Too much road, not enough trip

We had no pressing plans for the weekend. It had been raining for so many days straight that it was hard to envision being able to do anything recreational, save perhaps building an ark. So when Saturday dawned unexpectedly sunny and beautiful, we were caught a bit off guard. "Let's take a road trip to Cambridge today," Paul suggested. I loved the idea of a spur of the moment adventure, so we booked a car and were on the road in less than an hour's time. We arrived back in London ten hours later and fell happily into bed, where we dreamed pleasant dreams of our fun family day in Cambridge. The end.

What, you want the middle of the story, too? Yeah, that part's a little less idylic. It involves an ill-fated choice to take the scenic route and a little bit of a directional snafu when we tried to make up time on the way there. It further involves getting stuck in traffic on a "closed" motorway (only in England... how do you just close a motorway?) and a resulting eternity of stop-and-go traffic (emphasis on the stop) on the way home. The full story of our little impromptu jaunt out of London involves 6 1/2 hours of the only nice day we've seen in weeks spent in a car and a scant 3 hours spent outside enjoying the weather. Cambridge itself was lovely. It was not, however, 6 1/2 hours in a car worth of lovely. Not by a long shot.