The Weekend's Too Short

Our long weekend at the beach was much too short. More on that later.

The drive, on the other hand, was waaaay too long. Due to construction in the Poconos (in two separate places), traffic was reduced to one lane and merging was a long, drawn out, slow motion hell. And, unbeknownst to us, traffic was also congested due to the fact that it was Nascar race weekend. Yippee.

Lucky for us, we had two kids in the car -- one of whom was hungry. "I want a cheeseburger." "When are we stopping for a cheeseburger?" "Are we there yet?"

So we had the pleasure of stopping for the night at a lovely Howard Johnson's in Bartonsville PA. I wrote a one word review on TripAdvisor that hasn't yet been posted: "Ew." However, in the process of contributing, I happened to notice that many others who stayed at that hotel had experienced car break-ins and stolen items. (Except for one reviewer who writes, "Truly a wonderful place to stay. Clean, upscale, great service. The restaurant is very romantic . . . " Huh? And by romantic, do you mean dimly lit?) Just feeling grateful that all of our stuff is still with us.

But my favorite part of traveling to the beach was our brief visit to Dunkin' Donuts (a.k.a. Stinkin' Donuts) the following morning when the woman standing beside us in line had either fallen asleep the night before in a vat of raw sewage or she possibly had a festering wound on her (insert unnamed body part here) that needed some critical attention. America certainly does Run on Dunkin' cause I cannot imagine what else is keeping that woman alive.

Am I grateful to have spent some time with my girlfriends and their families? Yes. Was it nice to spend a weekend with the hubby and kids? You betcha. Am I happy to have had a lone walk along the beach where a perfectly formed sand dollar washed up right on my toes? Very much so. Do I want to do it again any time soon? Not so much.