Weekend SNAFU

I was so looking forward to this weekend. Gene and I were going on a date (out to dinner at this GREAT local restaurant we love, and then drove up to Philly to see Up in the Air at one of the limited release theatres--it's great. Go see it.). We were taking a trip up to see our friends on Saturday, and then I was getting my hairs did on Sunday.

Friday night, as I said, was wonderful. The food was awesome... the movie was great... I had a really nice time. I should date my boyfriend more often. Then Saturday happened. It snowed here on Saturday, and by snowed... I mean, snow came out of the sky and melted as soon as it hit the ground. So when we made our decision to still do our little day trip and go to our friends' house, we didn't know what we were in for. We felt a bit obligated to go. They just bought a house... and we're close with them, but don't see them often since they live an hour and a half north, up near where we all went to college. Before we left, I had a pretty nasty vertigo spell and thought about convincing Gene to stay home, but felt guilty and decided to suck it up.

As we're driving north, the weather is getting progressively worse... but we still think we're doing all right. We're driving slowly, taking our time, being safe. It's annoying, but it isn't dangerous. Then we get a few miles away from the college.. and there is easily 3 inches of snow on the ground, and no one around us knows how to move in it. They all accelerating quickly, then slamming on their breaks, and sliding all over the place. That's not how you drive in snow. When you're driving in snow.. you need to keep steady motion. If you stop, that's when you get stuck... so you just have to keep moving. Even if it's really really slow.. KEEP. MOVING. Gene is yelling at everyone around us... but we make it through. We're moving at a good pace (for driving through snow...) and then we get to the other main road in the area. This road is very VERY hilly. In fact, it's the only road that leads to the town we're going to, and it's up a giant hill, and then down a giant hill.

As we're approaching the giant hill, my GPS tells us to turn left. Okay. I probably should have looked ahead to see where it was taking us. Since we had never been to our friends' house before, we just thought maybe they lived behind the chinese place we used to always eat at. But no. The GPS brings us BACK to the giant hill. Only this time, we have to make a left turn at an awkward angle IN THE SNOW to go UP A HILL where people are sliding all over the fucking place. Luckily there are less people going down the hill... and we decide to make a right, go down the hill, and decide from there.

Except I just kept driving. We made the decision to just go home. If those people were having a hard time, us turning around and getting back in line isn't going to make things easier. And then we still have to get HOME a few hours later. We stop at the gas station with the big convenient store (not Wawa, sadly. I love me some Wawa) get some snacks, fill up the tank, and try to go home. I'm FREAKING out at this point, because the snow is getting worse, and I'm convinced we're going to have to sleep in an Econo Lodge or something and go home in the morning, or worse, sleep in the car in the middle of the road because we're stuck. We get back on the road to immediately stop. For 30 minutes. Because a sports car on the opposite side of the road is disabled. Twenty feet in front of him, another sedan and a jeep are disabled, and there are two tractor trailers that can't get by them. So we're at an impass.

The guy in front of us in camo WITH A GIANT ASS KNIFE storms out of his car and talks to the cop that's helping the sports car, gets back in his car, and drives AROUND the tractor trailers in the MIDDLE of the road. Everyone follows. Once we got past that little cluster, we were home free. The farther south we drove, the warmer the ground was, so nothing was sticking. By the time we got home, it was just raining. But I still had vertigo.