As it turns out, the drive from our house in Virginia to where we were staying in Albany, NY was about 370 miles. Knowing that we had a long drive, at the opening of a holiday weekend, with a two year old toddler to take along with us, we decided we wanted to get an early start. So we woke up at 4am yesterday morning and we were on the road by 4:30am.
I had expected to arrive at our friends’ house by 2pm. I built in time for pit-stops at rest stations along the way (after all, Kelly is 31 weeks pregnant, and I figured restroom breaks would be frequent). I built in time for hitting some holiday traffic. And we’d planned to stop for breakfast as well. So 2pm seemed like a reasonable time to take a leisurely drive to upstate New York.
Well, we hit not significant holiday traffic. (Just 15 minutes worth up near Suffern, NY.) We made no pitstops along the way. Kelly and the Little Man slept most of the drive. And when we did stop for breakfast, it was only for about 45 minutes or so. The net result is that we did not arrive at 2pm but at 11:15am. I like to be early, but nearly 3 hours early is a little over-the-top, even for me.
We had a blast, though. It was good to see my friend Eric and his wife, Ryane. We don’t get to see them enough. They have two kids, a 4-year old (The Dude) and a 6-month old (The Dudette). The Little Man and the Dude hit it off almost at once. This was aided by the fact that The Dude had plenty of toys that the Little Man enjoys playing with. What was funny is how the Little Man did not warm up to the Dudette. He watched has his mommy and daddy played cooed and played with the little girl. When we held her, the Little Man grew jealous and would glare. I imagine this is a preview of what is to come when the Little Man’s sister arrives next month.
Eric and I have been friends since high school. It is strange to think about those high school days and some of the silly things we used to do–and now our kids are playing together. But it was great to watch them play.
Eric, of course, is the proprietor of the Mouse House Kitchen blog and that means we are pretty much assure of good eating when we visit. Last night was no exception. We had an excellent strawberry salad, and this marvelously season toast with melted cheese. And there was also grilled tofu with a tangy sauce. All of it was mouth-watering. For dessert there were some pretty amazing ice cream cupcakes. Eric had acquired a half dozen of these but I think I could have eaten a half dozen all by myself.
The Little Man was a little moody. He didn’t want to nap, and he whined more than usual, but I should cut him some slack. He was incredibly well-behaved on the long drive up and he is in a new place with new people. It takes some adjusting, I imagine.
It’s nice to be away for the weekend and I’m glad we decided to make it an extra-long one.
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