Home for the Holidays

On Monday morning, Josh and I left Mill Valley for the joyful 10 hour drive to Portland. It's a long story but we also brought a girl named Sarah along with us who is a fellow Greshamite. The drive was great for the first 9 hours. Shasta was clear, the Siskyous were clear, we were making good time. But Portland has been having a snow storm for the past week. 1968 was the last time its seen weather like this in December.

As soon as we hit Salem there was a thick layer of solid ice over the entire interstate. We pulled over to put chains on our car. The chains didn't fit but we drove for about 15 seconds with them on anyway and they snapped off. We decided to just drive really slow and see how we did with no chains. We drove 25mph from Salem to Gresham (about 60 miles). Josh was a manchild. We never skidded, he never lost control, he never got the car stuck in the foot of packed snow that was on the interstate. It was scary but also comical and frustrating. In normal states where it snows a lot, the interstates are the first areas to be cleared. It felt like we were on some back country road, that's how bad the 5 was. We saw our first snow plower once we were on Division in Gresham. It was pretty ridiculous.

Anyway, the Lord kept us so safe and we made the normally 10 hour trip in about 12, so, it really wasn't that bad.

Now we're home and it's Christmas Eve and the 20 inches of snow outside is beautiful. We've gotten a lot of rest, layed around, watched the cute kiddies play. It's been fun.

From the front door looking out


Josh got thirsty


Yes, that's a car


The Matrix


Crazy!