Summer adventures
Sep. 1st, 2019 02:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alee_grrlSo I took the last week off to help my heart sister move some of their stuff from Vermont to Virginia, and to help get my nephew moved back into the dorm at University. They got in Sunday evening. Nephew had class Monday morning, so we dropped him off for his class and then went and got breakfast. Then picked him back up after his class, went and picked up a moving truck, and then headed down to their storage units to start loading the truck.
The rental place upgraded us to a slightly larger truck, so instead of the smallest moving truck available we ended up with a 14 foot one. Sister drove it the five or so miles to my apartment and her vertigo from attempting to drive it was awful. So I became the designated driver for the entire trip. Thankfully, once I got used to the size of the thing it wasn't so bad. I'd only driven one small moving truck locally for a few hours when I first got furniture for my apartment. Otherwise, I'd never driven anything bigger than a basic pick-up truck (not even an extended cab pick-up). So it took me a bit to adjust.
It took us pretty much late into the evening on Monday to empty the larger storage unit since we had to repack some boxes. Then we moved on to the smaller unit. We managed to get about half of that one cleared out before we ran out of spoons. We might have been able to finish loading stuff if we had found some additional spoons, but realized that we would likely exceed the weight limit if we tried since the remaining boxes were all densely packed (and heavy) book boxes. So we finished up on Monday evening, making sure to leave nephew's dorm supplies in the back of the truck for easy transference the next morning. I then drove back to the Burlington area and parked the truck in the lot outside of my office since trying to park it in my driveway at night when all my neighbors were home would have been impossible.
The next morning my sister dropped me off at the truck and then took one load of stuff to nephew's dorm. I drove back to my apartment and parked. I then finished packing what I needed for the trip while they finished moving nephew into his dorm. We then met another friend/chosen family member for lunch and decided we were definitely not loading anything more into the truck. We made sure it was all secured tightly, and headed out towards Virginia with the goal to make it at least as far as Lake George, New York (which was a couple of hours away and would make a good starting point for the next leg of the journey).
Lake George is an odd little tourist town, that plays up the 1950s New England summer camps and road trip nostalgia. So lots of kitsch and themed attractions and hotels. We didn't realize how narrow the hotel parking lot was until we arrived. And after I initially parked I realized I needed to turn the truck around while the lot was still mostly empty. I'm really glad I didn't realize people were watching from the second floor walkway as I made my inelegant but effective 8 point turn without damaging the truck, the hotel, the power line pole, or the parked car. One of the guys watching used to drive truck for a living and when I pointed out that I had never driven anything that large before he gave me some handy advice on maneuvering in tight spaces.
We got checked in and wandered about the town, finding a nice Turkish place for dinner and then stumbling on an old horror themed wax museum. I asked the person at the ticket counter if anything jumped out at you or grabbed you and she assured us it was all behind glass. So we decided to give it a go. It was fun and creepy in the fair/carnival style of haunted houses. Not too over the top but just creepy enough to get a few jumps and startles.
We wandered around a bit more and then headed back to the hotel to crash. The next day we set out for Virginia. After studying the possible routes, I went with my gut and decided to take I-95 and the tollways all the way down. Several of my other chosen family members were astounded by this choice as it means skirting many cities and possibly dealing with congestion. But the other route was through more mountains and I know had a lot more construction. And when it comes to road trips, I've learned to listen to my gut. By the time we neared NYC and the Jersey turnpike, I was pretty darn comfortable driving the truck. I had my own tunes on so I could sing along (a great way to focus my brain and keep from over thinking while driving). We stopped as we needed for food, gas, and bathrooms, but otherwise continued right along til we reached Manassas, Virginia. We hit pockets of congestion and rain along the way, but had very few white knuckle moments all things considered. And by the end of that ten hour drive, I felt like a bad-ass behind the wheel. :D
About the only truly terrifying thing that happened, occurred after we'd gotten to my sister's house. Some neighborhood kid jumped behind the truck as I was getting ready to try to back it up and park it more effectively. Thankfully I had a rear view camera and spotted movement and stopped. I then heard my sister yelling at the kid as she had been out acting as a spotter. The kid darted off. I have no doubt my sister will mention it on their local neighborhood social media site and remind parents to talk to their kids about not doing dangerous shit like that. But thankfully no one was actually hurt.
I wasn't allowed to help unload the truck since I'd done all the driving and there were plenty of hands. So I mostly just chilled and enjoyed my chosen families company for a couple of days. We got the truck returned on Friday without incident and I flew home yesterday afternoon. All in all it was a fun adventure, and boosted my confidence in my driving capabilities. I was also glad to see various chosen family members and get to spend some time with them. I'm also glad to be home and that I have a couple of days to chill before returning to work since tomorrow is a holiday.
Other than this adventure my summer has been pretty quiet. Work has been stressful, but I'm coping as best I can. And we're coming up on the five year anniversary of my father's death, so that has been hard. I've been trying to be gentle with myself and giving myself space to grieve. It hit me a bit harder than expected, but such is the nature of grief. It ebbs and flows in its own patterns and its own time frames.
I did have another short adventure earlier in the summer. But it was a quiet sort of adventure. I went into New York City for a weekend with a friend whose cousin was having a baby shower. We stayed at her fathers' apartment in Chelsea and had a quiet, but lovely weekend in the city. I meant to post about it back in June, but got distracted. :D
So that's my summer adventure(s) in a nutshell. Hope everyone is doing well. Much love to you all. <3
The rental place upgraded us to a slightly larger truck, so instead of the smallest moving truck available we ended up with a 14 foot one. Sister drove it the five or so miles to my apartment and her vertigo from attempting to drive it was awful. So I became the designated driver for the entire trip. Thankfully, once I got used to the size of the thing it wasn't so bad. I'd only driven one small moving truck locally for a few hours when I first got furniture for my apartment. Otherwise, I'd never driven anything bigger than a basic pick-up truck (not even an extended cab pick-up). So it took me a bit to adjust.
It took us pretty much late into the evening on Monday to empty the larger storage unit since we had to repack some boxes. Then we moved on to the smaller unit. We managed to get about half of that one cleared out before we ran out of spoons. We might have been able to finish loading stuff if we had found some additional spoons, but realized that we would likely exceed the weight limit if we tried since the remaining boxes were all densely packed (and heavy) book boxes. So we finished up on Monday evening, making sure to leave nephew's dorm supplies in the back of the truck for easy transference the next morning. I then drove back to the Burlington area and parked the truck in the lot outside of my office since trying to park it in my driveway at night when all my neighbors were home would have been impossible.
The next morning my sister dropped me off at the truck and then took one load of stuff to nephew's dorm. I drove back to my apartment and parked. I then finished packing what I needed for the trip while they finished moving nephew into his dorm. We then met another friend/chosen family member for lunch and decided we were definitely not loading anything more into the truck. We made sure it was all secured tightly, and headed out towards Virginia with the goal to make it at least as far as Lake George, New York (which was a couple of hours away and would make a good starting point for the next leg of the journey).
Lake George is an odd little tourist town, that plays up the 1950s New England summer camps and road trip nostalgia. So lots of kitsch and themed attractions and hotels. We didn't realize how narrow the hotel parking lot was until we arrived. And after I initially parked I realized I needed to turn the truck around while the lot was still mostly empty. I'm really glad I didn't realize people were watching from the second floor walkway as I made my inelegant but effective 8 point turn without damaging the truck, the hotel, the power line pole, or the parked car. One of the guys watching used to drive truck for a living and when I pointed out that I had never driven anything that large before he gave me some handy advice on maneuvering in tight spaces.
We got checked in and wandered about the town, finding a nice Turkish place for dinner and then stumbling on an old horror themed wax museum. I asked the person at the ticket counter if anything jumped out at you or grabbed you and she assured us it was all behind glass. So we decided to give it a go. It was fun and creepy in the fair/carnival style of haunted houses. Not too over the top but just creepy enough to get a few jumps and startles.
We wandered around a bit more and then headed back to the hotel to crash. The next day we set out for Virginia. After studying the possible routes, I went with my gut and decided to take I-95 and the tollways all the way down. Several of my other chosen family members were astounded by this choice as it means skirting many cities and possibly dealing with congestion. But the other route was through more mountains and I know had a lot more construction. And when it comes to road trips, I've learned to listen to my gut. By the time we neared NYC and the Jersey turnpike, I was pretty darn comfortable driving the truck. I had my own tunes on so I could sing along (a great way to focus my brain and keep from over thinking while driving). We stopped as we needed for food, gas, and bathrooms, but otherwise continued right along til we reached Manassas, Virginia. We hit pockets of congestion and rain along the way, but had very few white knuckle moments all things considered. And by the end of that ten hour drive, I felt like a bad-ass behind the wheel. :D
About the only truly terrifying thing that happened, occurred after we'd gotten to my sister's house. Some neighborhood kid jumped behind the truck as I was getting ready to try to back it up and park it more effectively. Thankfully I had a rear view camera and spotted movement and stopped. I then heard my sister yelling at the kid as she had been out acting as a spotter. The kid darted off. I have no doubt my sister will mention it on their local neighborhood social media site and remind parents to talk to their kids about not doing dangerous shit like that. But thankfully no one was actually hurt.
I wasn't allowed to help unload the truck since I'd done all the driving and there were plenty of hands. So I mostly just chilled and enjoyed my chosen families company for a couple of days. We got the truck returned on Friday without incident and I flew home yesterday afternoon. All in all it was a fun adventure, and boosted my confidence in my driving capabilities. I was also glad to see various chosen family members and get to spend some time with them. I'm also glad to be home and that I have a couple of days to chill before returning to work since tomorrow is a holiday.
Other than this adventure my summer has been pretty quiet. Work has been stressful, but I'm coping as best I can. And we're coming up on the five year anniversary of my father's death, so that has been hard. I've been trying to be gentle with myself and giving myself space to grieve. It hit me a bit harder than expected, but such is the nature of grief. It ebbs and flows in its own patterns and its own time frames.
I did have another short adventure earlier in the summer. But it was a quiet sort of adventure. I went into New York City for a weekend with a friend whose cousin was having a baby shower. We stayed at her fathers' apartment in Chelsea and had a quiet, but lovely weekend in the city. I meant to post about it back in June, but got distracted. :D
So that's my summer adventure(s) in a nutshell. Hope everyone is doing well. Much love to you all. <3
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