Driving In A Winter Wonderland...Or Not!!!!!

Come along with us on another one of our family "rides!" I promise that you won't be disappointed. I wanted to show Lisa that I am sympathetic to her snowy plight (Hey Lisa!!!), but we ended up getting in a little over our heads.


As you can see, we started our adventure off in the snow. It had been snowing off and on all day, but finally seemed like it was getting a bit more serious. (Here we are...heading up to the hills)
We entered the locked gate, and were immediately welcomed by heavier snowfall. A sign of things to come, or an omen??? You guess...lol!!!!Hey...look at that tree!!! It has a face. Oh wait, it is just my camouflaged boy...teeheehee!!! (He looks thrilled that I was taking his picture, doesn't he???) So...up into the hills we went, stopping every now and then to play in the snow, scout for animals, and snap pictures of stump caves. (Can't you just imagine a bear all curled up in the base of this stump???)The further up we went, the more snow there was, until..........disaster struck!!! These pictures really do not our predicament justice. The snow was about a foot and a half deep, wet, and freshly fallen, and to one side was a steep incline that dropped down about 100 yards, and to the other, a ditch that was about two feet deep
Poor Kevin! Every time he hit the gas, the truck slid further and further over, and it's front tire was actually over the edge. I am such a chicken, and when I realized that the truck was sliding the wrong way, I grabbed the kidlets and got out.

"You brought your chains, right???" I asked. The answer was "No." There were no chains or shovel in the back of the truck. Luckily there was a piece of wood, and he used that to dig himself out. Meanwhile, Katie was crying that "Daddy was going to die," and Eric thought that it was the "Coolest thing ever!" Ahhhhh...to be nine again...lol!!!!

Thank goodness Kevin has a lot of experience with this sort of thing, but even he was getting a bit frazzled, so he two-wayed (Nextel cell phone) his buddy, who also has access to this area, and told him to come up and help us out. We were about four miles above the main line, and about seven from the entrance, so there was no way that we were going to walk out!!!

(I think this picture looks silly {below}, but Eric and Katie think it makes the truck look "cool," so I put it on here for them!)While we were waiting, Kevin decided to try one more time, and he actually succeeded in getting out. He then had to back (well he actually slid!!) down the hill about a 1/4 mile, until he reached a turn-around road, and the kidlets and I walked down after him. The buddy's help was called off, and we all got in and headed for home.

Again, these pictures do not show the steepness of the hills, nor the sharpness of the drop-off, so you'll just have to take my word on that, but just know that Kev and I have found ourselves in some nasty snow/car situations, and I have never seen him worried before.

On the way home, right by our house, we saw a herd of elk out in the field. They are kind of hard to spot, but the tan blobs in the center of the picture are the elk.

So daddy got us all home safe and sound, and Katie keeps telling him that he is her hero and that he saved our lives. Dramatic, isn't she??? LOL!!! THE END

(As I write, the snow is still falling, and we have about 4-5 inches out there. Great!!! This is so atypical for Western WA that it is not even funny!!!! Lisa??? I feel for ya'!!! Maybe we could have some virtual brownies and wine or something!)