Marie's birthday

On Saturday we drove up to New Jersey for Marie's birthday. It was a rainy day and the turnpike was jammed with cars, barely moving for long stretches. After finding that the gas station and restrooms were intolerably busy, we decided to bail out. We drove to US 9 and found it uncrowded, with gas stations that had no cars in line and a ladies' room that also had no line. Route 9 took us almost to our destination with no further problems. Still, a supposed-to-be 6-hour trip took 9 hours.

It was good to see Marie again and meet some of her friends. They are really nice people and interesting to talk to.

We spent the night at the Hilton next to the Newark Airport, a very nice hotel. I had gotten a good deal on Priceline.