Winter Wonderland! Or, Snow Tired!

Today is the start of our latest family oddysey (Thank you Abe and Lorne Lanning - now I can't spell it right anymore!). The four of us, plus Ape's sis' crew but minus mom-in-law were booked and packed for this trip. How we got out of town with just the two families I don't know ^^

We left home just before 3, and about 4 hours later the car was being pelted by sleety precipitation. We stopped to get gas and I ate some as it fell. Not long after, it got more snowy and was building up beautifully along the interstate. Lots of white hillsides and treetops.

Ever drive on ice? I have, a couple times. This is what the black box would have logged:

* ABS activation event
* Traction control / wheelspin event
* Course deflection / steering angle change event

Thankfully we were heading in a straight line... For the most part I avoided the far left lane because there's a no-semi rule and they were doing a good job de-icing and de-slushing the other lanes. But sometimes I needed to pass much slower traffic... Oops!

In any case, we stopped to eat just outside Macon and by the time we got back on the road things had calmed down. Also, as we got closer to Atlanta traffic built up some which helped clear the roads further. Between Valdosta and Macon the road was eerily empty. Kinda made us wonder if we'd somehow missed a road-closing barricade!

We got in close to 10 and settled in. Ape and her sis ran up the street to get some basics and they encountered quite a bit of ice and slidy road conditions. Thankfully they made it back safely. It was only later that I learned my SIL, who seems to disapprove of my precision driving practicing, was practicing ice driving in the Wal-Mart parking lot!

The hotel has been nice and the complimentary breakfast the following morning was yummy! Then it was off to Stone Mountain for the snow tubing we'd invested 6 hours to reach. The line was long-ish but ultimately we got 5 runs in during our timeslot. More than enough, actually. The climb and the hucking of the tubes up the ramps wore us all down.

From there was a far-too-long hunt for a new place to eat. We actually got immediate seating at one place but the fare wasn't really to our liking and the prices didn't improve our outlook. From there it was an additional two hours until we wound up at Longhorn. So much for finding a neat local place... But, the food was great, as always. And our waiter was top-shelf.

Sunday was the drive home. We tried unsuccessfully to get one more night but the place was sold out and the rate they quoted for a cancellation was nearly double what we paid... So we left. On the way home, we ate at "The Smoking Pig", South Georgia's award-winning BBQ joint. At least, that's what the placemats proclaimed.

It really was quite good - and I'm not a huge BBQ fan. We got home to a cold house and unpacked. I love being away, and I'm not terribly fond of my house, but if I have to leave my vacation spot, I want to be back home. I hate the in-between.