Escape from DC
It's been years since we've traveled for Thanksgiving, but this year we decided to drive down to Asheville, NC, to see my Mom (it's mutually beneficial--she gets her grandchild fix, and we can actually go out on dates without a two-year-old). The only problem is that there's no easy way to get here. It's either an 8-hour drive on one of two generally unpleasant routes, or it's buying three airline tickets and having to connect in either Atlanta or Charlotte. We opted for the former.
As much as we complain about our tiny, old little house, we love our location--not only because of our neighbors, but also because we're only about 5 miles from the District. The DC area is not far behind L.A. in terms of the length of people's commutes and the hideousness of the traffic, but unless there's a snowstorm, we're blissfully unaffected. (A couple of months ago I found myself getting irritated by some of the traffic on my drive home, so I started timing different routes. It turns out my commute averaged about 12 minutes door-to-door...and on those bad days when I was so irritated by the traffic, it took 15-16 minutes. I don't get irritated by traffic anymore.)
Tuesday afternoon on our way down here, we finally got a taste of what hundreds of thousands of people deal with every day. Our choices: (1) take I-95 south, which is the main north-south route on the East Coast and subject to potentially massive traffic jams but is also equipped to handle lots of cars and was recommended by Google Maps, or (2) take I-66 west to I-81 south, which was recommended by MapQuest and has less traffic but is only two lanes wide and is filled with unpredictable 18-wheeler trucks. We opted for I-95 because the trucks almost gave me an ulcer the last time we were on I-81, and because we decided to trust Google. Even though we left at 3:00pm before the worst of normal traffic, and even though we were ahead of the Thanksgiving rush, within 15 minutes of leaving home, this was what our drive was like...
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...and we were in the carpool express lanes. Thankfully it got a little better after a few miles, but we still had bumper-to-bumper traffic, usually moving but occasionally stopping, for at least 50 miles. It was unbelievable just how far the suburbs sprawled, and just how many people lived that far away and had to do that commute every day. (Some probably live that far away out of necessity because housing is more affordable--especially now since those areas are the ones that are having high foreclosures--and others probably do it by choice because they don't want to live in the city, want to have more space, etc.) Needless to say, it reinforced that we wouldn't trade our tiny, drafty house for a bigger, newer house where I'd have to spend at least two hours a day in the car.
Anyway, we made it as far as Durham, found a hotel and got a good night's sleep, and were at Mädchen's "Ama's" house in time for lunch yesterday. Now we're enjoying lazing around in our pajamas late into the morning, the pumpkin pie is in the oven, and the turkey is thawing. Happy Thanksgiving!
As much as we complain about our tiny, old little house, we love our location--not only because of our neighbors, but also because we're only about 5 miles from the District. The DC area is not far behind L.A. in terms of the length of people's commutes and the hideousness of the traffic, but unless there's a snowstorm, we're blissfully unaffected. (A couple of months ago I found myself getting irritated by some of the traffic on my drive home, so I started timing different routes. It turns out my commute averaged about 12 minutes door-to-door...and on those bad days when I was so irritated by the traffic, it took 15-16 minutes. I don't get irritated by traffic anymore.)
Tuesday afternoon on our way down here, we finally got a taste of what hundreds of thousands of people deal with every day. Our choices: (1) take I-95 south, which is the main north-south route on the East Coast and subject to potentially massive traffic jams but is also equipped to handle lots of cars and was recommended by Google Maps, or (2) take I-66 west to I-81 south, which was recommended by MapQuest and has less traffic but is only two lanes wide and is filled with unpredictable 18-wheeler trucks. We opted for I-95 because the trucks almost gave me an ulcer the last time we were on I-81, and because we decided to trust Google. Even though we left at 3:00pm before the worst of normal traffic, and even though we were ahead of the Thanksgiving rush, within 15 minutes of leaving home, this was what our drive was like...
.jpg)
...and we were in the carpool express lanes. Thankfully it got a little better after a few miles, but we still had bumper-to-bumper traffic, usually moving but occasionally stopping, for at least 50 miles. It was unbelievable just how far the suburbs sprawled, and just how many people lived that far away and had to do that commute every day. (Some probably live that far away out of necessity because housing is more affordable--especially now since those areas are the ones that are having high foreclosures--and others probably do it by choice because they don't want to live in the city, want to have more space, etc.) Needless to say, it reinforced that we wouldn't trade our tiny, drafty house for a bigger, newer house where I'd have to spend at least two hours a day in the car.
Anyway, we made it as far as Durham, found a hotel and got a good night's sleep, and were at Mädchen's "Ama's" house in time for lunch yesterday. Now we're enjoying lazing around in our pajamas late into the morning, the pumpkin pie is in the oven, and the turkey is thawing. Happy Thanksgiving!
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