After spending a week in Charlotte, NC with Brett’s family for the holidays, it was time to pack up the Pruis and start the journey home. Seems like it’s never quiet as exciting on the trip back…unless you’re traveling with us.
Christmas day was magical for several reasons this year. We got to see our 16-month-old nephew open his presents and he was more than happy to model his new “I Love NY” t-shirt! The Queen City also saw it’s first Christmas snow in more than 60+ years! The white stuff came pouring from the sky and never stopped. We knew we were going to have to wait until Charlotte could get the roads clear enough to get out of town on Sunday morning. But with a massive blizzard blowing through the East Coast, our window was narrow! We looked at several alternative driving routes, but it didn’t really matter. To get back to Albany, we had to cross paths with the snow storm at some point…and we couldn’t really wait. Brett had to work on Monday and I had a big job interview, so we sort of had pressing matters to attend to. Expecting a rough ride, we packed a lunch, made a quick potty break and buckled up for a rough ride back to New York.
Charlotte’s snow was really pretty (photo on left) but I’ve learned snow’s never fun when you have to be out in it. North Carolina got a ton of snow, but the roads were pretty clear on our route north. Thankfully, Brett was at the wheel and I kept busy texting and facebooking our meteorologist news friends on weather updates. (They said stay at home!) We were able to keep up with road conditions online and through area radio stations.Driving through Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland was a piece of cake. Really and truly, the calm before the storm! The skies were gray and overcast, but there wasn’t a flake on the ground. There was a sense of urgency to move as quickly as we could and thankfully, you don’t have to make too many pit stops with a hybrid!
Southerners are usually faced with a ton of winter weather, so I had to ask what exactly constituted a blizzard. Turns out, they are defined as a severe storm characterized by strong winds (35 mph or more), low temperatures and can include heavy falling snow.
I sure knew what a blizzard was once we were midway through Pennsylvania! Our path home put us coming right up the East Coast and into the back end of the storm! In a matter of minutes, the sky was bleeding snow and the Prius was about to take flight!
North Carolina
West Virginia
Pennsylvania
The snow just fell and fell! At one point, our new bumper on the Prius was scraping the snow drifts in the middle of the Interstate and the sound was horrible! Unfortunately, we were ahead of the snow plows and didn’t see one until we were just inside the New York state line. Our plan was to exit and get a hotel for the night, but when we couldn’t get off any of the ramps, we found there was no other choice than to keep moving. It was not safe sitting on the side of the road at all!
I have decided (in my infinite Southern wisdom) that 25% of driving in bad weather is dealing with the actual conditions…the other 75% is watching out for the maniacs on the road. I could not get over how crazy people were driving! Call us overly cautious Southerners caught in our first blizzard, but semi trucks creating three lanes out of two are not the best idea…especially traveling at Mach One!
From Charlotte, NC to Clifton Park, NY it’s about 790 miles and should take around 12-13 hours to travel. We left the Queen City around 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning and finally got home just after 3:30 a.m. Sunday morning…18 hours later! However, when you travel less than 35 mph in a Prius for nearly 800 miles, you’ll only use about four gallons of gas.
Our first blizzard taught us a lot of things. First, bowing snow isn’t white. It’s black. Driving home in a snow storm is a lot like being chewed up and spit out by the Smoke Monster on Lost. It is arguably the scariest thing weather condition we have ever seen in a car! Second: make sure you have your survivor kit in the car you’re driving!
That road trip was the most harrowing experience of my life! Brett & I are absolutely sure that the prayers from our friends, family and folks we don’t even know helped get us to our destination. Good grief, y’all what a mess!
Parts of the East Coast ended up with 32″ of snow and the Capital Region saw between 12″-16″! That’s more than I have ever seen in my life…total! Driving through a blizzard will teach you valuable life lessons: namely, we’d rather be stuck in an airport than a ditch any day!
