Back in Utah

The ride into CA was so terrifing, dangerous and deadly, that when we gave up and headed back to NV, we got sucked into a snow bank and had to wait for a tow truck to pull us out. Luckily a sheriff drove by and called for help. We had no phone signal and the few drivers we saw drove on by. The snow plow continued to drive by though he radioed us in each time. We were so scared of the storm, we stopped in Carson City for the night, not confident enough to drive all the way back into Reno. A drive that should have taken 2 -3 hours from Reno took 6 hours for us to get to Kirkwood and back to Carson. The snow plows passed us probably 20 times in the 3 hours we were on that dreadful road.

I didn't fully understand the difference between chains and roads closed. Never again will we drive in such weather, conditions. Never ever again.

The next day all the roads were closed and those few drivers who got through spent as much as 10 hours to get to Sacramento.

It was nice to spend the 2 extra days with Mom & Dad though. Alex and Andy especially enjoyed spending extra time at Circus Circus. But we were very sad to not be able to see everyone else we'd made plans with.

One day we went to the mall where they have a kids wheel. Alex spun for his brothers and won a $10 gift card! He and Andy ended up with some toys from the Disney Store, a set of Power Ranger guns that match his costume. They spent the rest of the trip shooting each other.

We enjoyed a yummy burgers at Mel's Diner with Erin and Geoff, a birthday dinner with my parents at the Olive Garden and a delicious buffet at the El Dorado.

All in all it was a fairly nice vaca -- if you take out all the trauma on the road and the battery we needed jumped to head home. One of those weeks, where we kept telling each other what else can go wrong.