Go east, young (?!) women

[catspaw]

::note to self:: A 280 mile car journey on somewhere less than about five hours' sleep is probably not the brightest way to spend a day. For either of us.

On Saturday,the weather was vile. And I mean, *vile*. We woke to torrential rain that sounded like a herd of freakin' elephants thundering across the roof of the RV and logged on to check driving conditions. There was a warning of snow in the Cascades, but the webcam on Snoqualmie Pass didn't look too bad even though the weathermen, like weathermen everywhere, were doing their 'worst case scenario' thing and gloomily predicting 'feet of snow'. Still - the usual mantra took over: 'How bad can it be? It'll work out, it'll be fine' *g*. This phrase took on the ring of 'famous last words' a little later in the day LOL.

We headed out in rain that looked like we were driving through a car wash, it wasn't taking time to fall. Not the pleasantest of driving conditions for Feather, she did so well to keep us moving! The rain was patchy though - like it varied from torrential to merely heavy - and it seemed like we might get away with it as we headed for the Cascade Mountains. Which are spectacular - I mean, I'm from Scotland, I'm used to lumpy scenery, but these were something else again!

Things were going swimmingly (no pun) until we got round a final bend and entered the pass. Things started to get a little sleety, then a little more snowy, until finally we were driving (very slowly) through an all-out blizzard. We were getting low on fuel, so decided to stop at the next gas station to fill up - and thank god we did. Although we very nearly got stuck there - in the gas station LOL. The snow was about 9 inches deep, which was okay for the Ford we're in, but the pumps were under a concrete canopy and the avalanches of snow off the roof were making a pretty formidable barrier. I had visions of having to get out and either push the car or go find a shovel, but we managed to scramble out of there somehow and I didn't have to do either. The way back to the freeway was down a beast of a hill with a gradient of 1 in 20 with a very sharp turn at the end to enter the sliproad - not much fun in that amount of snow. However, we got there, rejoined the freeway and crawled through the pass at an average of about 10 mph. Give the authorities their due, they were working hard to plough the route and grit it to keep it open, but we saw several accidents and a jackknifed truck or two.

Luckily though, once through the pass, we got away from the snow and back to torrential rain again hah! Conditions were still rough, but we made better time after that and pulled into Spokane about six hours after we'd left, after anxious phone communications with carron to get instructions, assure her we were hale and hearty and not wrapped round a tree somewhere etc.

The hotel we were in was spectacular - suite the size of a football field and a smoker yay! Teabags came out immediately (yes, I brought my own - just in case *g*) and we had a self-congratulatory cuppa and a smoke because we were feeling so intrepid :-))

Then we hooked up with Carron. Ah, Carron *g*. The Fluff and Preen is even better in RL than it is to read on AIM LOL. There is now an official photograph of me eating my first ever Twinkie. Ah, Twinkies - what can I say? Possibly a taste best acquired in childhood, I think. We went out for yet another spectacular meal - I just sat back while Carron and Feather discussed what I was going to eat LOL - but I was allowed to choose my starter and the sauce that I was going to have with my ribs :-)

Starter? Heh! I went for the onion loaf and was mildly surprised to receive a nest of battered onion rings that covered a ten inch dinner plate! There must have been about a pound of onions there! Delicious though, even if I only managed to wade through about a quarter of it.

Then came the ribs. You could get a choice of three, four or five beef ribs with trimmings. I was congratulating myself on getting wise to portion size and went for three. What I got was three ribs roughly the size of *truncheons* on a plate the size of Aberdeen. I managed one :-( Bright side, the rest went in a to-go box (*so* much nicer than 'doggy bag', don't you think? *g*) just in case the munchies hit later. They didn't, as a matter of fact - but then, they never do! Over here, I'm strictly a one meal a day girl, something after the manner of a python. Eat until you can't move, because you've *paid* for it, dammit, and then retire under a rock to digest quietly ;-)

Next, we retired to a nearby bar. I rashly asked for beer: I don't know what language the resulting list the barman rattled off was in, but I couldn't make head or tail of it. We went back to first principles, he decided I was a little stoopid and thankfully began to talk very sloooowly and LOUDLY hee! But the choices! The choices were crippling. And even when we'd negotiated to the point of knowing what *kind* of beer I wanted, I still had the thorny problem of size of glass to work out.

Surprise though - the beer was really beer, and not lager - and was excellent! Bloody cold though - so cold the glass had frost on it! Novel experience that, for a Brit *g*. Much teasing ensued from the girls about being a cold beer virgin and having the first cold beer of my life and me threatening to ask the barman to zap it in the microwave. The barman, bless him, overheard and came to my rescue, declaring that dark beer was really better drunk warm. Yes, vindicated! Go me! And because he was a sweetheart, he took the beer, rinsed out a glass in the hottest water he could find and decanted my pint :-) Or whatever the hell size of beer I was drinking.

In other news, the dog has apparently decided that although I seem harmless enough, I'm probably a dangerous desperado with evil designs on Feather's stuff. I think it's probably the funny accent that does it. She's dedicating her time to watching me and making sure that no little knick-knacks - cutlery, ornaments, toilet paper and so on - disappear into my pockets LOL

Comments

[sstewart83066.livejournal.com]

I'm having loads of fun reading your jounal. Thanks for the update as I was getting worried about you the last couple days. Glad you made it through that snowstorm ok. I think I would have wimped out in traversing that pass. But thankfully you made it to the hotel in one piece and are hopefully still enjoying yourself.

[alphekka-alpha.livejournal.com]

.
Wot she said! 8-)
--

The new Donner Party

[carronlaforce.livejournal.com]

We had discussions regarding the Donner party and snow storms in the mountains and the desperation of starvation among your commrades. But I brought Cats a box of Twinkies, so I know that if nothing else, should they become stranded at the pass on the way bacl, she and Feather would make marvelous looking corpses because - as yet - the half life (or shelf life for that matter) of a Twinkie has yet to be determined. Marvelous what all those preservatives will do for a person who has indulged in the consumption of these treats since she was a child. I'm actually 119 years old - you'd never be able to tell it though. ;-)

I LOVE YOU CATS AND I MISS YOU AND FEATHER TERRIBLY!!!!!!

Carron

Re: The new Donner Party

[sstewart83066.livejournal.com]

LOL!! Oh god, to think, one of Cat's memories of her trip here is going to be of Twinkies?? Did anyone tell her that Twinkies are one of those dirty secrets that everyone keeps to themselves. Shhhh, we're not supposed to admit out loud how much we love them cause they are sooo bad for you. (But we still love them).

Re: The new Donner Party

[catspaw-sgjd.livejournal.com]

Twinkies are one of those dirty secrets that everyone keeps to themselves.

OMG! I thought they were a food item! What else can you do with them? *beg*

Re: The new Donner Party

[catspaw-sgjd.livejournal.com]

I'm actually 119 years old - you'd never be able to tell it though. ;-)


I can vouch for that. You look not a day over 30 :-)

::makes cunning plan to import Twinkies to the UK and clean up with suitable marketing::

And the loving and missing thing? Ditto - and apologies for bursting into tears :-( I *hate* saying goodbye :-(

[catspaw-sgjd.livejournal.com]

Thanks to both of you :-) Yep, still in one piece here although woefully behind with entries :-(

[skater-g8r.livejournal.com]

so glad you're ok *bg*, but!!..WoW!! what an adventure!! and thats some weather there O.O

But there was no Thunder Snow :-(

[carronlaforce.livejournal.com]

Out of all the things I wanted her to see - if we had to have nasty weather - was thunder snow. Not hail during a thunderstorm, but lightning and thunder during a snow squall. But naturally, I got no cooperation in /any/ way, shape or form from the weather department. Ah well . . . maybe next trip. And there'd better be a next trip - please?

Carron

Re: But there was no Thunder Snow :-(

[catspaw-sgjd.livejournal.com]

Well I got the snow - and I got the thunder separately in Chicago, as you'll see when I get round to updating for the last two days *g*. I'd'a liked to see them together though.

Okay. Like you say, next time :-)