Post from Samuel

…≥

\

\\''''7'''6ynupkj km m  yyu. yu0i,uuuu6y77799999997

6;pptr4tttttt44t4,,4k m

0jZ,8w8wwwwwwwwwwwqlql∑lwlw

-Samuel

Samuel's first blizzard

The three of us have just returned from a week(or less) of visiting my family in Denver.  The three of us left on Saturday the 21st.  Julia returned on Thursday the 26th with Samuel and I returning on Saturday(28th).

A good time was had by all involved.

I will never be invited to attend another Denver sporting event with my sister or brother-in-law.  The last two Denver sporting events I have attended the home team has lost by a combined score of 48-5.  The Broncos lost in football 41-3 and the Avalanche lost in hockey 7-2 on this latest visit.

Julia left Denver Wednesday morning.  Samuel and I were scheduled to depart Friday morning. Beginning on Tuesday the weather forecast for Thursday became ominous.  The forecast was for 6-18 inches of snow.  We spent Wednesday evening at Beth and Bob's.  Waking up Thursday morning Bob had a good idea that we should call a hotel near the airport and make a reservation so that if the weather did turn bad that we would be able to get to the hotel and then on Friday morning the hotel shuttle would transport us to the airport.  Thursday morning driving to my parents house, snow was falling but not sticking to the roads.  Suddenly at 1100 the snow increased, the wind began to blow and the streets became snow covered.  At this time I started to load the rental car but realized that it was not wise to try and leave at this time as I could literally not see the house across the street.  Especially since I was driving a rental car that I had no experience driving in the snow. The snow continued to fall heavily for the next few hours.  I spent most of the time on the Internet watching to see if my flights were cancelled.

Around 1500 the skies cleared a bit and the snow lessened.  I loaded the car again, tucked Samuel into the car seat and set off for the airport.

Note-for those of you not from Denver.  The Denver airport is located to the southeast of Denver.  It is in the middle of nowhere.  The road leading to the airport from the interstate is 7 miles long.  There is nothing to block the snow, so the road is very, very difficult to traverse during bad weather as the snow drifts due to the wind blowing across the open fields.

As we pulled out of my parents driveway the rental car spun in every direction.  We made it a few blocks before becoming stuck in traffic.  After not moving for about 10 minutes we made a u-turn and returned to my parents house.  Unfortunately Denver had made a mistake and most everything in town closed down at 1400.  Most businesses, government offices shut down and sent their employees home.  They did this all at the same time so the roads were near impassable and everyone was on the road at the same time. Needless, to say, this created gridlock and no one went anywhere for a few hours.  Samuel and I rode out the storm at my parents.  I called Bob, who owns a 4 wheel drive vehicle, and asked if the roads were still bad in the morning if he would be available to drive us to the airport.  

We woke up early on Friday morning to clean off the car and prepare to leave.  Our flight did not leave until 1045 but we decided to leave my parents at 0600.  After a slow but steady 90 minute drive to the airport we arrived a t the rental car agency with no damage to the car.  Samuel slept most of the way.  The most challenging part of the morning was actually unloading the rental car and taking everything to the shuttle.  I had to leave Samuel in the car and take all the luggage(we had 2 large bags as  we were bringing back diapers, wipes and Samuel clothes purchased in Denver).  due to the snow was unable to use the stroller so I was anxious as I was carrying Samuel in my arms while walking through 6-12 inches of snow from the rental car drop-off to the shuttle pick-up area.

The rest of the trip as posted earlier went very, very smoothly, thanks to Samuel sleeping for most of the trip.

-Dave