What a weekend. We just returned from a 5-day road trip to Michigan, celebrating Thanksgiving with our friends Paul & Biji. Hoping I was off on Tuesday and could rest all day, we had hoped to leave Tuesday night, but I ended up working on Tuesday after all. I took a cat nap while my wife packed, then we loaded up the kids and luggage, toys and other paraphernalia, and hit the road around 5:45am.
Wednesday morning
I drove the first 6 hours while everyone slept, and we made a few pit stops as we drove from New Jersey across Pennsylvania on I-76, and crossing Ohio. Nums drove across Ohio and got us into Michigan. We finally reached the house around 6:30pm. We had pre-arranged babysitters to take care of the kids, freshened up, and a group of us went to see the Piston-Knicks game over at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The Knicks played horribly, but we had nearly court side seats, the company of friends, and no kids to wrangle. Fun time. Afterwards, we picked up food to go, relieved the babysitters, and had a very late dinner at the house.
Thursday morning
We woke up early to have breakfast with Paul’s family at his parents house. In the late morning and afternoon, Paul and I wrangled the kids, while the women shopped for food. We all took turns, and more people slowly showed up, to help cook and clean up afterward. At last count, there were about 30 people over their house for Thanksgiving dinner.
Friday morning
Thinking I had to work all day, I logged in to find out that I didn’t, and promptly shut off the laptop that morning. We spent the rest of the day hanging out, watching movies, and relaxing. In the evening, a number of folks all met up for dinner at the local Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner and drinks.
Saturday morning
More hanging out, more movies, and relaxing. In the evening, we went to Longhorn Steakhouse for a last dinner with everyone. We also did most of the packing up, to speed up the departure early Sunday morning. The kids also got baths, because they were starting to stink. 😉
Sunday morning
We hit the road around 5:30am, and didn’t get stuck in traffic until the middle of Ohio and somewhere in Pennsylvania. I can’t tell you how much being stuck in traffic sucks with tired children in the backseat, and having spent hours in the car. We eventually reached home around 8:30pm that night.