If you recall, in my first recap of our trip I mentioned how much we liked our rented Passat. Well, on the final day of our trip we got quite the test drive!
We said goodbye to Bil, Liz and Margot early in the morning and headed back towards New Jersey. I figured we’d pick up breakfast along the way. Let me tell you how many exits there are on the Jersey Turnpike between Philadelphia and New Jersey: n.o.n.e. There’s not even a sign when you get on that says “Stop now or you’re screwed.” I worked very, very hard to keep from turning hungry into hangry, and for the most part succeeded. I don’t even remember where we stopped when we finally got to an exit; I just recall that I had my sandwich eaten before Mike had his totally unwrapped.
Our original plan for the final day of our trip was to drive to Delaware and eat along the river in Wilmington. I’d never been to Delaware and was looking forward to adding another state to the many I’ve been fortunate to visit.
Mike’s grandfather was in the hospital at the start of our trip and so we were unable to see him when we were in New Jersey. We got the good news that he was released, so instead of going to Delaware we went back to New Jersey so that we could spend time with Pop.
I’m so glad that we did! Both my grandfathers died when I was young, so I really enjoy the times I get to see Pop. He’s a hoot. Mike is very close to Pop and so I’m very glad they got to spend some time together. And L.J. I can’t even explain how excited Pop was to see L.J.!
Sharing L.J. with Pop was the best part of the day. He got the biggest kick out of him, and L.J. quite enjoyed the fact that Pop gave him several large chocolate chip cookies to enjoy.
Oh – the other best part of the day? Pop’s truck. Seriously, what 85-year old man drives a truck like this?!
After spending a few hours with Pop it was time for a tough goodbye. Despite a truck that practically screams badass, Pop’s health is not great.
We left Pop’s and…drove back to Philadelphia. Yes, seriously. We had an evening flight departing and we both had to work the next day, so off we went again.
We gave ourselves plenty of time to get to the airport, but were delayed by a bad accident so we ended up cutting it closer than we wanted. And to continue the food theme of the day, apparently airport food vendors close early on Sundays. By the time we got there they were all closing up and we didn’t have time to wait on restaurant food. So we cobbled various snacks into dinner, thankful that we had eaten a big lunch.
Our flight was delayed on the tarmac for a bit, so we ended up getting back to Atlanta later than planned. So thankful we left the car at the airport and someone wasn’t waiting to pick us up! It was very late (around 11) by the time we left the airport; we were exhausted and eager to get home to bed. But we live in Atlanta, so guess who got stuck for 30 minutes on 400 due to construction? It took us that long to go less than a mile, and finally the traffic broke up. And immediately a police pace car scooted in front of us to pace traffic, meaning we had to wait another 15 minutes just sitting there. That was really special. In a not-special-at-all kind of way.
We eventually made it home, exhausted but full of happy memories from our trip. I told Mike that if he ever gets transferred for his job, Philadelphia would be a great location!
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