After living in a lock-down world for the better part of the last two plus years, I finally was able to go on a road trip. And this was no normal road trip - you know the kind - you jump in the car and drive up north to cottage country or drive to a favourite restaurant that you have not been to in quite awhile. This was going to be different.

The reason for this road trip was that we had sold our condo and we needed to clean out our storage locker and bring back some personal items. I also wanted to take some time for myself.

I had been planning this trip for months (in my head). As usual I had started out with all kinds of idea’s - go to Chicago and see old colleagues, or maybe go to NYC and have a weekend in the Big Apple or simply drive without any real purpose or aim. Well, par for the course not many of the ideas came to fruition. However I did make it to NYC - and more on that later.

I didn’t get away till the Wednesday afternoon due to some other scheduled activities that could not be re-arranged. Eventually, I hit the road around 3 pm and made my way to the Canadian/USA border. I crossed over at Fort Erie/Buffalo and headed west across the New York State Thruway towards Erie, PA. I hadn’t eaten lunch so I stopped at the Angola stop on the Thruway. Given that I didn’t do a lot of pre-planning, I thought it would take about two plus days to get to my final destination in Florida. I didn’t even have any hotels booked, so during my stop in Angola, I logged onto the Marriott site and found a suitable stop at the south end of Pittsburgh. One mistake I made was that I didn’t have a GPS unit with me and I was hesitant to use the one on my phone due to the likely high cost of the roaming charges. However, at times I had no other choice, so I had to periodically turn it on to ensure I was going in the right direction. (Sorry Sheila). The objective was to get to the south part of Pittsburgh and turn in for the night.

It was approximately 3 1/2 hours driving time from Buffalo and there were no real issues aside from the constant rain and the oncoming darkness. I made an executive decision to pull over just south of the large outlet mall in Grove PA and try to find a Wal*Mart. I figured they would be open late and I could find an inexpensive GPS unit that would help me ensure I didn’t get lost and waste a lot of time.. After a bit of searching, I managed to locate a Wal*Mart and was to find a suitable GPS. Of course wouldn’t you know it - I plugged in the address of the hotel and it could not find its location. So…..what to do? I figured if I typed in the address of the “suburb” that would work. Some of these hotels may be new and the map software in the GPS units may not be up to date.

Eventually, I made it and arrived at the hotel around 9:30 pm. I wasn’t hungry, but was able to coax the staff to sell me a glass of wine. It was close to 10 pm and after a stressful and long day it was time to pack it in.

I had mapped out the next 2 days (Thursday/Friday to calculate how long it would take me to arrive at Saddlebrook, Florida. I didn’t want to drive too much on the Friday, so I needed to put in a decent day of driving on Thursday. I calculated that if I drove about 10 hours, I would make it to Savannah, Georgia, so I booked a hotel there and that became the end goal. I was up early the next day and after a quick coffee, I was on my way. This was going to be the long part of the drive. I would be driving through a number of states, including Pennsylvania, West Virgina, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and eventually stopping in Georgia.

I was looking forward to this part of the trip. The drive was quite pretty with lot’s of great scenery go look at. The Blue Ridge mountains are beautiful and driving during the daytime was ideal. My GPS was working perfect and I managed to keep to the speed limit quite easily - no tickets for me. I don’t recall the time I made it to Savannah but I think it was sometime around 6 pm. The hotels I was using for this trip was the Marriott’ chains and my criteria when choosing was based on two important needs - price and location. I didn’t think it made a lot of sense to spend a lot money given I was not planning to spend a lot of time there, and for location it was critical that it was easy to find and easy to get out of. In the case of Pittsburgh, I had wanted to be at the south end of the city so I didn’t have to deal with rush hour traffic in the morning.

No, I didn’t eat the whole pizza. With Internet searches it’s quite easy to find new places to eat. I decided to try a place called Ricciards Pizzeria. I would say that it was pretty good value. My only complaint was that it was open mic night so a local singer was playing which made it quite loud. I asked if I could sit outside and that was no problem - aside from the fact that it was 92 degrees at that time. Man it was hot. Anyways, back to the hotel and early bed to get ready for the last part of the drive. The last section of the drive was just under 7 hours and that would put me into Saddlebrook in the early afternoon.

Once you leave Savannah, it doesn’t take long to cross the border into Florida. You head south to Jacksonville and then a quick turn and travel west towards the Gulf coast. This part of the drive was not very exciting, but I arrived safely on the Friday afternoon and did a pit stop first to pick up some groceries. My previous post had more about this part of the trip but it it safe to say it went well. The plan was to spend about five days at Saddlebrook and take care of what I need to get done. I worked away at my own pace, played some golf and did a bit of running around. A couple of good meals and went about my business. As much as it felt good to be there, it was also bittersweet because I knew that this would likely be the last time I would be there. Lots of good memories because we spent many holidays there - Christmas, New Years, March Break and Summer holidays.

No trip would be complete without a visit to the wafflehouse . The epitime of grease - I went with the special - 2 eggs, hash browns, bacon and coffee. Nothing tops this!

One thing that I learned about myself is that spending a long period of time alone is probably not something I want to do. One of the tests of this trip was to see whether I could adjust and maybe think about spending a month somewhere in the winter months. Now to be fair, this test was a bit lopsided given that there was no one at Saddlebrook - it was very, very quiet. But, I did miss the family and going forward, I’m not sure this would be for me.

It was time to get out of dodge and make my way to NYC. This next part of the trip was still somewhat up in the air. The kid - aka Miss Sarah had tested “positive” on a rapid test - or so they thought. The two bars on the test were not quite as clear as they should be. She had recovered from a previous case of Covid but that was almost six months ago, and these kids don’t always practice safe masking. Anyways, it sounded like the trip for her was off, but I suggested she keep her appointment for a PCR test and lo and behold she tested negative - trip back on - all good to fly.

I left Saddlebrook on Wednesday morning with the goal to arrive in NYC on the Friday morning. I could have easily made it there on the Thursday night but I was a bit nervous of driving in the city. I thought it was best to wait till the rush hour was over and cross over from New Jersey to New York around 10 am on the Friday. So - that became the plan. The first day of driving was plotted out to get to Dunn, NC which was approximately 9 hours of driving without stops.

After a few nights of travelling these hotels were starting to blend together. They were always very clean, easy to find and in some cases they had a free breakfest (that’s a very good thing). I have no idea what Dunn NC is famous for? It’s not very big and it’s clearly in the “south.” I found a place for dinner called the Sagebrush Steakhouse which was about a 15 minute walk from my hotel. Sort of a cross between a high end Ponderosa and a very low end Keg. Give it 4 out of 5. When you drive through the USA you can notice the cultural differences as you go from north to south. I didn’t listen a lot to the radio but when I did the tone was quite different depending where you were. In the south there were more stations that played religious music or featured what we would call right wing talk radio. The terrible shooting had just taken place in Texas and talk radio was more focused on “don’t take our guns away from us.” Clearly a different view than where I come from. But no matter where you went people were always very friendly and helpful.

I had calculated that the final day of driving would take around 8 hours with the final destination being Edison, NJ. I picked Edison because it looked like it was around 1 hour drive into NYC and the price of the hotel was in my range and that final part of the drive looked manageable Parts of the driving that day were not a lot of fun. The traffic around Washington was quite heavy and I had no clear idea where I was going. Thank god for my GPS, because with the considerable traffic and the number of expressway changes, I had to concentrate more than normal. The amount of cars on the road was increasing and people were driving faster that what I had seen. The expressways on NJ were confusing and more than once, I managed to get lost - even with a GPS. Anyways, finally made it and checked in and decided to have a fairly quiet night. I drove around a little bit looking for somewhere interesting to eat but failed in that regard. So, went for fast food Chinese. Disappointing…..oh well.

After a good sleep and breakfast at the hotel (not free) i planned my route into NYC. One of the challenges of this trip was the number of tolls with majority of them not having any staff at the toll booths. There is no one to give the money to so my assumption is they take a picture of your license plate and eventually you will get a bill.

As I said, I was a little nervous of driving into the city but once I got through New Jersey and onto the Lincoln tunnel it wasn’t that big of a deal. Probably took no more than one hour to get to the hotel.

I picked the Moxy Chelsea NYC for a few reasons. I had about 175,000 Marriott points that I wanted to use up and this hotel fit that bill. The location was central to where we would want to go and this made it easy to walk around - at W28th and 6th Avenue, and finally it had a fun vibe to it - perfect for Miss Sarah.

I was tracking her departure from Toronto and as expected it was a challenge. Toronto airport is simply a mess at the moment - there is a shortage of staff combined with the Covid restrictions which end up creating hours of backlog for travelers. Check-in for International flights which includes the USA are being told to check in 3 hours prior to their flight. Her flight was at 9:15 am. so she had to be at the airport at 6 am. So…..it was a very early morning for her. Of course there was a flight delay, so she didn’t arrive into the NYC till closer to 1 pm. I had already been here for a few hours and I was looking for a chiropractor appointment because my back was killing me, The long days of driving had created an imbalance and it was painful driving. I ended up getting an appointment for 1 pm ($150 USD later). Sarah texted me upon arrival and asked if she could go visit a friend from school who was still here in NYC. No problem and I asked her to let me know her location and I would eventually find her.

It would turn out that she and her friend were only a few streets away enjoying the high life sitting outside. After locating them at an interesting outdoor bar/restaurant, I headed off a few blocks away and found a seat on the street at a sidewalk cafe. We had dinner plans that night at johnsof12thstreet. I had been there once before with Sheila. This is a very old school red sauce type of place. Built in 1908, it has a type of character you don’t find in places today. I kept waiting for Don Corleone to come through the door. I thought about going to the washroom and check if the pistol was located behind the toilet (aka the Godfather). Clearly there was too much food but I guess that’s part of the attraction - family style serving. The highlight was the appetizer - Spedino Mozzarella Romana. Otherwise known as heart attack on a plate :). If you were to de-construct it you would find bread and mozzarella breaded that was deep fried and topped with a red sauce. Sarah took a bite and her face gave it away - it was so good. I had spaghetti with meatballs and Sarah ordered veal with pasta. No chance of even finishing half of it.

We walked to and back from the restaurant. It was about 20 minutes south of our hotel and it was a nice night to walk. You cross over Broadway, walk south past Madison Square Park and Union Square. Very close to NYU University. There is always an energy in the street no matter where you walk. From a frantic non-stop type to more peaceful vibe when you got closer to the Village. I took the picture below on the walk back. The sun was setting on 14th Street.

Our Saturday was planned to be a “power” day spending most of our time down in SOHO. It was a great weather day and we managed to do what we can to help the American economy. I have been going to Soho for more than 20 years and it’s probably one of the busiests shopping areas to visit. It has been the location of many artists lofts and art galleries and is known for it’s variety of trendy upscale boutiques to national and international chain store outlets. The name derives from the area being known as “South of Houston Street”. It boasts the greatest collection of cast iron architecture in the world and you must check out the side streets off the busy main street.

Lunch was the famous Prince Street Pizza and it didn’t disappoint. Below are a snapshot of pictures in no particular order. Outside our hotel were a number of “flower” shops which added a lot of colour to the street. And of course you have the Empire State Building at night.

After power shopping in SOHO, I convinced Sarah to head uptown to go to the theatre district as I wanted to look for a particular Broadway Show poster. I was hoping to go see Billy Crystal in Mr. Saturday Night. I asked Miss Sarah if she had ever heard of Billy Crystal and she said no…..so, I decided that maybe that would not be a good selection.

As we were walking around, I pointed out the Shubert theatre that her, and reminded her that we had gone there three years ago to see To Kill A Mockingbird. As we walked by she looked at the advertisement for the current feature show and she said - “I would like to see this.”. I walked into the theatre and asked about tickets for Sunday and bought two for Sunday afternoon. It was called POTUS and it was billed as an all female comedy based on the President of the United States. Some well known cast included Vanessa Williams and Julianne Hough. Excellent show and we both enjoyed it. Our seats were 4 rows from the front.

Dinner on Saturday was back in the SOHO area (not the busy part) at a French bistro called Bistro Les Amis. Simply put —it was great. We took a taxi there as we were getting a bit worn out from the walking and as an added treat the taxi was a Tesla - first time in one. We sat outside and we both had steak frites. I had the best escargot I have ever tasted. The restaurant is located on Spring Street a few blocks west of the busy tourist streets. I had made a reservation a few days prior to ensure we could find a suitable place on Saturday night.

After dinner we took a cab back to the hotel and I thought we were going to lie low. But no, the kid (Miss Sarah) received a text from her friend who was still in NYC and out she went. I had my concerns about this but she promised they would be careful and not do anything stupid. Yes, I tracked her non-stop on my phone to see where she was and I heard her come in around 1 am. Our final day - Sunday we had breakfast (crazy prices) and then headed over to the Hudson Yards where Sarah was going to take an outside Soul Cycle Class. After the class we walked for a bit along the HIgh LIne - busy place but always fantastic. She loved the class and it was a special treat for her.

We had a few hours to kill before our show. We did a quick walk-thru of Macy’s on 34th and then we headed up 6th Avenue to Broadway. 6th Avenue was closed for a street fair and there were lots of New Yorkers out enjoying the many street vendors. NYC does this very well as they have a number of summer street fairs. Great for walking around and soaking up the atmosphere.

Our final night I planned to head down to Little Italy for dinner. This multi-block area to the east of Soho is closed off to car traffic and there is a buzz in the street. Mulberry Street is the start and it goes for a few blocks south towards Canal Street (Chinatown). If he was still alive you might have seen John Gotti and his pals. We walked a few blocks and made a revision to my original plan to go to Grotta Azurra and we found this great, modern place called Gelso & Grand - we couldn’t get a seat outside but we were okay sitting inside and again, the food was great. Not traditional pasta style - closer to Terroni in TO.

By then we probably had enough food and it was time to head back to the hotel. We had a long drive the next day as we were driving back to Toronto. A long time to be away but it was a great trip. Of course I have to leave you with a final shot of our Sunday lunch from Shake Shack.

We left early Monday morning and crossed through the Lincoln tunnel into New Jersey eventually heading west and then north through Pennsylvania. It was a very pretty drive through the Pocono mountains. The GPS has us coming in around 3 pm, but that was not counting stops for gas or food. Coming home you have to download the Arrive Canada App and I even surprised myself by figuring it out. We crossed the border quite easily and of course hit a traffic jam around Burlington - welcome home.

It was a long 11 days to be away but it felt wonderful to have a bit of normality again. As always some outstanding meals (ugh - diet again) and Miss Ellie was very happy to see me with her wagging tail. And of course its always nice to spend time with my favourite daughter.