Pattifogalife

A Subaru Road Trip

 After a trip to Photoville in Brooklyn, Patti, Mark and I went out to dinner. Somehow Patti and I got to talking about both of us wanting to drive cross-country. It’s been something I’ve been thinking about for years but haven’t put the details together yet. Patti’s idea was even more specific. She wanted to do it in a Subaru. We were just getting to know each other, and in typical NYC fashion, had not visited each other our homes yet. That’s when I shared with her: “You know I have a Subaru, right?”. Yep, a little Subaru Crosstrek (a small SUV) that I love. The wheels were in motion.

Fast forward to Summer 2019.

We started planning a little getaway. It needed to be close, and not too expensive. I’m not used to traveling with people, so I wanted to start small and see how it went. I should have known that much like any of our other adventures, Patti was very easy going when it came to what to do.

Atlantic City was chosen – around 2 hours away, with a beach, and run down and seedy enough to make it interesting for our mutual love of photography. Plus, Patti wanted to start a photo project of all of Trump’s failed businesses, including the abandoned Trump casino there.

We left from my house in similar floral dresses and the same floppy hat. We had the same hat in two different colors. Mine was olive, her hat was salmon colored. I loved her hat more than mine and she kept encouraging me to buy it in the same color. Our joke was that we looked like a middle-aged lesbian couple, which made us both laugh.

Two hours in the car with my Apple Music subscription – “Siri, play top songs from ……1964…..1982….1996”. Both singing loudly (and me off-key) the whole way on an open highway.

We checked into the hotel and headed out for a walk. Both of us hated being inside the casino (full of smoke, flashing lights, etc.), so we took off down the boardwalk, taking pictures, and having a terrible lunch somewhere. Eventually we made it to Trump Casino – a sad, abandoned shrine to tacky. A lone guard sat at the desk in the lobby, and quickly thwarted our hopes of getting inside.

Eventually we made our way to a restaurant for dinner. An old school red sauce joint, full of character (and characters). We split a Caesar salad, and a veal parmigiana as big as our heads. Plus some red wine. When we ran out of wine, a table full of locals shared theirs with us.

We started walking back and the sky became very dark and scary. Walking really, really fast, we made it back to the hotel just after the sky cracked. We had a great view of the beach, boardwalk, and intense rain and thunderstorm. We settled in and watched a show on her iPad before going to sleep.

Up for breakfast the next day – we went to an old diner, something we both loved doing. I can’t remember what she had, but I do remember that we found another diner for lunch on the way home and Patti had one of her favorite diner meals – grilled cheese, French fries and chocolate milkshake. She was slim enough not to have to worry about meals like this (and it was something we did regularly).

In between breakfast and lunch, we took a long walk on the beach, photographing strangers. Some of the locals and visitors in Atlantic City are extra strange, so it was lots of fun. During our walk on the beach, I managed to get some shots of Patti playing in the water and splashing under the pier.

It was only two days, but such a fun time!