My son Pat and I were at the amazing Pop Shop in Collingswood, NJ today where we met my niece/Pat’s cousin for lunch. It was great catching up with her, plus there’s not many places that have vegan pancakes, and these are the best pancakes, vegan or otherwise, I’ve ever had. So it was well worth the trip across the river to New Jersey.
When it was time to head home, I opened up Waze on my phone, and noticed that it was taking me off the main highway and using the back roads to get me home.
As it turned out, I couldn’t be more grateful to Waze for doing so.
I was on some roads that I am not that familiar with, and I’m not sure I could remember how to take the same route again. But what I will remember is just how beautiful a drive it was.
I was driving down roads that were lined with trees that were at their height of fall colors; I can’t imagine anywhere in New England looking any nicer. Perhaps the only thing that would have made it better is if “Fall in Philadelphia” by Hall & Oates was playing on the radio (see end of post for a video of the song set to Fall Foliage in the Philly area).
As we got closer to home, Waze had us driving past Bryn Mawr College, which is less than five minutes from our house. The campus looked beautiful, but as we drove past it struck me that despite having lived in our current house for close to 30 years, I had never been on Bryn Mawr’s campus.
So when we got home, I asked my wife if she felt like taking a walk around Bryn Mawr’s campus, and she quickly agreed to doing so.
Within two minutes of being on the campus, one of my first thoughts was one of regret. Regret that this was our first time to walk around one of the most beautiful college campuses I have ever stepped foot on. The picture at the top does not do justice to just how spectacular the campus looked.
We took our time exploring the campus, and the combination of the stone buildings and the colorful trees just brought a wonderful sense of tranquility, and gratitude for the beauty of nature. My wife and I already have a date planned for this weekend to walk around the campus again.
In addition to its beauty, I have never felt such a sense of safety and security on a college campus. If you had a daughter, Bryn Mawr seems to be the type of campus where she would be quite safe. I also noticed several bikes parked next to the dorms, and I just couldn’t imagine those bikes ever being stolen.
And like I said earlier, all of this beauty and serenity is less than five minutes from our house, and I might never have discovered it without the help of Waze.
So thank you Waze, I hope you continue to send me on the roads less traveled.
And now some Hall & Oates…
Borden's Blather 