Ski Trip-Postponed

     Chad and I made our way up to Maggie Valley, North Carolina last Friday to begin our greatly anticipated weekend ski trip. We were watching the weather all week and it was going to be ideal weather for skiing.

     Our adventure began around 12:00. I picked Chad up from work in Atlanta and we left from there for our destination.

We made one stop on the way-WalMart for 2 reasons:

1. Restroom break

2. Of course I got Chick-fil-A buffalo sauce on my shirt that I loved so we got a Tide Pen as well.

     When we got back on the road it was raining. The further we drove the rain began turning into snow. Which was fun at first. Here I am in the car taking pictures of the snow and sending it to mom, Jenn and friends. Do not judge me, I am from GA and I don't see it that often. Well, then a little snow began to turn into a lot of snow. We make the turn on the bypass (hwy-23) which we find out gradually gets steeper and steeper. We are making our way up and the snow is really coming down. More snow than I thought possible. We are making our way up the bypass, following behind a truck and trying to stay in his lines. That didn't work for long because he pulled over to switch to four wheel drive which left us just spinning. There were cars pulled off to the side all over the place, just covered in snow. We ended up sideways and unable to move forward. Chad then called the cabin place where we were going. The guy he talked to supposedly gave us a different route to take which means we have to turn around. I got out to help direct Chad backwards so that we could turn around and make our way back down. I was probably outside of the car for a whole 2 minutes and I was covered when I got back in. We make our way back down. I must say Kudos to Chad on the driving because the windshield had very little visible space to see out of. If you know me-you know I would have been freaking out if I was having to drive. So, as we are making our way back down the road is getting thicker and thicker with snow- everything was now lacking color-just white. Somehow on the way down we got sideways and ended up in the ditch (not a deep one). Chad had the break all the way down and E-break up and we just went on sliding. At this point we are both frustrated. Chad had been up since 2:30 and he was trying really hard to stay calm. We call our All-State agent about getting a tow truck to us, he said he would get right back with us, right.... After 30 mins, some volunteers from the fire department show up and direct Chad and help us get back on the main road so we can attempt to get to the bottom again. Thankfully, we were able to get back on the road and on our way. We are in constant communication with the cabin place trying to figure out what to do. In Georgia, we shut down when we get 1/2 an inch of snow so this was a little different from what we are used to. We are able to get back and off of the bypass.

     We pull into the gas station to gather our thoughts and figure out what we are going to do. I go into the gas station for a restroom break and come to out to find Chad buying a King Size Snickers. In my mind I am thinking, "How can you be thinking about Snickers at a time like this?" But I said nothing. We go back outside and scrape all 5 inches of snow off of my car. We get back in and start going by the directions the guy from the cabin place told us to. I am still hopeful that our trip may happen at this point. Well, that was squashed rather quickly. We figured out real quick that he was sending us the same way we just came from.

:( My hope is gone. We discussed staying at a hotel and attempt to get there on Saturday but it was supposed to snow all night and all day Saturday. I didn't want to get stranded up there all weekend so we decide to head home. After about 5 minutes of driving we started talking about how maybe the roads are a little better now. They have had atleast a couple of hours to get the snow plow trucks going and it wasn't snowing as hard. So we flip a U-turn for one more last try on the bypass. We made it further than we did the first time but the fire department was making everyone that didn't have four-wheel drive or chains on their tires turn around. Weekend=Squashed. I was sad that everything didn't work out. We then preceeded home and got a phone call the next morning. We were not able to get a refund but they re-scheduled us for the first weekend in March and to a better cabin for no extra charge. Cabin Number 4, Here we come!

This is the progression of the snow in pictures from my cellphone:

I can look back now and laugh about it but on Friday it was a pretty stressful experience...I went from being excited to see snow, to hating it all within a couple of hours.