The drive home from hell!

We didn't feel like braving the Friday crowds at Busch Gardens, so we headed home early, and planned to stop at Potomac Mills for some shopping. 

We got out of Williamsburg, and drove north on the ever-popular I-95. A flashing overhead sign says "Accident ahead - 30 miles." So, we bail at the next exit for Fredericksburg, VA. We hit a lot of traffic lights, stop-and-go traffic, and a bottleneck on an old bridge that took 10 minutes to get through. Then, north of Fredericksburg, in some town called Stafford, lots of other traffic bailed on I-95, and Route 1 was crawling for 10 miles. 90 or so minutes later, we finally made it to Potomac Mills. We didn't stay too long because we wanted to get home. I didn't want to go through the Washington-Baltimore megaplex on Friday at rush hour, and the radio said the Beltway was moving at a brisk 17 m.p.h., so I had the trusty GPS find an alternative route avoiding the urban areas. So, it takes us on a bunch of suburban roads to Dulles Airport. We then head northwest on the Dulles Greenway to Leesburg on the outer suburbs of D.C. We sit in traffic for 15 minutes as U.S. 15 shrinks to one lane.

We then cross the Potomac into Maryland and get to Frederick. Then, we sit in traffic for another good 30 minutes in the middle of nowhere on I-70 between Frederick and Hagerstown for no apparent reason other than a broken down car and construction on the shoulder. No lanes were blocked. I think "The Blair Witch Project" was filmed around here somewhere. We stop for a quick fast food meal in Hagerstown, then take I-81 into Pennsylvania, and we made it home without further incident at 9 p.m., ending our vacation and bringing us back to reality. A rough and long drive, but, as a roadgeek, I am glad I got to see new roads like the Fairfax County Parkway and the area around Dulles Airport.

The highlight of this trip for me was definitely getting over my phobia of roller coasters. I am already looking forward to visiting other parks and trying out other coasters. Also, someone needs to loan me money so I can buy the Lego Eiffel Tower...