metrocake

R and I, as we do every year, traveled a lot this Christmas. We put some serious miles on our rental car! We started out on Dec. 23rd with his parents, grandparents, and sister in Greenport, which is at the very north end of Long Island. That night, we took the ferry from Orient Point to New London, CT, and stayed with his family.

The weather wasn’t great Sunday night — it was pouring rain — and when we got onto the ferry and parked, we noticed a decided fishy smell coming from the truck parked next to us. In fact, the smell was throughout the boat — which didn’t help as conditions on the water were fairly rough. Rocking boat + fish smell = bleeeeeah! R and I were happy to get to Connecticut as we hopped in our cars and got off the ferry with fish scents up our noses.

We stopped thinking about the fish when we got to R’s parents’ town and found that most of the town had no power — some branches must have come down from the storm. We were all starving, so we actually went back into the torrential rain and drove to the next town for McDonald’s. We ate in the car in the parking lot, as they only had the drive through open. XD The lights were on by the time we got back home, so we hung for a bit and then went to bed.

We opened gifts there on Christmas Eve morning, then drove to Massachusetts with R’s parents for the family’s annual Christmas Eve gathering. His dad’s side of the family is quite large, and that’s when they all get together. :) Back to CT that night, and then we got up Christmas morning, all set to drive to my family’s, opened the rental car…

…and were assailed by the scent of fish. Rob’s sister said she could smell it from ten feet away. R’s parents didn’t have any Febreeze on hand, and, being Christmas, nothing was open. R and I stared at each other in horror, as R’s dad came out with a dryer sheet in an attempt to make the car smell better.

We drove from CT to NY — three hours, including another ferry ride — with the windows wiiiide open, freezing our butts off. We were able to buy a “new car scent” air freshener in the shape of a tree at a roadside stand…which then made the car smell like fish plus whatever “new car” smells like. Euuuuugh.

We were trying to find a 7-11 by my aunt’s house when R spotted a 24-hour Walgreen’s. Salvation! We basically stampeded into the place muttering, “Where’s the FEBREEZE? Where’s the LYSOL?” We found both…plus a hand massager and some peppermint Christmas Peeps.
“Ok, we have a massager…some Lysol…and some peppermint Peeps. Now we’re ready to party!”

We wound up spraying down the car in front of my aunt’s house. By the time we got back in it, the smell had died down some — we didn’t have to have the windows down for the ride home — but the car was still stinky.

A very fishy Christmas!