Driving not flying

So the end of my New York trip went not quite as planned. We were on the plane, next in line to take off, when we were taken back to the gate. It was a big plane and I was in the very last row. There was another plane due to take off for Charlotte an hour after ours. It was cancelled so by the time I got off there were all those people lined up for flight changes plus everyone from our flight.

I was told they could get me to Wilmington on Thursday (this was Wednesday) but I would have to fly out of LaGuardia (I was in Newark), so I would have to spend the night then get to LaGuardia (but by this time it was 9 pm and hotels in the vicinity were full). So then I would spend the night in the airport, get to LaGuardia, then get to New Bern from Wilmington.

Or I could fly to New Bern on Friday from Newark. ...Really?

Or maybe I could take the train on Thursday but still no place to stay.

So I said give me a refund, they did, then I went out to find a car. Finally at the 4th rental company I got a car, it was about 10 pm by then. And I headed south, without a map, I didn't want to go down 95 but down the Garden State Parkway. I got a little lost and in a traffic jam for 45 minutes near Perth Amboy, once I got out of that I found a place to stay.

11 pm traffic jam due to road paving, 4 lanes down to 1.

I was awake bright and early and on the road at 6 am. Heading down the Parkway I came to the Margate exit and remembered that there was an elephant named Lucy there I had always wanted to see. Lucy is 134 years old and was built by a land speculator to attract buyers. I love stuff like this. Read all about her.

Then I went to Cape May, and walked around a little bit looking at the architecture and flowers.

This last one I might paint!

Then I took the Cape May - Lewes Ferry, that gave me a 2 hour break, a short nap, while still moving. 

I drove though Lewes then Berlin (both were very busy) and made it home by 10 pm.

The good news is while in NY I saw some of our artists and met some new ones, found some new made in NC ornaments, ordered quite a few custom pieces and got some ideas for some new New Bern art pieces. And had an adventure on top of it.