Winter Weekend

This year's winter weekend was a little unusual in that half if it was not spent at the lake. On Friday I picked-up Evan. After stopping at Meijer for pizza and brots we headed north to the lake. The cottage roads were plowed in, so we took 52nd street. That was plowed all the way to Castle Inn, but the CR-V proved it self well and forged through the 6 inches of snow all the way to the end of Willow Lane near Ver Hoef's. We unpacked our stuff and looked over the cottage grounds. It's unusual to see everything covered in a thick, pristine blanket. Evan came up with the idea of carving our names onto the snow covered, frozen lake.

The Arctic air was just beginning to arrive, but it sure felt cold; especially since the inside of the cottage was as cold as the outside. We got a good fire going, and Evan being the fine connaisseur of literature that he is, had the perfect story for the situation. We read Jack London's 'To Build a Fire,' and after that it was a few games of Rummy until Darren showed up. When Darren got there it was a few more games of Rummy and some good chit-chat before bed.

Randy is a counselor for his church cadets, and Friday night they had a camp out. After Darren made us pancakes Saturday morning we expected Randy to join us at the lake. Instead he gave us a phone call explaining why he was chickening out. The Arctic winds were coming across the lake and producing a blizzard. This wasn't just a winter storm passing through. These were consistent frigid winds making lake effect snow and dumping it on West Michigan. US-131 was already closed, and another 12 inches of snow was expected. The bulk of the storm was supposed to be well south of where we were, but another 12 inches on the existing 12 would get us stuck up there for sure.

We packed up in haste and drove out. Darren's car required a good deal of digging and pushing but he made it too. On the way back to Grand Rapids the conditions worsened. At M-6 the 40 mph winds and heavy snow made for 5 foot visibility at times. After 2.5 hours we made it safely to my house for pizza and Carcassonne. Now that we were in town, Randy joined us. So, we were in the middle of a blizzard with closed Expressways, 50-car pile-ups, and general chaos. They say: 'when life gives you lemons make lemonade.' So we went over to the Steelcase parking lot and found a way to practice our "tubing." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSrcn2di9qI

After the parking lot was conquered the boys continued the fun down the side streets. I however, had to drive downtown to help Melissa get home from work. When I got back to Randy's house they were already playing Rummy. We had the pizza and brots, and played some DDR. Which it turns out Evan has gotten quite good at while in college; although he's no match for Randy's quick feet. Finally after playing a little poker we crashed at Randy's for the night.

Overall it was a great weekend. Unfortunately it ended with the Bears losing in the Superbowl, but ya can't win 'em all. The temperature continues to drop. As I write this it is -2F with a windchill of -16. This will help us better appreciate the weather in LA and Thailand...in 3.5 days...