Do We Stay or Do We Go Now?

Western Washington has had enough weather in the last 10 days to make even Al Gore question global warming. It's been raining for two days now and we still have snow. And we have giant lakes of water and the promise of more flooding in store.

Last week as Christmas neared we watched the weather reports and checked the internet non-stop trying to determine if and when we should make the break and head for the border (Oregon). Tuesday, it looked like it was now or never. It wasn't snowing but there was supposed to be more coming in late that night or early the 24th.

So we packed in a hurry and made the 3 1/2 hour trip to Corvallis in 7 hours. We zipped down to Portland in a hurry and had NO IDEA what the big deal was. Clear roads, good conditions. No problems.

Then we came over the hill south of Portland and the roads changed and traffic stopped. From there we sat and sat and talked to my dad who was driving north on an airport run and had no idea why he wasn't moving. (He went 12 miles in 2 hours and 45 minutes.) We exited and took back roads on his advice and got out of the huge rutted snow and stopped traffic. Just south of Salem the conditions changed completely. No more snow on the side of the road. Apparently my parents live in the banana belt.

We had a nice Christmas. We waited on presents for my brother who was stuck for a night in Weed, California (named after its most lucrative crop) because he couldn't cross the Siskiyous without risking his life.

The most disappointing thing is that we had a call on Christmas Eve from my Opa's rehab center saying they didn't want anyone going in or out because they were having a huge outbreak of the stomach flu. My Opa had fallen prey and we didn't see him on this trip and he was all alone for three days over Christmas. Kyri and my mom had gone to see him Christmas Eve morning but he was sleepy (and didn't feel well they learned later) and barely knew they were there. We all felt horrible he was alone on Christmas. He is better now and was able to spend a few hours at my parents' visiting today.