Snow!

Last year we missed Christmas dinner with my family because our car broke down after we left Josh's family.  We had to have it towed on Christmas day, which involved a tow truck driver who was making drug deals on his cell phone while driving us.  And during the 30 mile tow, he had to stop and use the bathroom.

It was quite an experience, to say the least!

So this year, as we had 4+ inches of snow and counting, I was a little nervous about that ride, seeing as how it didn't turn out well for us last year.  Josh's parents drove us halfway, where my dad picked us up and took us the rest of the way.  Everything went well with minimal sliding... until... we went up the mountain.

My dad got a new truck last year and it has a lot of bells and whistles... some that he'd rather do without. Like 4-wheel auto.

Let me walk you through what led to tweets about needing valium.  This is where we started having trouble.  This is the last flat ground at the bottom of the mountain, so this is where my dad went to put it in 4-wheel drive.  Past where these snow tracks lead, the road goes straight up a mountain.

The road up the mountain to my parents house can be divided into two parts.  Most of the time you can make it to a flat area halfway up using 4-wheel high.  Then at the flat part you can stop, gather your wits, and put it in 4-wheel low.  Faint of heart need not apply.

I'm faint of heart, but I didn't have a choice.  So they stuck me in the backseat and told me to keep my mouth shut. 

This is that halfway point.  After spending 20 minutes at the bottom of the mountain trying to get the truck in 4-wheel drive, and literally sliding uphill in 2-wheel drive to this point, we spent another 20 minutes trying to get it in 4-wheel low again.

I yelled, I screamed, I threatened to throw myself from the truck. I offered to walk.

Then I took pictures from the gator as I thought we were leaving those suckers.  This is looking back down the mountain as my dad was parking his truck.  We went back to get them...

And finally, finally, we were headed back up the mountain!  In the picture below, the road is on the left where those tracks are.  And yes, it's as steep as it looks.

This is where the pavement ends... almost to my parents house with less than a half mile to go!

Several curves later, we made it to my parents house!

I honestly haven't seen this much snow since the Blizzard of '93.  I capitalized blizzard on purpose... it became iconic-- we had 3-4 feet of snow. "The storm of the century" -- they even made t-shirts that said "I survived the blizzard of '93."  Does anyone still have one of those?  'Cause that would be awesome.