By the time we reached Clayton, New Mexico there were signs that things were going to start getting exciting. We knew that there was big snow forcasted for Colorado, but you can't listen to Colorado weathermen--they never have a clue! I got online the night before we left and found a big red dot next to big red words reading, "BLIZZARD WARNING." But what do they know?! Naturally, I was hoping they were right, but not naive enough to get my hopes up. As you've probably guessed by now, they were actually RIGHT this time!!! The snow started falling in that big 100 mile stretch of no-man's-land between Clayton and Raton. The closer we got to Raton, the heavier it got and the happier I got! The only tricky part was that Tammy's car is a stick shift--something I haven't driven in YEARS and never had driven enough to really master. So I'm not very good with a stick, but Tammy's not at all comfortable driving in the snow! Bad combination, but we opted to go with my nominal driving skills rather than Tammy's fear of snowy roads. All in all, I think we did rather well! The roads weren't just snowy, they were deep. In fact, I'm sure it's the deepest snow I've ever driven in. It was getting pretty bad, but being the wise (debatable) and adventurous (accurate) duo that we are, we were going to tackle it. Until, that is, we took the turn off in Raton and headed north. We had barely just begun when a cop stopped us to inform us that the pass had been closed and we would have to turn around. I waited until we were out of the cop's sight before I started screaming the obvious: "Tammy!!!! We're stranded in a blizzard!!! Together!!!!! This is soooooooo cool!!!"

We turned around and took the first exit with a motel. We were not the first ones there. We stood in line with several other stranded people and finally checked in. We then hauled all kinds of stuff into the motel -- in the middle of the snowing and blowing blizzard. You wouldn't believe how much STUFF we had. And, of course, we had to bring all of the food in: the chips, the cookies, the banana bread, poppyseed bread, coke, Tammy's rice cakes (weird-o) and who knows what else. By that time the "blizzard" had died down a bit and turned into a nice, normal snow storm.

So, we bundled up and walked to Dairy Queen, of course. While we were there the electricity kept coming and going. I was worried they wouldn't be able to cook anything and was really hoping they at least had some leftover fries! They were able to complete our order just in time and we headed back to the motel.

We got there just a few minutes before the electricity went out for good. Have you ever tried to eat chili cheese fries in the dark?! Sloppy business, I can tell you. I, of course, had a candle in my bag (I keep it with me always, in case we end up in a funny smelling motel room), so we did have that much light. Afterwards we opened our door to find several other strandee's in the hallway where the motel's emergency lights were located. So what were we to do?! We joined them, of course! There was a family from Sweden with small children a few doors down that was having a little picnic of sorts on the floor. Past them was a girl reading a book. Next door to us were some people from L.A. on their way to Colorado and they'd never seen anything like this before! A nice old man we'd conversed with while waiting to get our room came by, so we chatted briefly and sent him off with some poppyseed bread and cookies. We sat in our doorway, the emergency lights on one side of us and our candle on the other, and played our Eternal Rummy game until the lights came back on an hour or so later.

It was the greatest night ever! We couldn't have planned it any better if we had tried. I just kept thinking, "WOW! Does God really love us this much?!" I mean, we know that He always provides for our needs and takes care of us--and we were thankful for the protection in the midst of a potentially dangerous blizzard. But to give us such terrific circumstances and work it all out just right -- a party we've always dreamed of having, but figured it could never really work out. I, Rebekah Horne: Lover of Snow, actually got stranded!!! In a blizzard!!! With Tammy!!! And lots of great food and our Eternal Rummy game to boot! Could God really love us that much?!?!? And to top it all off, once the electricity came back on we thought we'd give the Hallmark channel a try--just in case. Lo and behold, there was the very chick-flick that I had been telling Tammy about earlier while we were driving--one they had at the Christian bookstore that I've been thinking about buying. Talk about the perfect day!!! It was almost overwhelming. Sooooooooo fun!!!

Raton pass was open by the next morning and we had an uneventful and extremely beautiful drive the rest of the way. *deep, contented sigh* The whole thing almost seems like a dream, now that I think back on it. IT WAS SO FUN!!!

There's lots to tell about the Retreat and some great pictures, too--however most of the really great ones aren't fit to post due to the possibility of their being viewed by some non-females out there. (Most of the hilarity at Retreat takes place once we're in our pajama's, you know.) Oh well. I've got to get back to my family. There's a little boy holding a Veggie Tales cup up to me saying, "Mama, vould zoo get me some zuice, pease???" That's my cue.

Later!
~Bec~