the blizzard of 2011

This is the 3rd winter we experience since we got here in Chicago, and this is the greatest one yet! As of this writing, it has been 4 days after the great blizzard. We started the week good, I didn't even know that there is a snowstorm coming until the day before we got hit. We were informed that it will hit the Chicago area Tuesday afternoon, February 1st at around 3pm. Naturally, we were still asked to report to work on Tuesday, but were allowed to leave early to head home safely. By 4pm, the wind was blowing soooo hard and the snow felt like hard pellets when it struck you on the face. It was terrible and frightening to say the least.

My usual 45 minute-drive home took almost 3 hours and it was absolutely the scariest commute of my life. It was actually better when it's bumper to bumper traffic, because at least you're following someone on a lane. It got soo much worse when the traffic ease, because by then you can't see the lanes and my car windows are all covered with snow. Switching lanes is impossible to do since I only have the rear view mirror as reference. There was even a time that I can't get to the ramp to exit since the road is covered with soooooo much snow, making it very difficult to drive.

Thank God, I arrived home safely. Upon arrival, I had a good cry. I really thought I'm gonna be stuck somewhere and will not make it home. We can hear the wind howling all through the night. The wind and the snow didn't stop until noon the next day. And that was after pouring in about 20" of snow.

(somewhere underneath that snow are our cars)

Thankfully, the sun shone at around noon. We started digging out the cars from under the pile of snow. It took us almost 3 hours to remove all the snow that surrounded both Bossing and Scarlett. I'm actually happy that we decided to dig them out early, it was freezing when the day reached the afternoon. Negative Fahrenheit degrees, anyone?

(it almost reached my waistline)

(playing around before the dig-out)

Right now, most of snow are plowed into the side street. It's natural to see hills upon hills of snow. Forecast in the coming days are not good, more snow on the way. I am seriously and anxiously excited for Spring.

snow-filled Valentine's Day

Ouch. My body aches all over. I can't even stand up straight without thinking "crap, crap, this hurts". EVERYTHING hurts! My shoulders felt like it was taken out of their sockets and then snapped back again. Let me explain why everything hurts. We went to Cascade Mountain in Wisconsin yesterday (Feb 14, 2010) with Lei, Randy and Joni to ski and snowboard. I never thought it would hurt so much like this since we go to the gym regularly. But no, it seems that every part of my body have been used and abused.

We had a great time though. Aside from Joni (she skied before), it was the first time for all of us to try winter sports. We took beginner's lesson for snowboarding. It was not easy to be one with the board. After several falls, we were able to glide successfully down. We learned how to turn to the right and left. We then decided to try the bunny hill, but it was an epic fail. Fell several times in my butt. Tried again, fell again. Hahaha.

3 hours before the end of our time limit , we decided to switch gears and try skiing. Since no one taught us how to do it, we asked Joni to guide us. There was just one thing, no one knew how to get up when you fall. I had to ask Borgy to push the lever in the skis to free my foot, then stand up and try again. After several tries, when we felt surer of our skills, we got on the lift to the top of the bunny hill and made our way down. After 2 major falls (butt hurts and knees), I realized skiing was not for me. I think I can do better in the snowboard.

Stupidity kicks in after we returned our gears. I realized that I misplaced my goggles. :( I remember I have it at hand, I was even adjusting the straps to fit it. I just forgot where it went. Good thing it was relatively cheap compared to other goggles but still, it was new and I just had it for a day. I felt really bad, and guilty too. I apologized to Borgy about losing it, and good thing I have a great husband. He said not to feel bad about it, since we cannot do anything anymore, it was already gone.

I decided not to let that overshadow the whole experience. I made sure to have fun in snow tubing. Well, I didn't have to try hard! We all had so much fun. Snow tubing rocks. Even if our fingers and toes felt so numb, we went up the hill and plunge on our way down. We tried sitting at the tubes first and then we got a bit confident, we tried face-forward (nakadapa). Awesome! There were 5 lanes, and we took turns to try each of them!

Hopefully we can try again before winter ends. There are nearer resorts in Lisle and Barlett which we can visit. We have to make use of the winter gear that we bought (kelangang sulitin!)

(before the snowboard lesson) 

(group picture)

(after snow tubing)