It is Sunday of LaborDay weekend 2025, and Stacey, Charlie & I are heading north to spend the month of September in a seaside cottage in Scituate! To make the packing easier, and to add convenience to this lengthy stay, we are taking both cars. After hosting Ryan & Melissa for a visit, we decided to make it a leisurely two-day drive with an overnight stop in New Castle, Delaware.
Charlie rode with me, and established her favorite location to be on the center console between the two front seats of my truck. Here we are, ready for our road trip to New England!
Our drive up the Eastern Shore of Virginia was quite pleasant, on a gorgeous day. After arriving, we took a lovely stroll down along the Delaware River, just 3 blocks away through a surprisingly old town with shops and restaurants along the way. Here is the obligatory selfie down by the river. Behind my right shoulder, you can see the Delaware Memorial Bridge as she awaits our crossing tomorrow morning!
After returning to the AirBnB, I was oh-so-pleasantly surprised to find only one remote to operate the TV! HOORAY! In my experience, most places have a labyrinth of remotes, and zero instructions on how to get the television to display something one might actually watch, AND – in English. We logged in quickly and caught the last two innings as the Sox salvaged the final game against the Pirates behind another strong outing for Lucas Giolito. But the real highlight was the 3-run inside the park home run for Jaren Duran! ELECTRIC! ⚾️🇺🇸⚾️
Settling in now for the Catholics vs Convicts game… GO IRISH! 🏈. Stacey walked down to Jessop’s Tavern to bring takeout back. I got Sheperd’s Pie that was INCREDIBLE! It was GINORMOUS – leftovers for Scituate! We only made it to halftime, and I woke up pleased to have gone to bed when I read the final score. What I did watch was depressing enough. I still say GO IRISH! ☘️
Charlie had me up at 6 AM to get outside for business quickly. She and Stacey are hopefully getting an extra hour of sleep now while I read and plot the quickest route to some real coffee. All of the coffee in the house is strangely flavored – like peanut butter. No thanks. A dark-roast, black and bitter for me please! There is a Starbucks right before the bridge that is calling my name!☕️
We packed back up and made our way out of town around 8 AM and quickly crossed that same Delaware Memorial bridge. Next thing we knew, we were counting the cars on the New Jersey Turnpike. As everyone recalls,they’ve all come to look for America!
I’ve done this drive many times, starting when I was a student at Villanova in the late 80s and early 90s. Crossing the Hudson from New Jersey to New York is almost never wisest on the George Washington bridge. But GPS kept insisting, so I went against my instinct and put my trust in Apple Maps. We were rewarded with smooth sailing, never tapping the brakes for that crossing! Yippee!!
Traffic was light the whole way, so we decided to stop at a favorite spot to get out and have lunch. Bapa has recommended Johnny Ad’s in Old Saybrook for decades, and he has been right all along! It is a great spot near where he grew up, and you just can’t go wrong stopping there. Chowder, onion rings and Cole slaw fueled us nicely for the final stretch run to Scituate!
Shortly after arriving at our home for the next month, a couple hundred yards from the lighthouse, Mimi and Bapa pulled in. They had bikes for us to use, and a fantastic vegetable tray! We were reminded of the main reason we came home for this moth – leisurely visits with our most special loved ones. Thank you Mimi and Bapa!
After a short walk to the lighthouse, we returned for our leftovers and some more unpacking. It’s good to be home!
