SNOW-POCALYPSE!

I wish I could write all about NYC, but I will save that for my next post and tell you a little story about the time when the NORTH POLE fell on Washington, DC.

It all started Thursday night: A snowstorm of epic proportions was coming. Before a flake even hit the ground whole counties and districts were canceling school, work, and everything else. 20 inches, 30 inches, maybe 4 feet!

Friday: Campus closed at noon. The snow started around 10:30. As Momma Bailey and the Native Americans always say, "little flakes, big snow. Big flakes, small snow." Little flakes were falling. My night consisted of a few Woodchuck's Hard Ciders and the game of LIFE (I was a lawyer in the mansion with 6 kids.)

Saturday: Emails were flying about whether we would be able to leave for NYC the following day. DC was gracing the covers of international headlines, and as the snow fell we saw leaf blowers, construction tractors, and Jeep Wranglers with snow plows as tools for snow removal. Now granted, we got 30 inches of snow here and that's a lot even by Vermont standards. The difference is that in VT, once the snow stops life goes on and routine clean up occurs. Here, once the snow stops panic mode turns on and DC residents are afraid to leave their house. My professor informs us that she is stuck in her neighborhood where cars are fully buried and there is 2 feet of snow untouched in the roads. She remains stuck.

Sunday: We decide to embark on our trip to NYC. By this point main roads are decent and our street is the White House evacuation route so we see things like salt and snow blowers for the first time.

Yay! In NYC... oh wait. Monday night I get the call from Professor Heckel that we will be leaving the city early Tuesday now instead of Wednesday to, of course, avoid the coming storm.

Tuesday: we leave NYC. No snow is falling. It starts once we get back to DC around 4:30. The snow even stops that night and we are hopeful that this was just more DC exaggeration.

Wednesday: I open my eyes and peel back the curtains with fingers crossed that the snow never started back up. The snow was so thick I couldn't even see out my window. This storm was windier and fluffier than the last causing nearly impossible visibility and the true feeling of cabin fever. It was brutal.

The snow stopped mid-afternoon, but the roads, former sidewalks, and everything else remains blanketed with ice and slush. The plows don't exactly have a lot of room to move the snow, so there are four feet snow rows fencing in all the paths around town. Sidewalks go from slushy puddles to snow-packed paths to normal and back to snow mountains to climb through. It's an adventure.

The worst part is that literally the entire city is closed down. Metros only run every 30 mins and every restaurant but Guapo's Mexican food still bares "Closed" signs today.

The best part was the Glee marathon and the excuse to stay in my PJ's all day. Apparently New England weather followed me here and home is dry and sunny! I guess I should have brought my snow pants and Uggs after all.

It makes for a great story. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope I won't be recounting a snowpocalypse part three anytime soon. Be careful what you wish for when you pray for snow days!