We interrupt this regularly scheduled programming of Kristy's complete wedding blog for this important message about Michael Buble...
Kylie doesn't ever really get spring break because Big Bend CC and Moses Lake HS do not have the same break. Even though she is going full time out at the college, she still takes Jazz Choir at the high school all year long and seminary half the year. So since she hasn't gotten a spring break in two years, David and I surprised Kylie with tickets to Michael Buble (who by the way she refers to as "her future husband." Not sure how she is planning to get rid of the Argentine model who claims to be his current fiance? Oh well, Kylie's a resourceful girl - she'll think of something!)
First, the Death Drive -
Kylie, Kendall and I drove over to Seattle on Friday, April 2nd - a day that will go down in infamy for the three of us! (Kendall got to go to Seattle but not the concert. It's not that we don't love her... it's just that we d0n't love her THAT much. The tickets were expensive!)
So we were driving David's Lexus which I love driving on a road trip - it is so comfortable and quiet and the stereo is so good. There was talk of a snow storm but it was supposed to hit in the afternoon and it's April 2nd so how hard could it possibly snow? So, I stupidly decide to take the Lexus and not the Suburban per David's suggestion. (I'm not blaming David but if he has take a large insurance policy out on me recently, will you let me know?)
Well, we left about 8 a.m. and hit snow even before we had gotten to Ellensburg - that was not a good sign. After Cle Elum all of the big rigs were pulled over to put chains on - really not a good sign! Words can't adequately describe how scary our drive turned out to be. The visibility on the road was fine, but it was like we were in a snow tunnel and we could not tell where we were along the route. I don't remember seeing any exits or signs from Cle Elum to North Bend. The electronic warning signs were covered with snow. We could generally read the third line which said at various times "warning" or "prohibited" or "required" but the first two lines were covered in snow. Real helpful! I'm pretty sure one of the signs said "Traction Tires Required" (which I didn't have) but the key words were covered in snow so what's a girl supposed to do?
I was not too worried at first. I just figured it would take us twice as long to get where we were going and I was a little annoyed. I have always thought that when the roads are bad, if you go slow enough, you'll be fine. Right?
Wrong! Before long I started fishtailing and was trying to gain control of the car as other cars behind me tried to get out of my way. I don't know how nobody hit me because there were a lot of cars behind me. Then when it appeared that I had avoided colliding with any other cars, I started to slide towards a semi and, again, I don't know how we didn't hit. I didn't really have any choice but to just forge ahead as best I could. There was nowhere to pull over and if I did I would have been a sitting duck for everyone else to run into!
I was so scared my legs were shaking uncontrollably. I called David and I was freaking out. I didn't know what to do. (For the record, the girls dialed and I spoke to David through my GPS. Trust me, my hands had a death grip on the steering wheel.) I told him that the car was sliding all over the place and I couldn't control it. All he told me was that it might help to push this one snow button and definitely not to pull over. I'm semi-screaming "I can't control the car. I don't know what to do. I'm sliding all over the place. Oh no, here I go again. I think I'm gonna crash." David says, "Try to get off at the next exit and find a place to stay warm. There's not much I can do from here. I gotta go. Good luck." I'm not sure how I feel about that. I knew there wasn't much he could do for us, but maybe he should have stayed on the line while we crashed? What is the appropriate husbandly response in that situation? Hmmm...
As I continued to fishtail more than I went straight, I came upon a police woman diverting traffic around an accident and she was signaling me to go around. I wanted to roll down my window and tell her that I was an accident waiting to happen but she seemed to have her hands full at the moment, and I was afraid if I got close enough to talk to her I would take her out. So I just kept sliding forward. It was so scary.
I was afraid of #1 - crashing into another car and/or #2 - getting stuck and having someone crash into me. Somehow I managed to make it by the accident without running into anyone and I seemed to separate myself from the pack. Pretty soon, there was only me and one other car around that I could see. The cars behind me must have gotten stopped at some point. Maybe there was another accident? Because there were no cars in my rear view mirror that I could see which was really strange but such a blessing. So I kept going just praying for an exit that I could make it to.
I had no idea where I was. As far as I knew, I hadn't made it to the summit yet because it felt like I was just going level, it didn't feel like I was going either uphill or downhill. I didn't realize it at the time but I must have been going downhill because I had my foot on the brake but I still wasn't stopping. With my foot on the brake, I was still going about 10 mph. I couldn't have come to a complete stop if I had to. We were doing okay inching forward with only one other car around and then our car started to take a big spin to the right. I couldn't stop it and it appeared that we were going to do a 360 towards the right guard rail. I'm not sure if I just said it in my head but I think I said out loud, "Okay. This is it." I was positive we were going to hit the guard rail. I didn't think we were going fast enough to get hurt by that but I was afraid we would get stuck and hit by oncoming traffic though they were still a ways behind us.
As we were turning I kept trying to turn the wheel back the other way without over correcting. It seemed like a losing battle. The car was now fully perpendicular to the oncoming traffic and I turned the wheel again and it took one little lurch back the way it needed to go. I did that a couple more times and the car straightened itself out. It was almost as if the car knew the direction it needed to get back to. It was truly miraculous. I just kept saying, "Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay." We inched forward still praying for an exit which we finally came upon about 5 minutes later but I wasn't familiar with the exit - Ashley/? I was pretty sure it was an exit that had no services and I could tell that no one had exited there in a long time - maybe never! I had to make a quick decision but getting off there did not look like a good idea and I doubt I could have navigated it anyway.
So we kept going and luckily in a few minutes the road was getting more wet than snowy as the snow slowly began to turn to rain. When I could finally tell where we were, we were just outside of North Bend! Apparently most of our troubles happened while we were crossing Snoqualmie Pass but because of the odd snow tunnel we were in, I couldn't tell when we were climbing and when we were going downhill. It was so strange! It took us an extra hour to get to Kristy's but we were just so happy to be alive and have our car intact!
Snoqualmie Pass Reopened; Closed Earlier Because of Snow, Accidents
Web Reporter
April 2, 2010
The Department of Transportation says drivers should be prepared for travel in extreme winter weather conditions on I-90. It reopened eastbound I-90 at milepost 47, Denny Creek, at 8:30 p.m. Friday, which it had closed earlier in order to clear out spun vehicles near the summit. The backup of cars Friday evening was about ten miles long. Traction tires are required, and for vehicles over 10,000 GVW, chains are required. Oversized vehicles are probibited. Traction tires are advised for westbound traffic.So after picking Kristy up, we went straight to the place that always makes us feel safe and warm and secure and right at home - the mall! We shopped, we ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, we watched the new Miley Cyrus movie and all was well with the world once again. We had a great weekend even though it was raining and freezing most of the time.
The Concert:
Kylie and I went to the concert on Saturday night and it was awesome! There was an opening group called Naturally 7 which was a group of seven black guys who sang acapella and could make it sound like they had instruments backing them up. They were amazing!
Michael came out about 9:00 and he sounded great. He was personable and funny and we totally enjoyed the show. He is from Vancouver, B.C. so he talked about crossing the border many times as a kid and how his mother would tell them not to say anything and "don't even make eye contact with the border patrol." He said that she would claim they had not purchased anything as she was wearing 3 pair of jeans and 4 sweaters. It was pretty hilarious to those of us who have crossed the border multiple times.
There was also this crazy Asian girl who standing right in front of the stage just jumping up and down and going crazy the whole time. He said, "Are you seriously going to do that the whole time?" as she screamed "I love you Michael!" He said, "You say that now but I bet you a million bucks that sometime in the future you are going to try and kill me." He said he had his whole family there and he pointed them out. They were sitting on the floor about 15 rows back. He said that when he was younger his grandpa used to trade out free plumbing services for any venue that would let his grandson sing there. He said that if we saw his grandpa in the bathroom fixing the toilets to tell him to get back out and watch the show. He was adorable.
We had pretty good seats which was nice. Kylie was in heaven. I might not have been her first choice for a concert buddy but she was mine! I'm really glad we got to do that together. What a great memory!
I was a little worried about getting back because I was determined that I was not driving back in any snow. Of course, the girls had school and I had work but there was no way I was going to knowingly put any of us in danger again. Luckily, even though there was more snow scheduled to come, it was mostly clear and dry with just a sprinkle of rain here and there. We got home just fine - yay! I'm so grateful we were spared. There were lots of other people who weren't. I don't think anyone died, but there were lots of accidents. We were very fortunate!
Here are a few concert clips. They're not great but for true MB fans it's the next best thing to being there! (No, of course I didn't sneak in a recording device, I just burned these memories into my brain and then was somehow able to transfer those memories onto the computer. What can I say? It's a gift!)
Here's a little musical montage...
"Heartache Tonight"/"Haven't Met You Yet"
"Everything"
Michael said he was really influenced by Michael Jackson and he did a little hip thrusting "Billie Jean" style. (Sorry didn't record that one.) He also said he watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off about a billion times and he did a little "Twist and Shout" for us.
"Feeling Good"
"Mrs. Jones" - not my favorite song but any song Michael Buble sings sounds better
"At This Moment"
"Home"
Kristy made us Caramel Apple pork chops for lunch on Sunday which were delicious. Then she fed us a dessert that had ice cream sandwiches on the bottom and on top were layers of peanut butter, marshmallow creme and fudge. That was also delicious. When our tummies were full, we headed home on mostly dry roads. What a treat! The roads I mean!! But the food was good too!!!
