We returned home to a "Winter Wonderland." Unfortunately, this land is not very wonderful to me anymore. As predicted, here I am complaining. To be fair, I had car problems today. I said I wouldn't complain unless I had car problems.

The day started off nice. The snow plows must have come through early morning and cleared space so it was easy for me to get down the road and onto the main highway that goes from our place to campus. Driving there, though it was slow, wasn't scary in the slightest. For those of you who don't know me, I don't do well driving in weather. When I say weather I mean anything that isn't sunshine or simply clouds. Rain, snow, sleet, and so forth are not my friends.

So, I got to school and did my thing. Went to pilates, picked up my rental books, scouted our prices of the books I needed to buy, etc. I got to the car and headed to the grocery store, which also went fine. No skidding on the hill up to it or anything. All was going well.

And then I got to our driveway.

First, let's back up a bit and look at some pictures I took this morning before heading to class.



Now, these pictures do not show how much snow there was when I returned. Keep that in mind.

After driving to the grocery store, I headed home, which is not a far route. As I began up the road that leads to our driveway, I was already struggling. (Or, rather, our Jetta was.) Not a problem. I put her into second-gear. I make it around the turn to our driveway, which I can already see is LOADED with snow. I make it a ways... and then the wheels start spinning.

Oh, joy.

After thirty minutes of maneuvering the Jetta around, hitting some bushes, and nearly getting stuck in two ditches, I managed to get the car turned around.

I headed back down the road.

I was trying to figure out where to go. Returning to the grocery store and parking the car was too far. Leaving it on the side was too dangerous. What to do?

There are vacation rentals across the street from us. The parking lot was clear. The hill was plowed that lead up to it. I went for it.

I made it.

I parked the car after noticing the sign that said All Unauthorized Vehicles Will be Towed. I went in the "Guest Services" door, hoping for some help. I noticed the woman at the front desk, and she noticed me.

"Are you OK, sweetie?"

"No." I pouted.

"How can I help you?"

"I live across the street and got stuck and can't get my car all the way up my driveway."

"One moment."

She gave me a Guest Parking Pass. I thanked her again and again. "It happens all the time," she said.

Well, if it happens all the time then WHY doesn't the resort I live on plow the roads? HMMMM? I obviously didn't ask the nice lady that was helping me that question. That would have been ungrateful.

So, next was to get to our condo.

I unloaded the car. I threw my book-packed bag on my back, grabbed three grocery bags in one hand, and made sure I had the house key secure in my other. I made it across the road in one piece, and slowly but surely made baby-steps up the road leading to our driveway. As I was going, a car drove by. A few seconds later, the same care re-appeared coming up the hill. A little old man rolled down his window. "Do you need a ride up the hill?"

I thanked him but said, no, I lived right there (because at this point I was close enough to point to our condo).

"OK, I just didn't want to come back two hours later and see you still goin' up this hill."

I thanked him once again.

Lesson learned: Don't drive up a hill that is packed with snow when you don't have four-wheel-drive or snow-chains.

Second lesson learned: There are still considerate people in the world.