BELCAMP, MD—The joy of visiting out-of-town family makes any travel headaches one encounters well worth it. What might make such a trip even better? How about a $150,000 Maryland Lottery win?

A New Jersey mom travelled south earlier this week to see her son here in Charm City. Heading home after a wonderful visit, she stopped for gas in Harford County.

“I buy lottery tickets all the time at home,” she told lottery officials on Thursday. “So I decided to get a few at the gas station.”

Powerball is her favorite game in New Jersey, so that’s what she played here in Maryland. She told us that she’s never won a noteworthy prize, but keeps trying. Who would have guessed that the luck which eluded her at home would be waiting on this side of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Checking the Powerball results on her Maryland Lottery app that night after the drawing, she found it difficult to restrain her excitement. “It was almost midnight and my husband was asleep next to me. I didn’t want to wake him.”

Not fully believing her good fortune, she checked her tickets several times to make sure that the $150,000 win was real.

“I finally couldn’t keep it in any longer and woke him up. I could see by his expression that he thought something was wrong.”

His worries were quickly put to rest.

The New Jersey couple plan to use their Powerball winnings for home renovations. She purchased the winning ticket at Riverside Sunoco Plus, located at 1319 Riverside Parkway in Belcamp.