All the way to Pennsylvania, we travelled through bright, sunny places, and watched the amount of snow on the ground diminish as we proceeded south. We arrived safe and sound, and had a glorious two days with the family before travelling home again on Thursday (was that only yesterday?!?). We stopped in Syracuse for supper at about 5:30, giving into pleas for Mickey D's so the children could play in the playplace. I thought this would tire the little ones out enough so that they would succumb to slumber for the rest of the trip.

At about 6:00 we left McDonald's, filled up on gas (a measly $1.07/gal.), and got back on the freeway. Within a half hour we were in a blinding, snowy fog, a belated gift to New York from their neighbour, Lake Ontario. We crawled along at 15 mph, not daring to stop since the weather man kept telling us this was only the beginning. We finally made it past Watertown, and the weather began to clear. There was about a foot of fresh snow on the ground, and the snow plows were few and far between. So we continued at 35 mph until we crossed the Thousand Islands Bridge into Canada. Once we got on Hwy 401 in Ontario, the roads were quite clear and we were able to get back up to speed for the rest of the trip home--almost.

The Thousand Islands area had also been hit hard, but the Canadian side had more snowplows out on the freeway. Once we got off the exit, however, we found the main roads were not so clear. We were on the last road before our road when it began snowing again. We made it home safely, but it is still snowing. "...walking in a winter wonderland...", my children have shoveled the driveway and fed the animals, but otherwise we have stayed inside.

I did manage to get the flu while at my mom's; my sister and brother-in-law and 2 nephews also shared it. I am not exactly over it yet, but somehow we must carry on with laundry, meals, tonight's rehearsal for Sunday night's program, preparation for my Sunday school class, housecleaning, etc. We hope to have friends over for New Year's, and then get back to some sort of normality.

We had a good Christmas; I think I'll start a separate thread to tell about it.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), December 28, 2001

Answers

Welcome back thou weary traveller. I do hope you enjoyed your trips abroad. WE missed you greatly. Christmas here was also a joyous time around the tree and family . I slept over at two friends already and plan to go see katie. I got the next Joshua Harris book and read it all. I wrote a rather lengthy letter to him , telling him MY STORY SO FAR. I'd better not see any excerpt from in , in any upcoming books, unless it happens within a five year radius. no surprises please! I hope you are feeling better tonight. Enjoy the snow while you can. You have miles of it to play in. Our back yard will have to do for me. =)

-- jillian (daffodil_skunk83@hotmail.com), December 28, 2001.

Glad you made it safely, the weather can be tricky! It did start to snow here Christmas Eve and hasn't stopped much since. Only a few inches on the ground, but it is supposed to keep going until Tuesday, so far. Look forward to hearing about your trip. Hope you are feeling better soon.

-- Melissa (me@home.net), December 28, 2001.

Welcome home Cathy,

You're right about the snowfall. We live in western New York between Buffalo and Rochester and it hasn't stopped snowing since Christmas day. We're lucky that we only had to travel about an hour to visit relatives this year. Take some extra vitamin C.

Charleen

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhill@eznet.net), December 28, 2001.