Checking In From Out Of Town
I drove to Providence and flew to Philadelphia.
I waited for my luggage. I waited 45 minutes for my Budget rental car.
I drove to Bucks County, PA, to see some family. It should have taken 45 minutes. It took 2 hours because of Philadelphia traffic. Warmly referred to in Boston as "parking lot" style.
I stayed the night.
I drove to Maryland. It should have taken 3 hours, max. It took five hours. Traffic.
I stayed two nights at the Hilton in Columbia, MD. As I settled in to read and luxuriate in the fact that I was no longer stuck in interminable traffic, I heard the sound of stampeding teengers in the hall. When I opened my door to investigate, I saw that what appeared to be a confab of cheerleaders had infested the floor. I phoned the front desk to grimly inform them that I was packing my bags and that I wanted a new room far away from any giggling, scampering adolescents. The front desk grimly informed me that there were 200 youth in the hotel, and there was not a youth-free floor to be found. I ingested a pharmaceutical anxiety aid (intended to help with the plane flight) and went to sleep.
The next day I shopped.
I attended a rehearsal dinner.
Saturday morning brought the finest spring weather I have seen yet this year and we had a very gorgeous wedding. The bride was radiant. The groom was cool as a cuke. A very earnest Jewish woman spent a solid hour at the reception grilling me about Unitarian Universalist theology and did not stop no matter how many times I made an elaborately apologetic "I-would-love-to-answer-that-question-but-I'm-chewing-and-you-wouldn't want-me-to-choke-would you?" face.
On Saturday afternoon I drove to Alexandria, VA to stay with a pal. Then I went to the theatre at the Kennedy Center with the Boy In The Bands and his hubby (review forthcoming).
http://www.universalistchurch.net/boyinthebands/
On Sunday morning I went to a lovely UU worship service in Arlington, VA (where my friend danced beautifully). I began to fade (unobtrusively, I hope). Dreading the ride back up to PA in the rain and the traffic, I left the DC area early and rode north again.
The trip back to Bucks County took 6 hours. Traffic again. They have fewer potholes in MEXICO.
Let me ask you this: whatever happened to the public transportation lobby in America? Remember when they were promising us inter-state monorails??
(P.S. Did you know that your AAA membership contributes to a virulent pro-car, pro-petroleum gas lobby? You join thinking that you're getting free maps, and they count you as one of their "constituents" to defend their anti-public transportation legislative activism. Here's a nice alternative concept, http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?scid=77&did=782)
I waited for my luggage. I waited 45 minutes for my Budget rental car.
I drove to Bucks County, PA, to see some family. It should have taken 45 minutes. It took 2 hours because of Philadelphia traffic. Warmly referred to in Boston as "parking lot" style.
I stayed the night.
I drove to Maryland. It should have taken 3 hours, max. It took five hours. Traffic.
I stayed two nights at the Hilton in Columbia, MD. As I settled in to read and luxuriate in the fact that I was no longer stuck in interminable traffic, I heard the sound of stampeding teengers in the hall. When I opened my door to investigate, I saw that what appeared to be a confab of cheerleaders had infested the floor. I phoned the front desk to grimly inform them that I was packing my bags and that I wanted a new room far away from any giggling, scampering adolescents. The front desk grimly informed me that there were 200 youth in the hotel, and there was not a youth-free floor to be found. I ingested a pharmaceutical anxiety aid (intended to help with the plane flight) and went to sleep.
The next day I shopped.
I attended a rehearsal dinner.
Saturday morning brought the finest spring weather I have seen yet this year and we had a very gorgeous wedding. The bride was radiant. The groom was cool as a cuke. A very earnest Jewish woman spent a solid hour at the reception grilling me about Unitarian Universalist theology and did not stop no matter how many times I made an elaborately apologetic "I-would-love-to-answer-that-question-but-I'm-chewing-and-you-wouldn't want-me-to-choke-would you?" face.
On Saturday afternoon I drove to Alexandria, VA to stay with a pal. Then I went to the theatre at the Kennedy Center with the Boy In The Bands and his hubby (review forthcoming).
http://www.universalistchurch.net/boyinthebands/
On Sunday morning I went to a lovely UU worship service in Arlington, VA (where my friend danced beautifully). I began to fade (unobtrusively, I hope). Dreading the ride back up to PA in the rain and the traffic, I left the DC area early and rode north again.
The trip back to Bucks County took 6 hours. Traffic again. They have fewer potholes in MEXICO.
Let me ask you this: whatever happened to the public transportation lobby in America? Remember when they were promising us inter-state monorails??
(P.S. Did you know that your AAA membership contributes to a virulent pro-car, pro-petroleum gas lobby? You join thinking that you're getting free maps, and they count you as one of their "constituents" to defend their anti-public transportation legislative activism. Here's a nice alternative concept, http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?scid=77&did=782)
posted by PeaceBang at 9:47 PM
5 Comments:
I was just at a wedding last month in New Hope. God I love Bucks County…poor folks were still de-flooding at the time.
Sorry to hear of your transportation pain. I had a lovely taste of traffic myself this morning, when it took me an hour to make my 10 mile commute to work. I want a helicopter for my next birthday.
Fausto's mother grew up just west of New Hope in Lahaska, on the site of what is now the Peddler's Village tchotchke retailing empire, and attended Buckingham Friends Meeting as a kid. Fausto himself attended third grade at Buckingham Elementary, and learned to fish in his granddad's farm pond off of Lower Mountain Road, and took swimming lessons at the municipal pool in Doylestown.
Whaddya know? Doylestown is still offering the same learn-to-swim program. Click here.
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I admit, I went to Peddler's Village (was taken by a local!).
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