ski vacation

Went skiing in Davis, West Virginia this past weekend, my first East-coast skiing experience. Not so bad, although what I'm told is the largest ski area anywhere close to DC is about 2/3 the size of the smallish hill I grew up skiing on.

The weather certainly wasn't great, with fog obscuring the mountain, although it was better than I expected. The night before, it had been 45 and raining. When we actually went up Saturday, it was below freezing and there were a few flakes coming down. The runs were generally wide and smooth, without moguls, although a few had a decent steepness. Early on, they were also generally complete sheets of ice after the previous day's rains. The conditions got a bit better as the day went on for whatever reason - perhaps the ice was broken up by a day's worth of skiiers.

I'm headed back in a couple weeks for another weekend. I'll see what the conditions are like then.

ice

There are many reasons I like living in the District instead of the Maryland or Virginia suburbs. This is just one more.

From the story:

Corinne Geller of the Virginia State Police said Tuesday night that there were sheets of ice on highway ramps, and they'd have to wait until salt trucks de-ice them before vehicles could pass. They said allowing the vehicles to travel on the ramps would endanger the lives of motorists.

That meant that many Virginia drivers were stuck along the roadway for about nine hours.

News4 reported that many drivers were stuck in the Springfield Mixing Bowl from about 3 p.m. on Tuesday until about midnight.
(emphasis mine)

I heard on the radio one Virginia school bus with students was stuck in traffic until about 11:30 p.m.

I've had some frustrating traffic experiences out here. It took nearly two and a half hours to drive the 35 miles to BWI airport one afternoon, about twice as long as I'd expected. I thought that was bad enough. I can't imagine being parked on an interstate for nine hours, with my blood sugar crashing because of a missed dinner and knowing I'd have to return the other direction in seven hours or so to make work the next day.

(I drove into town for our pub quiz last night. It took me about 15 minutes to get home. And yes, my alcohol consumption was light enough for me to safely drive.)