Well, I am finally trying to finish up this Snowpocalypse story since another Winter Storm is predicted for the Southeast this week. Is it Spring yet? The problem with finishing this post has not been for lack of trying. You see, my computer hates me. It completely freezes up and then when it finally unfreezes, it has not saved any of my writing. I can't handle it. I had a really detailed post almost done, but now I am just going to write briefly and move on.
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We woke up really early at 5:30am with all of snow and ice still on the ground. We ate the complimentary breakfast in our hotel and were so thankful to be somewhere that there was food!
I got word that Kat's parents made it all the way to her house sometime around 5-6am!!! Praise God! Her dad said that eventually traffic gave a little and then "it just opened up like the parting of the Red Sea and they drove right to her house!" Amazing! I am so thankful that they made it safely in the car over night in single digits with almost no gas. And, I am so thankful that they made it safely to her house with heat and a warm bed and a bathroom!
Emily and I had chills from all the rescue stories and safe people who had spent the night in their cars that we read about on FB and heard about on the news. I teared up at every story and was just overcome with relief.
Like I said in my last post, Annie did well at Grayson's house and was having fun! She slept through the night and was the last to wake in the morning! No surprise - girl loves her sleep just like me! Kim said she tried to make it fun and memorable for them! I am so glad Annie was with sweet friends and a wonderful family who took such good care of her. They had pancakes and bacon for breakfast and then they had snow ice cream! I love Annie's expression in this picture!
The kiddos just played around the house and probably destroyed the entire house. It was definitely the harder and more stressful job to be stranded with 3 toddlers and 2 babies than it was to be stranded with Emily in a nice quiet hotel room. :)
Annie asked Kim to take this pic of her in Davis's exersaucer! Silly girl!
Emily and I debated for a long time about making the trek down 280. Was it safe? Was it smarter to stay safe and warm and not risk an accident or getting stranded? How would my car do? Ultimately, we decided to go for it! We didn't want to be at the hotel another night and I wanted to be with Annie.
We texted with a man from the hotel who made it down 280 in his BMW sedan. He said it was not too bad and that in my Volvo SUV with all wheel traffic and traction control that we should be okay. After watching some You Tube videos on car handling in the ice and after a test drive in the parking lot, we set out! We were ready and not too nervous!
From our hotel right across the street from Superior Grille to the 459 overpass, the road was fine.
We went very slow and never had any problems.
Once to the 459 overpass, things got a little crazy. We expected this and again, just took our time. I was just a matter of weaving through abandoned cars and being patient amongst the other drivers who were surprisingly not so patient.
Summit on the right.
Once we crested the hill by the Summit, the roads looked like a icy, snowy, eery danger zone.
We got a little nervous but couldn't turn back now.
Mountain Brook Community Church on the left.
My car did great and we never slid or had any problems!
Whole Foods on the right.
The man who we texted us said that the Water Works / Cherokee Road intersection was the worst part. He was right. There was a lot of traffic and we all had to converge to one lane in order to navigate all the abandoned cars. Some people were really impatient here and even passed us!?!
Traffic was much worse traveling East on 280 and all the cars on the westbound side in this picture are abandoned cars (and that wasn't all of them by any means).
Eventually we made it to the Hollywood Blvd exit and we were so excited! It took us about an hour and ten minutes. We were also so excited that we decided to make the trek and not stay at the hotel.
Below is Hollywood Blvd.
Turning into Grayson's neighborhood.
Grayson's house is at the top of this hill on the right. Originally, we parked behind Grayson's dad truck in this picture and planned to walk up the hill. But, the man in this picture told us that he had driven up and down the hill all day with no problems so we proceeded up the hill and parked on the curb. This was our only bad decision of the entire storm.
We made it and were about to surprise Annie and everyone else! We never told them we were coming in case we didn't make it!
Here is a video Emily took of us walking into Grayson's house! Annie was excited and she only wanted her Aunt Emmie and not Mommy :( I was a little sad but not surprised. Anytime I have left her she has always wanted Brad or Emily when I return. I guess she is a little more mad at me for leaving her than anyone else and that is okay.
All the kids were ready for fresh meat to entertain them!
Annie and Grayson pretended to sleep on Smith's palate.
And then they watched videos of us driving down 280.
After an hour, we were ready to go back to our house! Yipee! But then, we realized my car was stuck in the ice and couldn't get enough traction on the hill to go anywhere. OMG! We didn't want to be stuck now. Thankfully, Grayson's dad and uncle were able to push my car enough to allow the tires to get traction!! THANK GOODNESS! Trey bravely drove my car down the hill and we walked it.
We went home down Hollywood to Oxmoor, over Greensprings, and then left on West Oxmoor. The roads and traffic were not too bad. Once we crossed Lakeshore on West Oxmoor, we came to what looked like a war field of abandoned cars. Cars were everywhere!! Almost every car below is abandoned.
The little creek along Shannon Oxmoor was frozen solid and the road was no better because it is completely shaded.
The uphill after the railroad tracks become one lane due to all the ice.
It was very slow moving and we were so ready to be home.
Eventually, we made it to home sweet home!!!
I was seriously doing a dance in the car because I was so glad to be home!! I wish I had a picture of Brad greeting us in ALL of his snow gear at the top of our street. Except for his height, I am not sure I would have recognized him!
Once home, we bummed, gave Annie a bath, and Emily and I each had a warm shower and brushed our teeth!! We joined our neighbors for dinner who had their own stories of being stuck at work and Daddy spending the night at day care!! What a crazy couple of days!
