...to Grandmother's house we go...and back

I worked until noon on the 24th, and caught a plane at 4:30...a direct flight from D.C. to Salt Lake City. Good timing, in between storms in both places...and since the airport in Portland was closed due to the blizzard (that's right, a once in 40 years blizzard) going on at home, I was kinda grateful I was headed to meet up with my beautiful wife and my daughters (minus Missy...at least...) in Salt Lake instead of flying home. The flight was a little rough and bumpy at times, but uneventful.

We did the Christmas thing on Thursday with the fam...presents, big dinner, etc., but I missed the family photo (major sadface) and the big pageant on Sunday night.

It snowed hard there Christmas night, and was still snowing as we were getting ready to leave the next morning.

As we overslept (ooooops!), Papa got up and cleared the snow from the driveway...which I backed down to load up the Jeep. (To the gills. Including overstuffing the Rocket Box. Christmas booty, donchaknow...) I had to move out of the way when it was time for him to go to work, and he spun the wheels as he pitched their Isuzu this way and that getting up and out of the driveway. I can't be too sure, but by his laughter when he was exiting the car to tell me goodbye, I'd guess he was more having fun than he was fighting the conditions...

Then, starting about 9:00AM, we drove home...through 850 miles of ice and snow. Woohoo!!! Right off the bat, the main route (I-84 through northern Utah and southern Idaho) was closed, so we had to take the long way 'round (60 extra miles) up I-15 through Pocatello.

It was a bit slick and slow getting out of the Salt Lake Valley, but by Ogden the snow had stopped...although it was still very icy for a while...but soon we were headed north doing the limit.

By the time we got to Malad Pass (in southern Idaho), it was back to 30mph. At the crest of the pass, we saw where one of the huge highway snowplows had gone off the road, and the monster tow-trucks were trying to get it unstuck.

It got better, then it got worse: in gusty wind conditions for the 80 miles between Pocatello and Burley, driving on I-86 (which, in reality, was a sheet of ice), we watched the pickup truck right in front of us play sailboat...it got hit by a gust of wind, spun out, went off the road, flipped over, and landed in a ditch sunk in snow up to to the door handles. After we (me and a couple other drivers that had stopped) dug them out and got the door open, the couple inside was okay, completely unhurt. Amazing.

It was icy and snowy in spots after Burley, but not too bad through the Blue Mountains in Oregon...had to slow to 30-40 mph many times, but not too bad. Then it got icy again after passing through Pendleton, around Umatilla and Hermiston, but we just kept a steady pace going.

The 40 miles of the Columbia River Gorge was quite an interesting driving experience, particularly as it was at the end of the trip and I was really freakin' tired. It started snowing in The Dalles, was snowing heavily by Hood River, and raining by Cascade Locks. In the transition area, watching the semis in front of us slip and slide, looking for a wide spot to pass them without getting hit by the whipping trailer...great fun!!

(I love my little Jeep Cherokee, Paddy...so named by my girls because it is deep green, and we bought it on St. Patrick's day, 9 years and 140,000 miles ago...with 4WD and the the studded mud & snows I put on it every winter, it drove like a dream, getting us there and back safely through some hellish weather both ways. With the work I had done on it over the past year, it should be good for another 200,000 miles. And I guess my girls know that I love it, because they bought me a new stereo [with CD player, which it sadly lacks now] for Christmas!)

We pulled into our driveway about midnight, and there was still 6" of snow on the ground here. I had to shovel parts of it so we could unload the car.

Didn't do too much (well...except rest, sleep, and cuddle...) on Saturday, but I took the kids out with me that night to help me with some last-minute shopping...and that's when I stuck the Jeep.

Messing around with the kids, climbing snow piles left over from plowing parking lots...I heard the hitch dragging, and before I could stop we were sitting on it...at a 45 degree angle, nose in the air and tail on the asphalt, with the back tires off the edge of the pavement and in a hole. All of us were laughing. They went to get shovels (only two blocks from home), and when they came back we dug the nose down and got the hitch off the pavement, but with the tires in the hole it was lookin' pretty hopeless...until the tow-truck pulled in to the repair shop lot...the repair shop whose snow pile I happened to be climbing...and I gave the driver $20 to yank me out of the hole. Probably the fastest, easiest $20 he ever made...took less than 5 minutes total...

and provided a memory that I imagine will remain for years to come...

"Remember that Christmas when we came home through the snowstorm, and then the next day Rick stuck Paddy in the snowpile...?"

Good times...good times...