Christmas at the beach

Christmas day was crisp and clear. I snuck out for an 8 miler between gift-opening sessions. It was a long day, but good family time. The next morning, as I ran 5 miles, the snow began to fall. After my run I snapped a few pics that show just an inch or so of snow on the yard and on the beach:

Overnight, however, the snow fell like crazy. The 30+mph winds created drifts that were chest high in some places, and the plowing that was done would lock us into place:


This is the same front yard as the first pic. See the top of the little Christmas tree?



After a LOT of back-breaking shoveling, and some help from some boys that drove by, I was able to eventually get my car out. My dad's truck, however, will be buried for a while. (See it to the left of my car?) My mom's car was across the street in a friend's driveway, so we dug her out, too.


With my car out, a path dug to the front door and back, and my mom's car now able to be driven, I felt ok to head home. I cautioned my parents to not try to drive anywhere because the plowing didn't really clear the roads. As I headed home, I would see just how bad the roads were.

This is the ocean road in front of my parents' house. I am looking south, with the ocean on the left of the picture just over those dunes.

I was able to eventually get my 4-wheel drive Jeep through the ocean road and down to the main boulevard, which looked like this:

It was a crazy drive off the island. It's a good thing the temps are warming up this week -- they're going to need all the help with snow removal that they can get!