Road tripping

Well, we drove back down to MD for the weekend, for my cousin Rachael's wedding at the Tremont Plaza in Baltimore. It was a wonderful wedding, and we had a great time; you can see photos here. Then we drove back home on Sunday afternoon. You may think that 14 hours of driving in one weekend is a lot - and it is - but it really wasn't that bad. I've always liked road trips - probably because we took a lot of them when I was younger. Not only did we drive to NY regularly, but we also took family (car) vacations to Florida, Canada, and even spent several weeks driving across the country and back when I was 13 (in retrospect, this was a great trip, although my brothers and I certainly complained and fought plenty during the car ride). But there is something adventurous about car trips - you never know what's going to happen, and if the traffic is bad, you might have to get off the highway and meander a bit. You can stop for food or the bathroom whenever you want (unless my cousin Eric is driving, and we don't road trip with him). And you get to see much more of the area than you ever would by flying.

How do we pass the time in the car? Well, I usually bring my iPod, stocked carefully with music that most of us like (or at least that no one finds terribly objectionable), and that's good for some enjoyment, especially when we find a song everyone wants to sing along to. Regional radio can be entertaining - just try to get through New Jersey without hearing Springsteen or Bon Jovi - I dare you! I usually bring magazines, and if there are interesting or funny articles, I read them out loud (there's a particularly funny one in the latest issue of Utne about a guy living in Senegal with a boil on his butt). And, of course, there are always word games (hey, my mom was a teacher and a speech pathologist, what do you expect?!). When things get really desperate, McDonalds' hot fudge sundaes with extra hot fudge always perk up the situation.

So, we made it back home, and although MD only had some freezing rain on Saturday, Providence got a few inches of snow, so it is very pretty and wintry. Our next trip is to Paris (no, we are NOT driving!), so it may be a couple of weeks before my next post. Maybe you can go on your own road trip!