Today, we flew back to JFK for a long-planned vacation trip, starting with a few days of cleaning out Diane’s Dad’s house now that he’s moved to Tucscon. This time around, we flew JetBlue, and left from Oakland (significantly cheaper than San Jose), so at least I didn’t make precisely the reverse of my trip of yesterday — but it was close enough. JetBlue was fine, as always, and the food we packed to bring on the plane was tasty (and their snacks were OK). It was Jeff and Diane’s first time on JetBlue, and the DirecTV was a hit (and I didn’t mind it, either — in fact, I probably watched the most of the three of us).
Hertz gave us an upgrade to a Volvo S60, which was a nice surprise (and I prefer it to the SUVs they’ve been giving me in California). I didn’t expect to have any trouble finding the hotel, but I was wrong — even though I had the address. I knew it was near where Merrick Road and Sunrise Highway cross; I didn’t realize it was actually on the ramp between the two westbound streets, and therefore only reachable if you’re travelling west. We, of course, were travelling east from JFK, so we had to overshoot and look around.
But while we were searching, we passed the Rockville Center location of Ralph’s Italian Ices. I hadn’t expected them to open until at least Easter (and maybe later, based on the weather here lately), but they were lit up and taking orders at the walk-up window. So Jeff and I had our first ices of the season.
And now we’re in the hotel, waiting to feel tired enough to call it a night. I have a feeling I’m going to be the first one to fade.