The MPG of an Ice Cream Cone
... cross posted from our sister site, New Jersey Moms Blog.
At the beginning of this summer, I had a plan. I even wrote it down. The kids and I would go to our pool co-op twice a week, grocery shopping once a week, to Six Flags once a week, and one special place like the Philadelphia Zoo or the New Jersey State Aquarium once a week. Rainy days could include a trip to the mall to stretch our legs or a trip to a bookstore. Days off would be spent around the house, on our new patio, and catching up on housework. Gas prices crushed that summer dream. Even as I make the five mile trip to the grocery store, I'm obsessed with watching the miles tick higher on my tripometer, and watching the fuel gauge skydive to the red. Even innocent trips to Rita's Water Ice with the kids turns into a calculation of MPG per ice cream cone. I know the cost to drive to Six Flags, which is only 15 minutes away, and add that to the cost of our annual passes. I don't like living like this, and because of it, my daughter's summer is suffering. Heat wave on top of heat wave in New Jersey makes it difficult for her to even go outside and play, so we are trapped in our air conditioned home.
