An Adventure Many Winters Ago

I have lived in the US between 1990 and 1993 due to a Turkish-American joint project. The company provided  apartments for me and my colleagues during that time. We ran into some end-of-run issues with our Project and I was sent back to the US early Fall in 1995. Since we did not know how long I was gonna be there then, they put me up at a well known chain hotel in Tarrytown, NY instead of an apartment.

Living at a hotel for a prolonged time is boring but, the hotel was a very good one with a very friendly staff and had a pool with glass windows all around the pool area and the Gym. While I stayed there, I also visited my BFF and my other good friend over the weekends and I was having a great time since, I love the Holiday season in the US.

My BFF, her husband and I were going skiing on some weekends. We wanted to go to Killington, VT on the first weekend of January but, they had to cancel due to something that came up. I decided to go alone because, I wasn't sure when I was going to return back home and wanted to make the best of the skiing season. My BFF thought that was a bad idea to go alone but, I did not change my plans.

Internet was not a thing back then so, I looked up a Ski Guide I got from the Princeton Ski Shop. I used to love that store. I remember being heartbroken when they closed. I found a Ski Lodge and booked it for Staurday night.

I jumped in my car around 5 a.m. in the morning on Saturday. There was no snow in NY so, I was hoping that there would be lots of snow on the mountain. The road conditions were perfect and I reached the Ski Lodge around 10 a.m. and checked it out to see, if it was a safe and nice place. Upon deciding that it was a decent place, I checked in, changed into ski clothing and hit the slopes. I was happy to see that it was snowing. I enrolled in a class in the afternoon so that, I would be skiing with a group of people and would be hitting the higher and longer slopes.

Snow conditions were great, lots of packed powder and the instructor turned out to be an ex USAF officer who served at Incirlik Base in Turkey. He kept riding the chair lifts with me and we chatted away. He was a real nice guy. After the lifts were closed, I went back to the lodge, had a shower and decided to check out some stores (yeah I still have the knick knacks) in Killington and dine at a restaurant called The Grist Mill back then. 

My plan was to ski all morning on Sunday and hit the road after lunch. After all, it would be a 4-5 hour drive, right?

I woke up early on Sunday, had a great breakfast at the Lodge, checked out and hit the slopes. It was snowing so much that upper lifts had to be closed around 11 a.m. Getting wet and cold, I went inside to get a cup of something hot. The TV was on and I saw that, at least 3 feet of snow was expected in upstate NY area and that it had already been snowing for hours. On seeing this news, I immediately changed my clothes and hit the road. 30 minutes into my drive, I knew that it was a big big mistake but, 29 year old me decided to keep on driving. 

I have never seen so much snow in my life after that. It took me 11 hours to get back to the hotel and I swear I did not see the asphalt during my trip.  All radio stations were urging people to seek refuge at schools and churches and there were only a handful of cars on the road. A few times, I considered taking and exit and finding a school or church but, I could not risk it thinking that sticking with the Taconic State Parkway was my safest bet. There used to be a gas station right on Taconic that you could pull into from either side of the road. I went in and bought a cup of coffee and a muffin and inquired about the road conditions. The guy at the cash register thought I was nuts to be driving all the way from Vermont. He gave me a free chocolate bar. Lol!

I finally made it to the intersection of Route 119 going towards the hotel and saw that there was a heap of snow blocking the exit due to the gigantic snow ploughs trying to clear 119. I got out of the car and checked out the snow heap. The alternate route would take me another half hour and I was shaking after driving for so long. I looked at the car and then at the heap and decided that I could manage to get over or go through it. I backed up a bit and then, put the pedal to the metal and very luckily managed to get on Route 119 and went to the hotel. It would have been real fun, if I had gotten stuck there. 

I only took my wallet with me going to the hotel room because I had zero strength to gather my bags and skiis. I found several messages from both of my friends urging me to call them as soon as I got to the hotel, no matter what the time was. No cell phones back then. So, I called them to say I made it back safely and got lovingly yelled at. Lol!

We got snowed in for two days. That blizzard made history and if you want to check it out, here is Blizzard of 96 on Wikipedia.

Today, I would never do that. I was a lot more daring (read stupid) when I was young. I used to go down to NYC at night all by myself, stroll around in the Village, have dinner, go to a bar with live music and had no fear. I never realized how risky that was or rather, I did not care. I guess when one is young, she/he thinks they are invincible. With that said, I still take vacations and drive long distances all by myself both in and out of the country and most of my friends don't do that alone. 

Looking back, since it ended well, I am glad, I had that adventure.