Our Weird Weekend

On the off chance you read only 1 sentence and then move on to your next internet adventure, I just have to start with this picture.  I call it The Leaning Referee.  It cracks me up. 

The last thing Julie and I were thinking as we left Redding, Ca. on our way to Salem to visit Joel, Carissa and Ryan - was that we would get stuck in a blizzard.  Well, as the intensity of the rain increased and the temperature dove - that's exactly what we were faced with midday Friday.

The snow was driving down and it was freezing so fast we ended up with big chunks of ice on our hood.

We think we got on the road just before they implemented a chain requirement.  We had no chains.  No warm clothes to deal with the cold in case we ended up stalled or in a ditch.  And, we had gone only 10 miles in over an hour.  With 110 miles more of mountains - we eventually had to rethink whether we could make it to Salem and back to California before Sunday night.

We decided against it after fishtailing a few times.  It was time to turn around and head home.  We called Joel and profusely apologized.. then sadly headed back towards sea level and out of the snow.

Michigan's club hockey team was playing the ACHA 2001 Division II Nationals in San Jose last week.  So, as we were driving home we realized we could possibly make it to the semi-final game between Michigan and Michigan State.  Out of the blizzard and into the freezer.  I mean rink.  Eric and his brother Kyle play for Michigan - so Julie was a true trooper and rooted for the Maize and Blue!  This is Kyle.

Here's a moment of quiet contemplation for the Michigan goalie.  I hope he enjoyed it because Michigan State played an excellent game and put constant pressure on our goal.

But Michigan put pressure on Michigan State's goalie as well.

However, in the end MSU prevailed.  Sigh.  This weekend just wasn't working out for us ;)

One of the saddest moments was meeting up with Eric after the game and seeing the pain and disappointment in his eyes from the outcome.  In some ways it's great to have those emotions.  Many people will never achieve the great results Michigan did and ever get in a position to lose such an important game.  But it was hard to see and there really wasn't much to be said that could erase the feelings.  We could just express our joy in being able to see him and his brother play in person.  It was a real treat and we won't soon forget their play.  They really did do great.

Then, it was time to go back home.  Here's what our Saturday looked like.  We lit a fire and watched March Madness as we moped about missing Joel and all of TH2.  A weird weekend.