Happy Thanksgiving

It's a little late to talk about Thanksgiving break - but better late than never no?

For Thanksgiving I flew from Iowa to Philadelphia on my way to New York. I really needed an excuse to visit Philadelphia - the first city I lived in the US, the city with the pink fountain and the large parks. In Philly I grew out of my teenage years, made life-long friends, held my first job and did a lot more of those 'first' kind of things. My friend and I had dinner at one of our favorite creperies and for breakfast we went to a quaint Belgian Waffle cafe. The hard sugar coated waffles (the owner assured us in a very American accent that this was authentic Belgian) and cups of steaming creamy coffee made this breakfast light and delectable. Alas, Philly was only a day stop to my journey to upstate New York. I decided to travel the distance between Philly and New York on a Greyhound. Greyhound never disappoints... the passengers were an electic mix of students, professionals, artists etc in all shapes and sizes. The driver of the wonderful Bus number 4901 was a African American lady who made it painfully obvious that she would much rather be at home instead of driving the bus between Philly and New York. We started fourty mins late and within a half hour, found ourselves stuck between another Trailways bus and a few SUVs for what turned out to be a 1hr traffic jam. While the passengers (including myself) were mostly dozing off to the soft sounds of rain on the dirt-stained windows, our driver was increasingly annoyed with the sound of some passenger's 'loud'music. Of course we at the back couldn't hear any music. After a lot of false starts and stops we approached the NY Lincoln Tunnel - The very last barrier between New Jersey and New York. Unfortunately, this was the moment that our driver decided that she had had enough of the 'loud music' and was going to pull over till the passenger in question turned off their music. We all turned our sleepy eyes to the front of the bus and tried extremely hard to pin down the culprit who was between us and home. The traditionally 2hr ride was already approaching 5hrs. 20 mins later the driver restarted the car and tried to get back on the road .. but the traffic being as it was, there was no space to let in a huge bus. So mins away from Lincoln Tunnel we waiting patiently for 40 mins till the driver got back on the road. I could hear the muted swears of many passengers yet noone really wanted the driver to pull over again. I felt like I was in school when no matter how unfair you think the teacher is - you don't argue with them for fear of detention. Once we entered the Tunnel our almost-snail speed decreased further - now rivalving a rock. In the next hour we inched forward until finally I literally saw light (street lights) at the end of the tunnel. Six and a half hours later, I finally arrived in New York City. Thankfully my family decided that they had had enough of waiting for the bus and came to pick me up. Another hour later, I found myself home with home cooked meals and the smell of Thanksgiving baking in progress. Next time when stopping in Philly during Thanksgiving - I'm taking the train. :)