Snowy Weekend

This past weekend was Billy’s bachelor party in Snowshoe, WV. Little did we know the snow storm of the decade would hit, but I am getting ahead of myself.

I left work before lunch on Thursday, picked up my board from the rental place, and headed out of Raleigh on I-40. The drive up there was not all that bad. Traffic was light and I was able to make good time. It only took me 3 hours to get to the WV boarder, then 3 more hours to get to Snowshoe. We stayed in Mountain Lodge, which had a very strict security guard, lol. But yeah, I arrived a little before 6 and four other guys were already there so we hung out, ate dinner, and waited for the other two to arrive. Good times were had by all, catching up, enjoying beverages, and telling stories. I am not sure what time we went to bed, but we finally did. It was late.

I am not sure how, but Scott got up at 8 and started making breakfast, so we were out on the slopes by nine. They skied and boarded, I attempted to since this was only my second time. Before this weekend I had only been on a board two days, now I have four days under my belt. I pretty much forgot what it was like so I had to relearn how to steer and keep my balance and which way to lean. It was an interesting day (especially my accident in the middle of the slope) but still a good time. The snow was compact so conditions were not that great. It had been over a week since they had real snow.

We all got back and showered, had lasagna, watched a little football, then went to the village to check things out. The first place we went in didn’t have much going on, so we had a drink and watched more of the FCS Championship game (that App St should have been in!). The next place we went was more lively and things were going well, until the bartender decided to not serve us. We blamed Scott because earlier in the day he made a new friend, Chris, so Chris had been hanging out with us most of the evening. Chris is a loud person in general, but when alcohol is added, he goes up to another level.

So, the place was busy, didn’t have a big bar area, and here were 8 of us guys standing around, chatting it up, having a good time. I am not sure what time this was, probably 10:30, but I kinda yawned and was caught by cute girl (Rachel or Ashley, can’t remember, and probably not a girl because I think she was older than I) across the bar. We started to talk by mouthing and gesturing across the bar and non-loud Chris was walking by and noticed our communicating, so he started talking to her, explaining what we were doing there (bachelor party) so she was cool and wanted to buy us all a round of drinks. I am still on my side of the bar, when she gets the lady bartender, says a few things to her, points our way, but then cute girl gets a surprised look on her face and bartender lady walks away. I walk over to see what’s up and lady bartender doesn’t like us apparently because cute girl tells me about how the bartender wouldn’t let her buy all of us a round of drinks. I stay and chat with her and her friend, introductions are made, general talk is had, Scott joins me, then our group comes by saying how they are leaving because they can’t get served. They are leaving in a non quiet way, but Scott and I are having a fun time and it would be rude to rush out in the middle of conversation with cute girl, her friend, and others around the area, right?

But little did we know that loud Chris was still in the bar, he didn’t leave with the others, so Scott and I are left with him. At this point in the night, we had grown to not like loud Chris so much. He was fine up in our place, but out in public, it was a little too much. We were receiving the “good luck” and “I am sorry you have to take care of him” looks from people at both bars. Scott and I were talking to him and he finally got the hint that maybe it was time for him to go back to his room.

Yay! We finally got rid of loud Chris, but now Scott and I had no clue where the guys had gone. Now keep in mind, it had started snowing that afternoon and now it was a blizzard outside. We already had at least a foot of snow and the wind was howling at a calm 40 mph. We figured they had gone back to the room to finish the night, so we almost freeze to death, get buried in snow, and lose our eye site making our way back to the place. Of course they were not there so we grab our ski goggles (thank you college degree!) and head back out to the frozen tundra.

We found them back at the Junction, the first place we went to, so we filled them in on cute girl and how we finally got rid of loud, drunk Chris. We were able to have a good time, get served drinks, watch football, and were serenaded by live music. Eric Fucking Boggs was in the house! We loved him and he loved us. We had a great time hanging out, singing with Eric, and watching the last little bit of the game. As the night grew on, Eric was getting more worried because the windows were getting covered with more and more snow. It was hard enough walking so driving was on a whole other level.

Despite our best efforts to keep Eric playing music, he started to pack up, contacted the resort to see if they could help him get his car close and things to his car. No one ended up coming to help, so Nick and Barry helped him take his things outside. Well, forty minutes passed, and Nick, Barry, and Eric (and his girl) had not been seen or heard from. So, we man up and decide it is finally time to brave the outside. Man it hurt. I do not remember Boone ever being that bad. The wind and snow ripping and your body, the snow on the ground grabbing your feet, and hidden objects were everywhere. We finally made it back, out of breath and struggling to breath and freezing because it was so cold and harsh out (even with jackets, goggles, gloves, and boots).

We get up to the room and yay! Eric was back! In the bar, we offered that he could stay with us for the night because we really did not think he was going to be able to go anywhere. We were right. He said his car was covered in snow. Two drifts were flanking the sides and the snow had piled up on top. Even if he could get in, he wouldn’t have been able to go anywhere. So the seven of us, Eric, his equipment, and his girl were having a good time in our living room. Sadly, around 1, Eric and his girl leave to see about getting their own room and making arrangements for the next day. Ten minutes later, we were all asleep, lol.

We get up the next morning, a little later, but still early (8:30), have a good breakfast and force our sore, tired selves back out on the slopes for our last day. Conditions were great. It was still snowing like crazy, not windy like the night before, and there was plenty of fresh powder. It sure made falling a lot easier, but I got stuck in snow up to my knees a few times. We all got back to the room around the same time for lunch and Eric came back!!! I’m sure he was glad that we were there and not on the slopes and that all his things were still there and not torn up. He was very grateful for us looking after his things, our good spirits, and welcoming hospitality. He said he was going to try to get down the mountain, so he took his things and we all said goodbye. We all had lunch, then headed back out.

I went back to the room around 3 but the others were all still out and I just happened to run into loud (working on getting drunk) Chris. He came up to our room looking for beer, lol. Seeing that I did not have a key to get in, he was nice and invited me to his room to watch the rest of the UNC Texas game. His sister was there, so we all chatted and watched the game. I met his mom too, she fixed cheese dip (so gooood). After the game, I went up a floor to the room and everyone was back and wondered where I had disappeared to. We watched some football, basketball, ate pizza, and cried about how sore and tired we were. Being our last night, we cleaned up some and took stock of things. We realized we had a lot of beer and liquor left so of course we thought we had to get rid of it all since it was impossible to take back with us (sarcasm).

We started working on it and things were ok until we decided to play drinking games. Circle of death is bad enough, but we then played a hybrid of high/low and f*** the dealer. I don’t like that game…. We did a good job on the Jack, Jim, Bacardi, and case and a half of beer we had left. We were all in pretty bad shape Sunday morning. Plus, it did not help that our place was freezing cold because we had turned the heat down and it was 8 outside. Reluctantly, we a rose, started packing and cleaning up. We decided the night before that we would have to wait and see how things were outside before we made any decisions. We could get another room like ours Sunday night, but it was $480 a night. None of us really wanted to stay more, but if we couldn’t go anywhere, we couldn’t go anywhere.

We found out that most of the interstates had opened back up and crews had been working through the night to clear as much as possible. Once packed, we all go outside to look at our vehicles. Billy and I had our FWD cars and the others were split between two SUVs. There was a ton of snow out there and we figured the hardest part would be getting out of the parking lot (thankfully we were right). There were two nice guys walking around the lot helping people dig out. We finally dug our vehicles out and got them out of their parking spots to the middle of the isle where a lane had been dug. We decided to go for it because it was still snowing and it was going to keep snowing through the week so staying one more night might have ended up being a lot longer.

We formed a line of vehicles, made it out of the parking lot and started heading down the mountain on the snow covered roads. We finally get off the mountain the resort is on, meet at the first gas station for gas, provisions, and a pee break. After three hours on the back country mountain roads, we finally make it to the interstate, a trip that took me less than an hour on the way up. Yes, the roads were covered in snow and we took things nice and easy. We stopped at a gas station before the interstate to say good byes and get more things. Billy headed to New Jersey and the rest of us headed for North Carolina.

The first interstate was not in too bad of shape. Some sections had both lanes opened, but most of the drive was in one lane with snow still all around. I saw a ton of cars, trucks, and tractor trailers on the sides of the roads where they got stuck Friday night and Saturday. Once I got on the WV Turnpike, things were looking much better. All lanes were cleared and people were moving nicely. After a stop or two and a few traffic slow downs, I finally made it to Raleigh around 6pm. I forgot what 8 hours in a car feels like and I hope its another long time before I do. I turned my board and boots back in, got to the house, threw my things in the floor and rested the remainder of the evening. Billy finally made it to New Jersey at 9:30. He had spent a long time creeping in WV because so many people were on the interstate’s one open lane.

It was quite a good adventure.