551 Days Later

 To quote video game legend Mario: Let's a-go! It's been a long time dealing with the Covid 19 World, but now that the whole family has been "fully vaccinated" it was time for a trip back home to Virginia! So lets get some pictures to share! This first bunch of pictures is from the general travelling, something we have not really done for about 18 months!

The traffic was forecast to be "the worst in years" with everyone finally free to move about. Already It backed up for a while on the NJ Turnpike and we made a stop at the last um... stop... before the Delaware bridge. No need to risk getting caught in traffic with... literally nowhere to um... go. Hehe.

Clara Barton founded the Red Cross. Maybe some kids just know her as the last stop on the New Jersey Turnpike? Hey, that still counts as helping people, right?

How could you forget the Delaware Memorial Bridge? Just in case you need to know, these road trip pictures are always from when we were actually stopped in traffic. If you were worried we were not being safe.

The big turn to go south. This spot has a cool hill-wall-thing that kind of feels like a tunnel. Give them some artist points for making a pattern on those tiles over there, and gardening points for always making sure that hill is super green.

Every once in a while, we could see the traffic going in the opposite direction was waaaaayyyyy worse than what we were dealing with. But it only looks like there's no one in front of us, we met up with that group at the next traffic light.

You'll have to zoom in to see it over there... We saw it said "Divine Intervention Ministries" and thought "Yikes!" Do we even want to know what that is about? You think they have like,... proof?

Stopped at this Ollie's to use the restroom. It's a little bit ahead of the Walmart we typically stop at, and we were checking on a long shot at some Transformers a friend was looking for a while ago. We didn't feel like searching too much, but it's cool to check out a store you'd normally never get to.

No on the brief treasure hunt, but we did spot a Toys R Us um... toy. I now remember that the Covid lockdowns forced the recently re-opened Toys R Us in New Jersey to close, I wonder if they have re-re-opened.

Smooth sailing all the way down to Virginia. Pro-tip: download some podcasts and comedy things and it's like listening to Television. Makes the time go by pretty easy. Probably better than audio books but I've heard those are good, too. Here's a crazy Arby's that has a... gas station? Weird, right? Another pro-tip: You can get the Beef & Cheddar sandwich on a regular bun instead of the crazy onion bun it normally comes with.

One last stop at the Walmart before the big bridge. It's 8pm right now but still bright outside. Thanks, Summer!

We normally like to check the claw machines to see if we can pick up a travelling buddy. Took a couple of grabs at this Purple Dragon but it was clear that the hook was not working at all. It didn't even close until it had reached the top. At least ACT like you are trying, if you are taking my dollars!

Re-issue Cobra Fang Copter was neat to see as we rushed a quick check for treasures and to stretch the legs. The box was smashed! Did it crash? Of course, the pilot safely parachuted away, like always.

HOME!! The last time we took pictures around here was 551 days ago! Or just a little over 1.5 years. Someone's Mom is about to get HUGGED! Why did we even pause to get this picture?

The next morning we remember that the last time we put gas in the car was in New Jersey before we left, and we did not put any gas in the tank since. So the trip-ometer tells us the ride was about 314 miles! If there are any curious statistics nerds out there. Oh, that's me? Speaking of stats, yesterday we left work at 2pm and got to home at 9:45, so the trip down took almost 8 hours.

Happy 4th of July! These neighborhood rebels are shooting fireworks out of the back yard right over other people's houses! It's pretty much illegal to shoot off fireworks... everywhere, right? I'm not going to be "that pony" and bust them, but I'm still worried about everybody being safe.

I almost forgot to leave this card we brought down with us. It was the only card my friend needed for his Animal Crossing Amiibo Card set. So... Merry Xmas? Happy Birthday? Um... We missed a lot of these, just pick one!

Time to go home already! Haha there are other picture groups with the fun stuff we did, so stay tuned for those. As for these pictures, they were the travelling ones, and that includes the ride home.

There was some stop-n-go traffic on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel  so why not get a picture? It was only people slowing down to check out the giant cranes doing construction on the island rest stop. I couldn't get a picture of the cranes. But there's plenty of water to look at.

Looks like that building is in need of some taxidermy. But not regular taxidermy... Savage Taxidermy! We always found that to be funny, but also funny that we typically get stopped at this light to look over and grab a picture.

Stuckey's is almost right on the border of Virginia and Maryland. And in a good spot for a... break. It's comforting to have a pattern when you travel, like, spots you always stop. But sometimes we think it might be nice to try different spots, too.

We didn't buy any nuts this time at the Stuckey's but they do have good ones, we've gotten some before. 

Fun to see the different State's info banners outside the stores. This one at a Walmart we stopped at in Delaware, I think. Maybe I should mention that we did not wear "the mask" at all this entire weekend. We had one with us just in case, though.

No luck in the claw machines at all this trip. Nothing cute enough to throw dollars at. Wait... that doesn't sound right... Anyway here's an odd Purple Superman which is NOT Bizarro, because Bizarro's "S" is backwards. I'm not enough of a Superman person to know why else he would have a purple outfit, maybe he was helping step on grapes?

This WaWa is usually the last stop we take before driving through New Jersey all the way home. Nothing exciting happened but took a picture just to mark that we stopped here.

There's a stretch of road right before the Delaware Memorial Bridge that's like, 6 lanes of traffic. And it was stop-n-go for a while to merge it ALL into ONE lane! We had the camera out and lucked out to get a picture of the cause: this overturned trailer truck! I will happily trade sitting in traffic instead of whatever day that guy is having right now.

Again, filled up the tank in Virginia and drove all the way home without filling up. So the car says 311.8 miles this time. Whew! That's some long trip for one bunch of pictures! Do you feel like it was a long trip? For the stat people, we left at at about 1pm and arrived at about 8pm, so less traffic today for a 7 hour ride.