- 2006.12.22
It came as a surprise to me because I haven't watched the news
or The Weather Channel for awhile. I went to bed at about 4:00 a.m.
Wednesday, and it wasn't snowing at all.
Now you might be wondering why I went to bed so late. Well,
about a month and a half ago, my boss at McDonald's told me that we
were going to extend our store hours to 6 a.m. through 2 a.m.
instead of closing at midnight. He wanted to know if I would like
to work the closing shift (7 p.m. to 3 a.m.). He told me that if I
did, I would get a nice raise, so I said yes.
Anyway, I woke up at noon on Wednesday. It was payday at
McDonald's, and I wanted to get my paycheck. I looked outside, and
I couldn't believe my eyes! It was snowing like crazy, blowing snow
at least 6" deep in front of my house. [Editor's note: Ted lives in
Denver.]
I needed to get my paycheck, and after that much snow I was sure
that it would die down soon.
Regardless, I had to take my family with me. There was now way
I'd be able to drive in this mess, but my Dad is a very experienced
driver, so I had him come with me.
It was a horrible drive: We almost got stuck on the way to
Walmart (where my McDonald's is located). When we got there, I
went inside, and my boss was making a sign on his computer that
said "Due to the weather, we are closing at 4 p.m. Weather
permitting, we will open tomorrow at 8 a.m."
That's when I knew how bad this storm was going to be.
I got my check, cashed it at the bank inside the Walmart, and
my Dad and I set out on our journey home.
We couldn't take the road we had taken to get back home because
the traffic was far too bad, so we decided to take another route,
one that would take us through our old neighborhood.
The main roads were as bad as the side streets, all of them had
a 6" or 7" layer of snow.
There are several steep hills between our house and Walmart,
and there's no way around them. We tried to find a street where the
hills weren't as steep, but everywhere we went there was either too
much traffic or cars stuck sideways on the hills.
We got stuck a number of times, and about a mile from home we
gave up. We had to abandon our Honda Accord. We were close to a
friend of my sister's, and her Dad has a Ford F-250 pickup with
four-wheel drive, so we asked him to give us a ride home.
After all was said and done it took 4 hours to get to Walmart
and back - normally it takes about 45 minutes.
When we finally got home it was almost 5 p.m., and we were very
tired.
It snowed all night long, and it didn't stop until about 12 p.m.
on Thursday. When it finally stopped, there was about 3-1/2' of
snow in our back yard.
The storm was so bad that my McDonald's didn't open on Thursday
-most businesses didn't. The buses didn't even run.
Our Acura Legend is half
buried in snow; it's so deep that you can't even see the front half
of the car.
My Mom and I walked to the 7-Eleven, which is about six blocks
away from home. It was the busiest I've ever seen.
It almost reminds me of the Blizzard of 2003, but the snow isn't
nearly as heavy, and it isn't quite as deep.
I really wasn't expecting a three-day weekend, but I'm glad that
it happened. It gave me a lot more time to get some stuff done
around the house, and it gave me something to write about.
I hope you all have a very nice holiday and a great new year!
