Road Trip: The Ice Man Cometh...

It's been a very stressful week for a variety of reasons. Needless to say, overcomed with emotion and responsibility, I needed to get away. Completely impromptu, we decided to meet my brother and his family at our family timeshare. We jumped in the car and took off on our first unplanned road trip. I had no idea of the natural beauty and awe that was to behold.

I had one word for what I first saw when I stepped out to go to work the morning before, "BEAUTIFUL". I distinctly remember taking a moment to breathe deeply and take it all in. I did not know the extent of the damage from the ice storm at that time. I took a few photos with my daughter for posterity and headed off to work (but not before I called the job to make sure work wasn't cancelled). There were downed trees and loss of electricity and traffic lights in surrounding towns but I took my detours and carefully drove the icy, rainy, country road to work. Thankfully, my daughter's school was cancelled. Since there was no sign of ice, but only regular rainy conditions in the city where I work, things were already starting to look better.

At 9:30 am, the Governor declared a state of emergency with over 350,000 people losing power in the western part of the state. Only nonessential workers from that area were given the day off. It was then that I realized that it was much worst than I thought. We contacted my sister who attends college in that area and ensured that she was safe and headed back to the city until at the very least power is restored.

At lunch time, we had a pizza party and baking contest at work which turned out awesome. After all, I am on the holiday planning committee ;-) At 5:00 o'clock, (ok maybe a little before), I started out on my commute home. I drove slowly and carefully because with the cold nightfall, the roads were sure to be a bit icy. As I drove along, however, I noticed that conditions had apparently improved and by the time I arrived in my surrounding towns, they had regained electricity and traffic lights.

So, on Saturday morning when my brother called me, it took all but one minute for us to decide to join him at the resort in the Berkshires. My daughter requested some Christmas music on the car radio and we sang almost all the way there. Trees were completely covered in ice, even bending to kiss the ground because of the weight on their branches. It reminded me of when SUBZERO said to BATMAN "The Ice Man Cometh". Everything was covered in ice. Random pines tree tops curiously peeked their heads up sometimes, appearing slightly unscathed, but everything else was frozen in time.  It was beautiful.

And for exactly one day, my daughter was completely entertained by her cousins and she did not call me one, single, time. Aaaaaaah...



























(frozen beaver's nest)








































One Love, Se'Lah.