Comfy Bed, Target and Mexican Food

There's a small list of advantages to living in Vermont. Flying to New York City for about $100 round trip, courtesy of Jet Blue, is one of them. That's what we did this weekend. Actually, our real destination was down south a bit, in what is known as the "arm-pit" region of New Jersey. That description fits it well- it is one of the ugliest places I've ever been to- and the trip in general was one of the most random I've ever been on.

First of all, Enterprise didn't have our rental car. They were nice and gave us a discount and a free upgrade and we got to drive this baby around. (For those who don't know, I LOVE trucks, especially F-150's).

After getting the truck, we grabbed dinner and headed to the Howard Johnson where we were staying. We pulled into the hotel parking lot and after about 10 minutes of tricky maneuvering, and entertaining some guy who was watching from his balcony, we successfully parked "The Beast". (I, being the wonderful wife I am, got out in the POURING RAIN to help guide Jonathan into a spot).

Dripping wet and feeling utterly exhausted, we announced our names to the front desk. The guy checks his computer for our reservation and lucky us, there wasn't one. We pulled out our confirmation sheet (it pays to be prepared) only to be told we had the wrong HoJo! The clerk gave us the directions to the right hotel and we were on our way (after some more tricky maneuvering to remove "The Beast" from its spot). We then went on an hour-and-a-half wild goose chase around some not so friendly parts of New Jersey's "arm pit". Seems the clerk gave us the wrong directions to the right hotel.

So, at about mid-night we finally reach the RIGHT hotel and let me tell you, it was so shady. It was one of those hotels where you're afraid to take a shower cause you might catch some strange disease and you check the bed to make sure the sheets are clean. We normally wouldn't have stayed there, but it was the best hotel we'd seen in the area and we were dead tired.

Saturday morning we were awakened by our neighbor in room 232 screaming all kinds of obscenities. He was really ticked off (big understatement) and we had the privilege of being the audience to his tirade. I kept checking the locks on the door just in case. Just in case of what? I don't know, but it made me feel better! After hearing what this man had to "say" I felt like I needed to be baptized, sanctified and forgiven all over again! He had to be just making stuff up as he was going. Seriously, how do people learn such horrible words?

Once the yelling ended we checked out of there fast! And after driving around in circles, we finally found a decent hotel with the most comfortable bed ever. And, to redeem it all, we found a Target and a Don Pablos!!

So, the moral of the story is: A Comfy Bed, Target and good mexican food can save any bad weekend.

(You're probably wondering why we were in New Jersey to begin with. Well, the purpose of this trip was to see Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman and Louie Giglio on their Indescribable Tour. The worship was awesome and the message from Louie was awe-inspiring. I will share some more of my thoughts about the time of worship on Out of the Overflow in the near future).