For our trip we spent Saturday night in Omaha with a friend from college, which was a good time (and late night!) as always. We always go out to places that aren't in Sioux Falls, and he never leads us astray in his restaurant or wine selections. Or when he cooks. He made a killer breakfast for us last time we were down there. But I digress. Sunday afternoon we drove to Des Moines where we had a hotel suite reserved, complete with wine and chocolates. We also had plans to do a fancy dinner, but neither of us were feeling that up to it. So instead, we decided to class up the local TGI Fridays--I was set on wearing a dress regardless of where we went!
After dinner we decided just to relax at the hotel (and sadly, not drink our wine. Apparently it's not a good combination with cold medication)--and learned an important lesson. Always make sure the hotel has a spa before booking a room there for a romantic weekend. Or at least get a jacuzzi suite. Epic fail. We settled for curling up at watching some TV. And Darrell must have really been feeling out of it because he let me watch TWO! episodes of "My Fair Wedding" on WE. It was awesome (for me). We then learned another important lesson when we went to bed--always travel with your own pillows. Neither of us slept well (stupid down pillows that feel like they are closing in around your face), and we both felt crappy in the morning because of it. So we grabbed a quick breakfast and decided to head home earlier than planned so we could get a good nap in before Darrell's meeting in Sioux Falls Monday night. One thing we weren't anticipating? Our garage door being frozen shut when we got home. Sounds totally awesome, right?
Allow me to explain. Last week we had WONDERFULLY warm weather (highs in the fourties!), which finally melted the snow and slush and ice and crap that has been coating our roads since November. Well, it turns out Mother Nature decided that our "spring" thaw had happened too soon, and struck with a vengence over the weekend. Thankfully, because we had travelled south (at least as "south" as Des Moines and Omaha can be), all we experienced over the weekend was a little bit of rain. Sioux Falls, apparently, was significantly worse--freezing rain (inches of it!) followed by snow. (And that isn't even the worst of this storm! Poor Minneapolis got nearly a foot and a half of snow--they're on track for the snowiest year ever!) The roads were fine for us driving home--until we got off the interstate. It's only five miles from the interstate to our house, and four of those miles we were driving on solid ice. Not enjoyable. And then when we got home, our garage door was frozen shut. Completely. Our front door was nearly frozen shut as well because it also faces north (which is the direction the wind was blowing out of during the freezing rain).
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| Our frozen-over front door |
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| Looking out one of our windows on the north side of the house |
It didn't take too much work to chip away at the ice that had frozen our garage door shut, but once we got it open we realized a much more significant problem.
That, my friends, is a tennis ball showing you just how much solid ice we have on our driveway. So solid, in fact, that Darrell was able to take out the snowblower and clear the snow that drifted on top of it without any issue. We (briefly!) considered trying to chip it all away, but decided to save our backs and arms the pain. So instead, we now have a serious speed bump when we try to get in and out of our garage. And it looks like it'll be a week before the temperatures warm up enough to start clearing it away. So if you have any suggestions I'd be glad to hear them. In the meantime I'm going to curse the day Darrell and I decided to buy a house in South Dakota.
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