You know, Ndamukong Suh? Or DonkeyKong Suh as the boys refer to him? The Detroit Lions Defensive Tackle named "Dirtiest Player in the NFL" for his aggressive style? Yes, that is the kind of March we welcomed on Friday evening.
It started about 4pm on Friday. I received a phone call from a cousin who had been staying at the Great Wolf Lodge and wanted to meet for dinner. I called him back and reminded him of our 2 year old (2 year old= avoid restaurants, not to mention 6 kids= avoid restaurants), so they arranged to come by our place for pizza instead. I grabbed Jacob from school and then quickly went to the store for a few necessities (for our company and in case the roads weren't great for travel on Saturday). Roads were beginning to get sloppy then, in fact I didn't even know my cousin was already at our house when I pulled in because their tire tracks were already gone (and they had only arrived minutes before). After showing them the radar image of the storm that was upon us, they decided to take a quick tour of the hatchery and head home 2.5hrs south of here. We offered them to stay the night, but it appeared on the radar as though the snow turned to rain not too far along on their journey so they headed off. Aaron left at the same time to pick up a pizza and when he came home he said he barely made it up one of the hills to return home. We were very thankful when we heard from our cousins that they had made it about 25miles south and checked into a hotel (after a treacherous and scary drive). We went to bed at 11pm and the power went out at midnight. Because the fish at the hatchery are dependent on electricity (for water flow) and worth millions of dollars to the State of Michigan, the hatchery generally has priority during power outages, so we aren't usually without power for more than an hour. So imagine my surprise when I woke up at 8am to discover we still did not have power! Then imagine my surprise when we didn't get power until 4pm on Sunday! Going from never being without power for more than an hour to going FORTY hours without power was CRAZY! And, we definitely weren't the only ones. The storm dropped between 18-24" on this area and it was HEAVY and WET, so much so that it had the appearance of being blue! It knocked out several trees and power lines and left 250,000 people without power. Our county (Benzie) along with Leelanau and Grand Traverse all declared a state of emergency.
I spent much of Saturday debating what to do. I felt as though the power would come on any minute and I was nervous to take a chance on the roads and attempt to drive someplace with electricity (my parents DID have electricity as well as some hotels). I was able to access facebook on my phone and knew that they were asking people to not drive unless it was an emergency. Additionally, I was concerned that if I started off towards my moms and then realized the roads were too bad that I wouldn't be able to turn around anywhere without getting stuck and I had limited cell phone service. Aaron had decided that he needed to remain at the hatchery to ensure that things were running smoothly on the generator and to make sure that when power returned, everything switched back over correctly. I was VERY glad I made the attempt to head to my moms because the roads, well, at least the main road, was FANTASTIC! Kudos to the road commission, and I don't say that often! The only hazard was that there were a lot of lights out. My brother and his boys were also at the house (their power is expected to be back on Tuesday evening). So the boys and I enjoyed ourselves hanging out with family in a warm house and Aaron and Roxy chugged along in our cold house. I think he said it got down to 48 degrees, but his Fish camp experience at the beginning of the month proved to be good practice ;) Most of the area schools were cancelled today due to power outages and many backroads still needing to be plowed, but Jacob didn't seem to mind ;) I only took a few photos as I fled to moms and then I added a few pics from my brother and some that our friends took from their house about 10 miles away.
My brothers driveway:
Other side of Mark's driveway:It started about 4pm on Friday. I received a phone call from a cousin who had been staying at the Great Wolf Lodge and wanted to meet for dinner. I called him back and reminded him of our 2 year old (2 year old= avoid restaurants, not to mention 6 kids= avoid restaurants), so they arranged to come by our place for pizza instead. I grabbed Jacob from school and then quickly went to the store for a few necessities (for our company and in case the roads weren't great for travel on Saturday). Roads were beginning to get sloppy then, in fact I didn't even know my cousin was already at our house when I pulled in because their tire tracks were already gone (and they had only arrived minutes before). After showing them the radar image of the storm that was upon us, they decided to take a quick tour of the hatchery and head home 2.5hrs south of here. We offered them to stay the night, but it appeared on the radar as though the snow turned to rain not too far along on their journey so they headed off. Aaron left at the same time to pick up a pizza and when he came home he said he barely made it up one of the hills to return home. We were very thankful when we heard from our cousins that they had made it about 25miles south and checked into a hotel (after a treacherous and scary drive). We went to bed at 11pm and the power went out at midnight. Because the fish at the hatchery are dependent on electricity (for water flow) and worth millions of dollars to the State of Michigan, the hatchery generally has priority during power outages, so we aren't usually without power for more than an hour. So imagine my surprise when I woke up at 8am to discover we still did not have power! Then imagine my surprise when we didn't get power until 4pm on Sunday! Going from never being without power for more than an hour to going FORTY hours without power was CRAZY! And, we definitely weren't the only ones. The storm dropped between 18-24" on this area and it was HEAVY and WET, so much so that it had the appearance of being blue! It knocked out several trees and power lines and left 250,000 people without power. Our county (Benzie) along with Leelanau and Grand Traverse all declared a state of emergency.
I spent much of Saturday debating what to do. I felt as though the power would come on any minute and I was nervous to take a chance on the roads and attempt to drive someplace with electricity (my parents DID have electricity as well as some hotels). I was able to access facebook on my phone and knew that they were asking people to not drive unless it was an emergency. Additionally, I was concerned that if I started off towards my moms and then realized the roads were too bad that I wouldn't be able to turn around anywhere without getting stuck and I had limited cell phone service. Aaron had decided that he needed to remain at the hatchery to ensure that things were running smoothly on the generator and to make sure that when power returned, everything switched back over correctly. I was VERY glad I made the attempt to head to my moms because the roads, well, at least the main road, was FANTASTIC! Kudos to the road commission, and I don't say that often! The only hazard was that there were a lot of lights out. My brother and his boys were also at the house (their power is expected to be back on Tuesday evening). So the boys and I enjoyed ourselves hanging out with family in a warm house and Aaron and Roxy chugged along in our cold house. I think he said it got down to 48 degrees, but his Fish camp experience at the beginning of the month proved to be good practice ;) Most of the area schools were cancelled today due to power outages and many backroads still needing to be plowed, but Jacob didn't seem to mind ;) I only took a few photos as I fled to moms and then I added a few pics from my brother and some that our friends took from their house about 10 miles away.
My brothers driveway:
Pulling out of our driveway:
Leaving the hatchery
Parents road down to one lane:
Snow covered trees:
Trees hanging over our friends driveway:
Trees falling on power lines:
Front of our house:
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1 comments:
Ha! How did I never come here since then and see this post?!
I will never forget that trip, and am so glad we had nothing like that to contend with this year! We did get new tires on the van before our trip though, just in case! ;)
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