Day 42: Coming Home

So I finally got around to writing about the last (and probably the longest) leg of our journey, and here it is.

We started out the day fairly early so we could see some sights before heading home on what was going to be a long drive back to Atlanta. After packing the car and saying goodbye to Robyn, we set out on the subway to see the New York Public Library, get some good shots of the Chrysler building, and finally back to Times Square to grab a birthday gift for my mom. The library was particularly impressive with its elaborately painted ceilings and sweeping architecture. Although to be honest I really just wanted to see some of the spots where they filmed Ghostbusters. Overall our excursion into the city didn't take too long, but it was still around lunchtime, so we a got quick bite to eat before finally heading back to the car to get on the road.

On our way back to Georgia we learned a few lessons. The first and most important of them was to never drive in Manhattan. Ever. Not knowing this beforehand we set out from Brooklyn and made good time for about five minutes before we hit some traffic on the way to the Williamsburg Bridge. Eventually we made it onto the bridge, and there we sat for a while with a nice view of Manhattan to keep us occupied until we finally made onto that hellish gridlocked island. Up until this point we had continued on our trip with a nonfunctioning air conditioner without issue, but most of the time we were actually moving, and a breeze through open windows was usually enough to cool us down. However, sitting in a stationary car trapped in a sea of other stationary cars there was no relief from the oppressive heat.

Four hours and several pounds of sweat later we emerged in New Jersey where we could begin our drive in earnest. From then on it was a pretty straightforward, albeit long, drive back to Georgia with only a couple stops for food (surprisingly I don't remember where we ate) and for Geries to get some fireworks before it was too late for stores to be open.

Roughly 18 hours after leaving Brooklyn we finally made the familiar turn onto Whitney Place at 6am and arrived where we started, but 6 weeks older, 9000 miles more well traveled, and with much less money.