We Survived Atlanta's Snowmageddon 2014!!!

So a few days ago I "Crossed my Fingers" for some snow to stick around here. I guess I crossed them a little TOO hard! Oops! I have lived within the same 5 mile radius in Metro Atlanta since I was 2 1/2 years old. I lived here during the blizzard of '93 and a few years ago during the crazy snow storm of 2011.  Yes, the roads weren't that great at those times, and lots of people got stuck at home for several days, but I have NEVER seen anything like I did this past week when people got stranded at work, school or just in the middle of no where. Here's how our family did.

Tuesday 11:30am: Driving home with Rosey Posey

First of all the kids of course LOVED it! I decided to keep Bubee and Little Lady home from pre-school/MMO on Tuesday. Rosey Posey goes to school ONE day out of the week and wouldn't you know it: it was Tuesday. Fortunately the school she goes to decided to close at 10:30am (Much sooner than any of the public schools around here) so I picked her up by 11am and got home before the roads were icy or full of traffic. So by 11:30am the three kids and I were all home.

Tuesday 4:30pm: My DH with ICE in his beard!

My husband finally left work at 12:30pm (latter than what I wanted). His 5 mile commute usually takes 10-20 min depending on the red lights. At 3:30pm he finally told me he was pulling into a local restaurant to park and walk the last 3 miles. Something you have to understand about my husband: he like his shorts. And since he works in a bakery, where it's always super hot, he wears shorts to work. SO, he literally walked 3 miles in the snow in shorts to get home. The finale 3 miles on foot only took him an hour as apposed to the first 2 miles in the car taking 3 hours! It was more about the amount of traffic on the road as apposed to the weather. Atlanta just had a mass exodus. So when he got home, with ice in his beard and a mild case of frost bite, I switched priorities into taking care of my hubby. Fortunately, he was alright.

My next hope was to get my parents home safely. They carpool together and both work in downtown Atlanta. Usually they have an hour commute home. At 4pm they still had not left work and I basically had to tell them they would NOT be getting home that night. 75N was gridlock: I'm sure you've heard the crazy stories of people sleeping in their cars, leaving their cars and walking, It really did look like a scene from the Walking Dead! Their choice was to sleep at Ace Hardware (Where my mom works) or sleep in the truck. Fortunately they opted to sleep at Ace Hardware!

Tuesday 2pm: Watching Traffic and helping where we could.

Rosey Posey and I stayed up by the road most of the day. We live on a major 4 lane road on one of the worst hill in our county. It always ices over. Not only were we keeping an eye on traffic conditions reporting it via text and FB to all our friends, but also trying to help out where we could. We handed out hot chocolate to all the people walking up the road and even allowed a few ladies to make a pit stop. It was a totally surreal experience. There were men on ATVs driving people back and forth; more and more people walking by the hour.

Tuesday 11:30pm: Traffic was STILL a mess

At about 2 am I finally decided I needed to turn in. When I went to bed there was still bumper to bumper traffic in front of the house.

Sand in the back of the truck.

The next morning at 11am I got a text from my parents that they were heading home. They loaded the truck up with 400 lbs of play sand for weight on the back tires and headed out on some of the major 'back roads' avoiding the interstate. Praise God they were actually home by 12:30pm with some amazing photos of all the abandoned vehicles.

 Trucks just left on the hwy

 Someone took out the crosswalk signal. Ironically it was still working.

 This SUV is stuck on the wires for the telephone pole. As of 5pm Thursday it was still there.

 Except for the red SUV in front, all of these are abandoned vehicles.

As of 4pm on Thursday all of the side streets were still littered with abandoned vehicles.

The rest of the time we have been able to enjoy the snow and let the kids play:

 Rosey Posey in front of our house

 It's a walrus!!!

 Bubee and his police car, making tracks in the snow.

 Instead of taking Little Lady out in the snow, we brought the snow to her... So much better!

I am pleased to say, we survived Atlanta's Snowmageddon 2014! And while I blame no one for the craziness around here, I was very pleased to see many people showing that southern hospitality. My friend Joey says it perfectly:

Post by Joseph Wenzler.