{Spring?....Yeah Right!}

Just when we thought it would be safe to travel over the pass, we got socked right in the face. The kids and I were traveling to Idaho to spend our Spring Break at Papa Chip's. I knew that it was going to snow on the day we left but it wasn't suppose to come in until later in the day. I left early enough, or so I thought to get through the pass before it hit. Well I miscalculated, or the snow just decided to come early. Either way the kids and I didn't have traction tires or chains and just after I passed exit 47, they both were required. And they closed the pass right behind us. Yeah it was fabulous!! So there I sat on the mountain trying to figure out what I was going to do. I tried several times to put it into a lower gear and make my way up the hill but I had absolutely no luck. I wasn't the only person who got stuck which made me feel better.

This was the sight from our car. It is nice and pretty unless you are stuck in it. Then it wasn't such a pretty sight. The kids kept saying, "we're going to die" (with lots of drama added for effect), "no one will be able to find us", "we're doomed"!! It was all really helpful to have such positive thinkers to help me figure this all out. I called my dad and he got a hold of someone at Les Schwab in Ellensburg and they sent someone with chains to my rescue. At $90 bucks an hour it was a steep price, but I figured it was that or spend the night where we were. There was more snow on the way!!

As we sat and waited for the nice man to come to our rescue the kids thought it would be fun to take snapshot of how dire our circumstances really were!!

In the end, we ended up waiting long enough after they closed the pass for a snow plow to come though and clear the road and then sand it. The tire guy never got to us. He was actually still 30 miles away when I called him to tell him that I was not stuck anymore. It turns out that we were only less than a mile from the summit and as soon as we reached the summit the roads were just wet and slushy. So luckily we were able to be on the move again. This nice little detour only added an extra three hours to our day. Instead of getting to Papa's at 2pm we did not arrive until 5pm. I stopped by the Les Schwab tire place to pay for the guy attempting to come for me and to purchase a set of chains for my car. I ended up only have to pay for the chains, they didn't charge me for the guy's time on the road. That was a nice blessing!! That was the start of a nice vacation in Idaho and I am glad to say it only got better!!

More to come on Easter and the fun things we did at Papa's house.