Remember when we were in our 20’s and the most thought we put in to anything was “screw it I’m doin it”? Remember how stress free we were and how “easy” life was? Now look at us. Just look at us…
Sitting on the couch, barely paying attention to the conversations going on in the room. Worrying about tomorrow and all the stuff we have to do. Popping Ibuprofen like pez and washing them down with a glass of bourbon because we threw our back out putting our socks on this morning. I can’t be the only one that’s happened too, right?
How many times have you been sitting on that same couch wishing your life wasn’t so monotonous? My buddy Matt has an article about that daydream here. We all do it. Hell, some of us are doing it right now while reading this article. You’re sitting there next to a family member, getting aggravated because they are breathing too loud aren’t you?
But how do we break the cycle? Its way too late to start a movie. Go out? At 8:00 pm on Thursday, are you nuts? We have our nightly routine and we get stuck in it far too often. Even us, which we realized we had done again recently and decided to break the cycle, which reminded me to write this article.
So how do you break the cycle? Go on a stupid road trip.
Now I’m not saying you need to pack up the wife, the kids, the dog, the ferret and the gold fish and disappear for two weeks. Some of our most fun has been on stupid, last minute, no planning involved day trips.
How stupid? Real stupid. The first time it happened we were sitting around the house bored out of our minds and I never saw it coming. It was late morning coming up on lunch time and my wife said “Hey, let’s go get lunch”. Next thing I knew, we were in the car and she was heading to New York for pizza. We live in New Jersey so it was only about an hour to the city, and at this point I’ve learned to just humor her or she’s gonna be bored AND hangry, and that’s just not a combination I’m willing to go up against.
On the way up the parkway, she was driving so it was my job to google “best pizza in new york city”. Now… I don’t know how much you know about New York and pizza, but if you have an hour to kill, google “best pizza in new york city”. We’ve had pizza all over this great country of ours, and have even gone to Chicago for deep dish to settle the “thin crust vs deep dish” argument, New York wins hands down. If “pizza” in your town is Domino’s or Pizza Hut, you don’t know what you’re missin. If you ever find your way out to the east coast, do yourself a favor and grab a slice on the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore or head in to the city.
We settled on Grimaldi’s pizza and made a day out of it. We parked on one side of the Brooklyn Bridge, walked across and down to Grimaldi’s, which is just on the other side. I do have to say, it was worth the drive in to the city.
The second time it happened, same thing. Fell in to the mundane, and my darling wife decided she wanted cheese steaks for dinner. Yup, you guessed it, we were in the car heading to Philadelphia. And again, it was my job to figure out where we were going. So another simple google search “best cheese steak in Philly”.
There’s no way we are going to get more than one definitive answer with that one right? The residents in the City of Brotherly Love definitely have very strong opinions of which local sammich shop is the best, and why you’re an idiot if you go anywhere else.
We settled on going to both Pat’s and Geno’s, because they are right across the street from each other. So the plan is to get one of each, and each eat half of one from Pats and one from Genos, then decide who’s better. I liked Pats, she liked Genos. So there ya go, another definitive answer.
Now neither one of these trips was expensive. Neither one took any planning. They both did however break that cycle. The next time you find yourself sitting around stuck in the rut, just get in the damn car and go. It’s an adventure, and there are plenty of places to go for a day trip.
Have an opinion on our pizza or cheese steak choices? Have a suggestion for a day trip in your area? Think you know a great little diner or road side food stop we should try when we are in your state? Let us know! We love to hear from all of you! Also don’t forget to hook up with us on Facebook!
