And sure enough, within the hour, the snow started falling. From our vantage point, three stories up, it looked like a blizzard, but accumulation was minimal... less than two inches. Nevertheless, it was snowing and I logged
onto the weather site to check out the current temperatures.... 27 F and 15 F wind chill.... UGH... I BROUGHT a wool cap... I really did. But I left it back in the hotel room. And it had never even OCCURRED to me to bring gloves... so, as I sat in class, occasionally looking out the window to see it was STILL snowing, I was getting less and less enthused about venturing out to return to the hotel.
But, according to our instructor, this being the first snowfall of the season around here, traffic would be terrible if our class went all the way to 5PM as we were scheduled to. We are a fast class anyway and we are ahead of schedule, so he cut us loose at 4:30 and we made our way out to the cars. I found a little consolation in the snow, remembering I had my camera in the trunk of the car and could at least get some nice pictures (snow always LOOKS better than it FEELS, in my humble opinion). So I put my backpack in the trunk and retrieved my camera, and jumped in the car as quickly as I could.. DANG it was cold out there!
Inside the car it was quite interesting. Cocooned in about an inch of snow, the light that made its way through the glass had sort of a blue tint to it. I thought I'd take some pictures right there in my "car igloo." As I was preparing to take the pictures, all of a sudden, someone started scraping my windshield.... LOL, one of my coworkers had jumped out of the car two of them were sharing and run over to scrape my windshield. I admit I felt a bit like an ingrate when I said, "wait, Wes, I want to take a picture!"
NOW the guy who, without being asked, had decided to help out his boss by scraping her windshield, was standing out in the frigid temps waiting for said boss to finish with her "must have pictures." Of course the effect was gone, because he'd already managed to clear some of the ice and snow away before I stopped him, but I HAD to take the pictures... I'd already stopped him. Once my pictures were completed, he went about scraping every window and then jumped back into the other car and they took off for their hotel... four miles from class. I took off for my hotel, six mile from class.
Let's just say I had plenty of opportunity to take more pictures in the waning afternoon light... it took me an hour to drive the six miles. The instructor was not kidding... that first snow REALLY brought things to a standstill! Fifteen minutes after I walked into my hotel, my Blackberry went off. I'd received a message from Wes, checking on my status... it seems it had taken them 15 minutes LONGER to go four miles than it did for me to travel my six... so I felt somehow "lucky."
I have to say, when I climbed OUT of the car, that wind was whipping and about toppled me over! The ice and snow on the parking lot was slippery, and a mini drift had made access to the keyed door a required "get snow in you shoes" course. With my backpack on my back, my water bottle in my hand, my purse over my shoulder, my teeth chattering with the cold even as I muttered my disdain for this lousy Kansas "treat," I fumbled with my key card in the card reader and finally opened the door to relative comfort. Up one flight of stairs and down the hall I hurried, ready to get my snow-filled heels off and my comfy slippers on!
And after I had changed clothes and had a bite to eat, I unloaded my pictures from the card...not one was worthy of making my voluntary help wait before he ruined my "scene." I think tomorrow, when the weather is supposed to be better, I need to buy Wes lunch or something....
No comments:
Post a Comment