Something about road trips

We took a weekend trip up north. We hopped in our new for us Explorer and we went. We needed to take care of some business and stayed with Rob's parents.

As we drove I was able to think and contemplate. To think about nothing & everything at once. Rob was asleep. The kids were asleep.

I watched as we rolled through the mountains that looked like giant bunches of broccoli. I chuckled as we drove through them. I watched the sunrise over Virginia. It was an awesome sight to see and made me feel so small in the world. Very humbling.

We made a few stops on our first trip "home." Everyone got to stretch their legs and goto the potty.

We even got to see the capital building in Harrisburg, PA complete with enormous fountain.

Here's the thing about going "home". It no longer feels like home. When I anticipated my first drive back up north since moving, I assumed I'd feel a sense of nostalgia. Some feeling of attachment to NYC. I actually felt quite the opposite.

That's not to say that I didn't miss certain things about NYC. I certainly miss the salty sea air and our close proximity to Coney Island. I miss being able to goto the beach any time I want to get an iced cream cone or visit the aquarium.

Meredith was so excited about seeing her ema & epa. It was all she could talk about & ask about. It was her version of "are we there yet?" "Mommy. Are we going to see ema today?" "Yes baby." Rinse & repeat for 14 hours. 4 hours longer than it should've taken because of the traffic & torrential downpour we drove right into. Humpf.

But we arrived. Exhausted, but.... in one piece.

And we lived it up. We went to Coney Island to play in the sand & surf and tried to enjoy the Mermaid Parade. Unfortunately it was way to hot to be in a crowd that big. We also couldn't get to Denny's iced cream stand because of the parade so we'll have to go when we go back up. Apparently it's the last year Denny's will be open. I'm kind of saddened by that. He has the best soft serve pistachio.

Meredith was not thrilled with the heat & crowds either.

But all was right with the world when we made it down to the surf.

Lady M even impressed me. She went INTO the water. Until this year she's been really afraid of the water. She wasn't always, but she got knocked over by a wave when she was an infant and that was it for her.

After Sean woke up from his short lived nap, even he joined in the fun. He was not as thrilled as Meredith, but..... I know he missed that salty sea air as much as I did.

Once he finally realized "Hey! This is pretty fun...." he was all in. 

While we battled the crowds we got to see some of the parade.





We all had a good time. And we'll miss you old friend. See you in a few weeks.