Let it Snow, Let it Snow

For several months we had been planning on going skiing in Snowshoe, West Virginia.  It has been about 5 years since Jason and I had been skiing and we were pretty excited.  We both enjoy it and we were hoping our boys would enjoy it as well.

Our trip included over 30 people we knew, so it was sure to be a blast.  Mom and Dad were going with us so we rented a suburban that we could all ride together.  Our plan was to leave Wednesday afternoon around 4 or 5.  Well, as the time got closer the weather showed a MAJOR storm going right through North Carolina/ South Carolina - not just snow BUT ICE!!  Stephanie and Adam along with her parents decided at the last minute (literally) to leave around midnight Tuesday to try and beat the storm.  Thankfully we were able to leave around noon Wednesday. 

Don't think we could have put one more thing in this vehicle.  We actually had more stuff to put in like food, but we didn't have the room and thought we can just buy it when we get up there.

We figured we would drive until we didn't feel safe anymore.  Our goal was to get north of Charlotte but the weather forecasters were predicting this to be a HUGE ice storm and were already saying that Charlotte was almost at a stand still.  Well, as we got about 3 hours north we started to see the trees turning white but it wasn't snow it was ice - craziest sight I have ever seen.

As we moved further north, there was snow on the ground and Jason started clinching the steering wheel even more.  I had all of these plans to work on my blog while we drove - well all I could do was stare out the window.  Sometimes the roads were decently groomed

but other times not so much.

Yes, there is a road under there - not sure how many lanes there are.  We just tried to stay in the tracks and prayed that no one had to go to the bathroom because the exits were where all of the accidents were happening.  This is where I was thankful for boys!!

Jason's driving was awesome through all of this and he stayed very calm.  As I posted pictures on Facebook of our journey - our friends were not as calm and couldn't believe we were driving through this.  Around 8pm we were about an hour south of Charlotte and the back of our vehicle moved without Jason hitting the gas or brake so he felt it was time to find a place to stay for the night.  We were a little nervous that we would get to Charlotte and not find anywhere to stay.  Thankfully we found an exit with a Comfort Inn and parked it for the night.  We hadn't had dinner since we didn't want to get off any exits but thankfully there was a 24 hour diner that was open (all fast foods were closed due to the weather).

Brody's first experience with snow AND ice.  This was the craziest stuff!!

We woke up Thursday morning with an inch of ice on our vehicle and the news was telling everyone to stay off the roads.  Well, we had somewhere to be!!  Jason spent an hour scraping the ice off the windows and then we debated on leaving then or waiting until noon.  Thank goodness we decided to go ahead and leave and get started on the long trek.

The road to Charlotte.  This was so crazy and thankfully there weren't a lot of people on the road.

Jason drove slow and steady and made no sudden movements.  We monitored the drinks for the boys so we wouldn't have to get off any exits and thankfully we had plenty of food in the car.  We were doing pretty good on time until we came to a stop for an hour and a half.  While we sat (thankfully with a full tank of gas) there was a blizzard outside!!  You could not even see in front of you and they were the biggest snowflakes I had ever seen.

 I wish I had the boys jackets and snow stuff out so they could have gotten out and played in it, like this group in front of us getting out to make a snowman.   "Do You Want To Build a Snowman?"  I decided to take advantage of being stopped and let Trevor get out and turn the snow yellow :) - Another reason to be thankful for boys

About 3 or 4 hours from our destination the roads turned really good - they had great equipment up there!!  Jason was able to actually run 70mph!!

After 19 hours of driving (it should have taken about 11 or 12 hours) and a LONG winding mountain road to the ski resort - we finally made it.  We were greeted by the Henderson's and the Fachko's and we were so happy to be there and ready to get to skiing the next day.  Since we were a little late getting in we missed the tube ride we were planning to do that night, which actually worked out because the tubing was broken that night.  

Off to get settled in for a good night's sleep and ready to start skiing the next day.