped out so we had a nice snooze on the ride home. Then, we went out to dinner with another uncle who was visiting. Very yummy food and excellent company. We wound up staying so late, we closed the restaurant down.
By the way, my dad's side of the family is full of jokesters so if you need a good groaner joke, let me know. We had a lovely family breakfast Sunday morning and left around 12:30 PM. Biscuit tried to come with us and I was soo tempted to kidnap him.
Driving home was a complete horror. AAA's directions sucked on the route back. Why include ferry info or rush hour warnings dopes? Sunday traffic sucked plus there was a ton of construction. I drove the first 5 hours (92 miles) and was so spent, I turned driving duties over to my brother. We had a flat tire scare but it was just some road debris wrapped around my tire. We made sure to gas up in NJ, which has cheap gas and full serve. We got the the George Washington Bridge around 8:00 PM and looking at the sunset dappled New York City was really nice. By Rhode Island, I was getting really slap happy which made a rest-stop necessary. Of course we chose the one rest-stop that was closed and had no bathrooms. Eh, I've camped so it wasn't a big deal we nickamed the rest stop the Gay Sex Stop because a lot of creepy guys who weren't in a hurry to pee...
We got to Quincy at 12:30 AM Monday morning. Working today is going to SUCK! So, that is my first vacation is quite a while. It was fun, hectic, and memorable.
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