Out of everything in a very eventful 2009, I’m most thankful for making it home alive from Blacksburg, Virginia during/after the recent storm that attempted to strand, smash, and throw my wife and me off a few mountains. We spent 7 terrible hours driving 120 miles with no physical or mental breaks until I finally gave up and we booked a room at the Comfort Inn in Charlottesville. We updated our worried families, had a wonderful vending machine dinner, and watched the snow continue to pile up outside.

In the morning we ventured down the hill to check on our car and get my camera. Here is my lovely wife making the most of the morning.

After the vending machine had run out of food and it was clear that the roads weren’t going to be in any shape for the 140 or so people in the hotel to leave, the good folks at the Comfort Inn convinced some other good folks at Albemarle Fire and Rescue to bring us some pizzas.

With the knowledge that I’d be able to eat something that evening, I headed outside to do what I do.

Cold, wet, and satisfied with my photos, I headed back to our room. Later we waited in the lobby with two of the all-stars of the weekend: coffee and iPhones.

Everyone waited patiently for the pizza to arrive and watched local news stories of people much less fortunate than all of us. In the morning many of us worked together to dig out the cars that were buried in the hotel road and parking lot. I’m very thankful for the hotel staff, guests, and the Fire and Rescue workers who helped make a difficult situation as easy as possible.

Tags: Charlottesville, Virginia