Thursday, August 11, 2022- to Home

     We had to go home today, but we didn't really want the adventure to end, and Julie never wants to take the same route home anyway.. so we made arrangements to take the car ferry from Port Jefferson, Long Island, to Bridgeport, Connecticut.  That route meant that we wouldn't have to see the NY City traffic or even the Long Island Expressway again this trip.  We left our hotel at 5:00 and were at the ferry docks, boarderd and on our eay by 6:00.  It was quite an experience, with even a semi-truck tucked into the hold of the ferry.  Unfortunately, the way our car was parked in the hold, Julie's dad was not able to open his door enough to get out so he was stuck in the car for the duration of the trip.  Those of us who were able to leave the car stuck close to it, but we were able to watch out a nearby window to see things go by.  The trip started by turning the boat around.  We were on the port side of the boat as we crossed the Long Island Sound, and the sun was coming up behind us.  We saw the other side of some of the houses that we probably saw yesterday.  We also saw the Old Field Point Lighthouse that we saw yesterday too, though we could now see its light blinking red and green.  It took about an hour to cross the Sound, and even though Abby was excited at the start of the trip, she was asleep by the time we reached Connecticut.  The ferry didn't really save us time, and may in fact have added a little, but it was a novel way to go and better than fighting the traffic.  We agreed that if we did come back to Long Island again, we'd come this way too.

     Once we were on land again we were in Connecticut, a new state for Abby.  We also passed thoughb a corner of Massachusetts, making a second state for her.  We took our time getting home, making as many stops as we needed.  Scott is typing this entry from the wayback, but we expect to get home by about 5:00 or so.

      There were certainly some disappointments on this trip.  Scott had worked to bring the printer/scanner along on this trip in order to scan some family photos that Julie's dad's late sister, Sharon, had, but we never connected with her widower, Frank, so the large machine sat next to Scott in the way-back seat for the whole trip and was never used.  That was really the biggest reason that Scott had come at all.  We were really close to Scott's aunt in Patchogue, but we didn't know what the schedule was so we never tried to connect with her.  And with the exception of what we stumbled into and ad-libbed yesterday afternoon, we didn't do the sightseeing that we normally would have on a trip like this.   It's been a lot of riding, but for very little family time.  But the trip wasn't really for us.  It was for Julie's dad.  He has apparently referred to this trip as his "last trip to the Island."  Only time will tell if that is true or not, but both of Julie's parents seemed happy that we did this with them.