JBTowerLong Island is famous for its wonderful beaches so when Beth and her friends wanted to go to our town beach (right next door to Jones Beach) how could I say no to her request for me to pick her up. Of course, this was the 4th of July and she wanted to stay for the big fireworks show so I expected some traffic. What I didn’t expect was what I encountered.

The picture shows the traffic circle where Wantagh Parkway and Ocean Parkway meet. Coming south on Wantagh Parkway means you have to go around the traffic circle to go either east or west on Ocean Parkway. West takes you to the Meadowbrook Parkway and Long Beach. East takes you to the town beaches (where I wanted to go) and ultimately to Fire island. We live about 12 miles from the beach so it only took me about 20 minutes to get to the water tower’s traffic circle… where traffic was completely stopped. It took me 30 minutes to get around the circle and then another 30 minutes to get past the turnaround where those leaving the eastern Jones Beach parking lots had to turn around to get to the water tower. Yes, it took me one and a half hours to drive about 15 miles.

jonesbeachBy the time I got to the town beach, the gate was closed so the girls had to walk out to meet me. Then it was time for the trip back. It took about 45 minutes to get back to the water tower and onto Wantagh Parkway and then another 45 minutes to get back home because there was an accident near Merrick Road and everyone had to slow down to look. But I will admit that the ride home seemed much shorter and was a lot more fun than the ride to the beach. A 90 minute drive with six silly (but very bright) teenage girls is a lot more entertaining than a 90 minute ride by yourself. As my buddy Jeff said on Facebook, this is a memory that I will treasure.