Winter Misery, Winter Photo Challenge
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
Canada
February 13, 2016 7:58am CST
A couple of years ago we headed south with a couple of weeks to be used at places we had never been. A week at Myrtle Beach and a week at Hilton Head. We knew it was not going to be hot there in the winter but there were things we wanted to check out. We were on vacation. Our destination was south Florida which was beautiful when we got there.
Myrtle Beach was beautiful. On the way there we stopped at a seafood place and found out an ice storm was on its way.
It made us nervous thinking of driving on icy roads with southerners who don't know about Icy roads.
Our condo was all glass, it had beautiful views of the city and the beach. We were on the top floor and could see forever...sort of.
We shopped for enough food for us for a few days in case the ice was bad. Good thing we did. See photo above.
We had a couple of nice days to sight see and then the ice came. We stayed home the first day then thought about calling a cab and going out to dinner. I suggested we phone the restaurant first.
Yup, I was right, the restaurant was closed, so was the taxi company. No one was driving. From our view we saw only emergency vehicles. Everything was closed for days. On day three we asked at the desk when would it get better...where are the sanders, where are the plows? Snow shovels, salt?
We were informed we were in the south and be patient, it will melt.
And it did eventually...
I didn't know everything just stops until it melts, schools, restaurants, shopping malls, everything...did you know that?
Alfredo Rossi @amadeo started the challenge.
17 people like this
17 responses
@BelleStarr (61047)
• United States
14 Feb 16
lol that is the way it is all across the south, it happens so rarely that they don't invest in snow or ice equipment.
3 people like this
@salonga (27775)
• Philippines
16 Feb 16
@PainsOnSlate Yes we did not take the risk all the more because we were driving on a zigzag road.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
14 Feb 16
It took us by surprise but we understood once it happened.
3 people like this
@sueznewz2 (10409)
• Alicante, Spain
13 Feb 16
I still would not have expected those temperatures.... that sounds like the UK we are just not prepared for it.... and it would have taken a whole lot longer to melt too.... lol's I hope you were not too bored....
3 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
14 Feb 16
We were bored, with a beach right out the door, I did manage to carefully get to the beach with my camera, it was darn slippery even on the sand so I stayed pretty much under a pier and enjoyed the walks while the roads were melting
1 person likes this
@allknowing (130066)
• India
14 Feb 16
Wait till it melts. Sometimes it could be eternity (lol)
2 people like this
@allknowing (130066)
• India
14 Feb 16
@PainsOnSlate Atleast you had great views. and that's what I call positive thinking (lol)
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
14 Feb 16
We had no choice, we waited until it melted...three days of our vacation stuck in a small condo with a great view....it could have been worse.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
14 Feb 16
It was almost comical to us who have lived in the north most of our lives. In Garden City Kansas, the town used road graders to clear off snow but it never snowed much so it didn't matter.
2 people like this
@simone10 (54189)
• Louisville, Kentucky
15 Feb 16
@PainsOnSlate I'm sure it was interesting. We don't get hardly any snow compared to North and East of us.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
14 Feb 16
When I lived in Kansas we has sanders and salters, Myrtle had nothing. It was an interesting experience.
2 people like this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
13 Feb 16
I have heard they don't know how to drive in it and everything shuts down. My brother moved to Alabama a year ago. He told me they had some snow and he was the only one out driving in it. The cops pulled him over and told him to get off the roads, he told them he was from Chicago and they told him ok go on your way lol.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
14 Feb 16
That is an interesting story. We knew we were not going to drive, we'd take cabs in the ice. But then all the cabs were closed too. We stayed in the condo but by day three we went out and found the roads were melting and some enterprising people beach sand on the hills.
2 people like this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
14 Feb 16
@PainsOnSlate It makes sense that those in the south don't know how to drive in snow, but to us northerners we are baffled when they close the roads for an inch of snow.
2 people like this
@rebelann (111133)
• El Paso, Texas
16 Feb 16
I do the same thing if we get storms or high winds @PainsOnSlate no sense risking someone else because I think I know what I'm doing, right?
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
15 Feb 16
I don't want to be on the road at all any more if there is ice or snow, even with snow tires, I will leave that to the younger crew to do. I stay home while at home in a storm.
@PatZAnthony (14752)
• Charlotte, North Carolina
14 Feb 16
Life should be easier-everyone is in such a rush. Wonder what would happen if they had tons of snow? Could everything stop for weeks?
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
15 Feb 16
I don't know, it was ice and not snow but it stopped everything. You are in the Carolinas, do you have sanders, salters and plows? Just curious.
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
15 Feb 16
I grew up in the north and looked forward to snow days, but life went on, in the south, life gets a few days off even if you don't want the time off..no choice, life is shut down until it melts.
@garymarsh6 (23393)
• United Kingdom
14 Feb 16
HA ha I suppose it happens so rarely there is little point in investing in snow clearing equipment and you just have to sit it out. Here in the UK many people especially youngsters do not know how to drive in the snow as we rarely get much. The country comes to a standstill with an inch of snow can you believe!
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
15 Feb 16
IM beginning to understand that, reading the comments left on my story. I had no idea England was not fully snow plowed...
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
14 Feb 16
That's it, @JudyEv. It usually doesn't there so they don't have the machines and the only choice is to let it melt.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
15 Feb 16
You are lucky. I wouldn't mind living where it's always summer.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
16 Feb 16
@Plethos yes , I know that, I am a snowbird at the moment in Florida.
1 person likes this
@Plethos (13560)
• United States
16 Feb 16
@PainsOnSlate - lots of canadians winter over here, snowbirds is what they are refered to .
1 person likes this
@Ladypeace (2028)
• Singapore
13 Feb 16
How depressing when things are forced to stop in their tracks because of the snow. Pretty picture, we can see how frozen it really was.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
14 Feb 16
It was a show stopper, not a car on the road for days.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
16 Feb 16
I am familiar with fog. We don't drive in it either, so dangerous. You are smart to wait.
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
14 Feb 16
It had been planned for months so we take what we get
1 person likes this
@Fleura (29114)
• United Kingdom
14 Feb 16
That's the problem when bad weather hits an area that is not used to such events. It doesn't make economic sense to buy an army of snow-shifting machinery and then have them standing idle for years, so when some does arrive there's nothing to be done about it!
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
14 Feb 16
We do understand that, and realize we were being impatient..but it amazes me to this day, that a resort/condo on the beach would not have salt and shovels for emergencies.
1 person likes this
