Snowpocalypse '09

The weather lived up to the forecasts. Snowpocalypse '09 was pretty intense. We went out on Friday night with a friend for dinner and by the time we left the restaurant, the snow had started. As we were running for the metro to get home, my snow covered shoes lacked the traction needed and I slid baseball style to the door of the metro car, jumping up in time to make it on before the doors closed.

On Saturday, we stayed inside and watched the snow come down all day. I think I might have seen heavier snow for short periods while skiing, but the snow just kept falling at the same rate all day. On Saturday night, cabin fever had set in and we wanted to get out and see how everything looked. One advantage to living in Chinatown was that there was a movie theater three blocks away that stayed open until 10 p.m. despite the storm. We saw Up in the Air, which was really good.

Sunday was much better. The sun was out and I walked to the grocery store. It hasn't gotten above freezing, so the snow really isn't melting. Since a lot of areas don't have their roads cleared yet, the entire federal government was shut down on Monday. Everyone was excited about the holiday...except me. I have my final language test on Tuesday morning and it's always tough to speak after a weekend, especially a long one. Wish me luck! I may need it.

Enjoy a few of our Snowpocalypse '09 pictures.

Hill and her friend, Elise, as the snow begins

From our balcony

Venturing out at night

Happy we have underground parking

Disneyworld

Last week we took a trip to Disneyworld with John's family. His niece, Kathryn, is almost 6, so we knew it would be a very fun trip. John's brother, his sister-in-law and his parents made the trip from Texas, and we flew down from DC.

Our first park? Hollywood Studios. (I remember going to Universal Studios when I was younger, and I guess this is Disney's version.)

Here we are just after riding the "Tower of Terror" which repeatedly drops the elevator you are riding in. I liked it.

With flowers in our hair

Photo-op with castle in the background at the Magic Kingdom

I don't know who this character is but he cracked me up

John's brother, Patrick, his wife, Jeannette, and Kathryn

We ate at a French restaurant at Epcot and they brought out the "chef" to greet us

A jalapeno margarita? Yum!

At Disney's Animal Kingdom

We walked into one of the nice hotels, and who is there singing a Christmas song and filming a video? Celine Dion!

I have to say that I felt like the rides at Magic Kingdom were a little outdated. I mean, we're talking the same exact rides as in 1987! However, I'm sure for little kids they don't feel outdated at all. And let's face it, Disneyworld isn't for the adults, right? (Although some of the adults you see there could really convince you otherwise!)

Some of the other parks had some great new rides, including a pitch-black indoor roller coaster set to Aerosmith music. I think that was our favorite ride. The roller coaster accelerates from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 2.8 seconds (making this the second-fastest ride at the Walt Disney World Resort, behind only Test Track) and the riders experience 4.5g (44 m/s²) as they enter the first inversion, more than an astronaut does on a space shuttle launch.

Funny story about the Test Track ride: As we climbed into our cars to race around a track built onto the outside of a building at 65 miles per hour, we noticed a woman who had just gotten off the ride, and her head was bleeding a little. As soon as our ride was over they closed down the attraction due to "technical difficulties". Scary!