I was originally supposed to have rehearsal on Saturday of our Anniversary weekend, but it was changed at the last minute, so we were able to get away for a little 11th Anniversary Trip to Stevens Pass.
We woke up early and made it to Stevens early enough to park in the top lot. Since we were there, we napped in the car for a couple hours and hit the slopes around 10am. So much pow!
Both times we returned to the car (lunch and once we were done for the day), Betsey was covered in snow. It just kept falling! We snagged fresh pockets of pow all day long and had such a blast.
Caving friends from Idaho were also in the area for the weekend and invited us to stay with them at an AirBnb in Leavenworth. It was very appropriately called the C+A+V+E. We had a really lovely evening talking with friends and soaking in the hot tub.
The next morning as we were all leaving, we wished Stephen, Cody, and Brittany a safe, long drive home. Usually when we’re together they have the short drive and us the long one, but this time they had a 7+ hour drive home to Boise while we were only two hours from home.
We regretted being smug about 30 miles later when the traffic was stopped on Stevens Pass. After sitting stopped for a couple minutes, we decided to try to get to the parking lot at the pass. We successfully made it and headed into the lodge to pass the time. We got chili at one of the bars and watched as the pass opened and closed several different times. We moved to a different bar that had football on and debated our options. Eventually the Seahawks game started and we decided to wait it out.
Around the same time the disappointing game ended, the highway opened back up (“for real” this time). We got back to the car and got in line to head down the hill.
We didn’t make it very far. We would move forward for a couple miles, then stop. There was traffic coming toward us, but we realized it was cars in front of us turning around. When we were about 3 miles from Skykomish, State Troopers officially started turning people around, but by that point Blewett Pass and Snoqualmie Pass (the other route home) were also closed. We decided to keep inching forward towards home instead of turning around.
We spent part of the night parked along the highway in a stretch where there weren’t any trees that could fall on us (we passed a car that was pretty smashed from a tree limb that fell). Around 3am we decided to start traveling toward Skykomish again. We waited in the Forest Service parking lot for about an hour while they cleared trees off the railroad (both entrances to Skykomish were blocked by a train).
We eventually made it to Skykomish and joined the approximately 300 other people also stranded there on the way home.
In the morning we ordered (double!) breakfast at the hotel restaurant, which was very thankfully open and able to make food with their generator (Skykomish was without power for nearly two weeks around this storm). We stocked up on the essentials for the rest of the trip home and spent some time exploring the airport area while waiting to leave.
They were caravaning cars west out of Skykomish. We snagged second in line for this one! There were so many trees down on the highway, it’s no surprise they closed it. I think it was several days before it was opened for travel again.
I finally believed we’d actually make it home when we reached the beginning of the traffic heading east! I think we finally made it home 28 hours after leaving Leavenworth. (And the joke was definitely on us – Stephen, Cody, and Britt made it home almost 24 hours before we did!) At least we’re not likely to forget what we did for this anniversary for a long time.
Today’s adventure took place on land stolen from the sdukʷalbixʷ (Snoqualmie), Tulalip, np̓əšqʷáw̓səxʷ (Wenatchi), and Yakama.