I Heart...

NJ. Went to NY for a wedding this weekend (Long Island). It was a wonderful wedding, very posh, the bride beautiful and the groom handsome. And I am so very glad to be home!

As mentioned in a previous post, Mr. Merci was responsible for the directions this time (I usually bear the sole responsibility for travel preparation in our household). Mr. M chose the AAA Trip Tick solution. Our directions took us up the Garden State Parkway, to the NJ Turnpike, to Route 78, across Routes 1/9 and various short distances on smaller roads to the HOLLAND TUNNEL. Yessirree, we drove through lower Manhattan (crept through, actually) on a Saturday afternoon for the sole purpose of getting to Long Island via the Manhattan Bridge! It took us close to an hour to travel less than a mile in Manhattan.

Once across the bridge, we crawled up Route 278 (unavoidable by almost any route we would have taken) to the Long Island Expressway. The conditions improved shortly after we hit the LIE. It took us 4 hours to get from the vet’s office back home (had to board our poor old hounds for the night) to the door of the hotel. Fortunately, we arrived in Glen Cove just in time for the 4:00 pm check-in.

All of the above was accomplished in the pouring rain. I’m not sure whether or not the terror alerts in NYC had any effect on our travel. Did more people drive into the city for Saturday afternoon tea to avoid public trans? I kind of doubt it, but I suppose it’s possible. If anyone was put off by the threat of terrorism (again, I doubt it) they would probably have stayed home. I wonder if Canal Street was backed up like that at the time of the 911 attacks. I can’t imagine being frozen in traffic, an alien to NYC and just passing through, when the WTC was attacked. But this is only one of numerous unimaginable scenarios from that day.

Anyway, rest assured that we did not take the same route home. We pulled out of the parking lot at 8:00 am the next morning, and we arrived home (this time via the Verazzano Narrows Bridge and the Outer Bridge Crossing) in less than 3 hours. Our only delays on the way home were the numerous, tedious toll booths on the GSP. Oh, and if you see the toll police, tell them that we didn’t MEAN to short the toll at the Woodbridge Plaza. How were we supposed to know that the exact change amount in question was DOUBLE the amount at every other plaza we encountered???

I know that NJ takes a ribbing in the world (I won’t repeat the awful untruths here), but I, for one, am glad to reside here! I know that some people thrive on the congestion and teeming humanity that is NYC, but it’s not for me. And I’d take Philly over NY any day, hands down. Guess my roots are showing.