Mini Adventure

Yesterday I drove out to New Jersey to visit Kim and Karen. My point of destination: Cranford. In my posession: a folded sheet of paper with basic instructions. Take 80E to 287N to 24 to the Parkway to Cranford. Traffic was a bit intense and I guess I wasn’t paying attention to the roadsigns and needless to say, I missed my exit. After awhile I thought, “Hmm, I seem to have been on 80 for an awful long time. Where the hell is my exit?”

Literally, not even 5 minutes later, what do I see? The NEW YORK CITY SKYLINE! First thought: “Fuuuuck, how the hell did I manage this one?” (I swear a lot when I drive) So I keep going and see the last exit in New Jersey, the NJ Turnpike. I take that, going south, stop at a rest area and call Kim. She says “It’s ok. Just go North on the Turnpike, take exit 11, and that will get you to the Parkway.” Good. Good. or so I think…

So I’m going North, following the turnpike signs when all of a sudden the turnpike signs dissappear and the road branches into two sides one says Upper Level, one says Lower Level. I was on the left so I just kept going that way. I then see a toll booth with a sign that reads NEW YORK CITY with a HUGE-ASS bridge on the other side. mmm... cue panic mode. I call Kim, she doesn’t know where I am, so I ask the toll booth lady, she tells me to double around back over the bridge and that will take me to the turnpike. and she was right and that was good. So I finally get to Kim’s and tell her parents about my mini adventure and her dad informs me that I crossed the George Washington Bridge and was in the Bronx, Harlem-ish. Nice. Thank god I didn’t know that then.. I was already panicking.

But anyway, that was a fun adventure. A little nerve-wracking. I’ve never been that close to NYC behind my own steering wheel. It looks a lot bigger when I’m the driver.

Kim, Karen, and I had quite the fun time last night as well. We went to a bar whose main event was country line dancing. Yeah, that’s not my scene. Something about the way tight jeans cleave to a man’s ass cheeks, just not appealing. And there were far too many cowboy hats, boots, and overly shiny belt buckles for my taste. It was fun though. Made for some GREAT people watching! And Karen got good and tipsy and boy did she dance! It was great! Kim and I made an attempt at it. I failed miserably. I’m just not coordinated enough for that. Maybe if I knew how, it would have been more fun, but I just felt like a bumbling idiot on the dance floor. I’m not used to the music either. “Honky Tonk” is not a member of my vocabulary. Though the “Don’t Touch my Willy” song was rather amusing. It was fun watching everyone else. Supposedly there was a mechanical bull there as well, but we never found it. All in all, it was a good time.

Now I’m going to watch a movie with my parents then work on some design stuff…