Happy 2008!

I've tried to make it to every ones blog to see how we all survived the New Years celebration.

Good news: It appears we've all survived! :D

My last day of 2007 was a bit harrowing.

Lord V and I headed West to the Beach to join our friends at their beach house and time share condo.

The day was a nippy 34 degrees, but clear. We headed up Hwy 26 towards the hills.

We ooh'd and ahh'd at the snow lined roads (we don't see much snow--if any--down in the valley where we live).

Lord V took pictures with his iPhone and we were enjoying ourselves until traffic suddenly piled up and we crawled to a stand still.

Cars were spinning their wheels and people were shoved to the sides of the roads frantically putting chains on their vehicles.

I and a few rebels in 4 wheel vehicles crawled past them but soon ran into a impassible line of cars.

We sat for close to 45 minutes while people got out of their vehicles and walked ahead to see what the hold up was.

We were craning our heads out the windows trying to see what was up when my truck suddenly started sliding sideways towards a snow bank.

I tried to steer into the slide but it wasn't helping...I had just enough room to inch my truck forward to re grip the road and it saved us from sliding completely into the snow bank.

My heart was pounding!!

We finally were able to inch past what turned out to be a pile of cars that had slid into the snow bank and some spun completely around.

For the next 26 miles we inched our ways forward slipping and sliding. One of the last scenes we passed was a family having just crawled out of their car that had flipped upside down. A father was holding his little boy wrapped in a blanket and walking to the side of the road. Emergency vehicles were just arriving so we moved on past. I hope everyone was OK. What a crappy way for them to end 2007!

We made it to our friends condo and hugged everyone then had our first drink of the evening!

We all gathered (later) at another friends beach house for a wonderful dinner and much laughter.

About an hour before Midnight we headed out on the beach. I convinced one of my girlfriends to frolic in the ocean with me. We made it up to just below our knees and had a blast jumping waves. It was freezing but fun!

We made it back in time to the beach house to warm up by the fire and toast each other with champagne as we watched the ball drop in Times Square on the television.

It was really nice seeing Dick Clark and hear him talk us through the drop of the ball countdown. He slurred from the stroke he had, but he looked pretty dang good. He's a survivor. I admire him :)

New Years day our friends all headed home. Lord V and I stayed in the condo for another day relaxing by the fire, snacking, reading books and playing MiniWarriors Nintendo DS Zelda game (MiniWarrior was home with his Dad and stepmother for New Years).

It was a wonderful, relaxing couple of days. A truly grand way to bring in the start of a new year!