Vacation Part I (actually, this is the part before we ever got on the airplane)

We had quite the adventure before our vacation began. It started out with us bringing Elijah to my sister's house on Thursday afternoon at about 1:00...


Mama, don't leave me!

Dan and I have no idea how we are alive and well and how we ended up in the right spot at the right time this weekend. We brought Elijah down to Auntie Lissa's house in Cannon Falls and stayed for a bit, put him down for his nap and left to go to the airport. Let me first explain that Lissa's house is in the country, off a dirt road, on many acres of land, surrounded by many humongous trees. As we were pulling out of the drive, it started to rain and hail a bit. We kept going, assuming it was just a small passing storm. About a mile down the road, things got really ugly.


This is when it was still driveable


Once we saw this, we knew it was bad

Suddenly the wind started blowing about 100 mph (honestly, that is truly what it looked like, and we later learned that a tornado touched down about a mile or so away, so it may have been reeeeeeeally close to that) and we couldn't see a thing. Luckily there was another driveway leading to a house nearby so we followed that and drove up to the house. We sat in the car for a minute before I realized that there was a large tree directly behind us and I knew it was about to be blown down right on top of us, so Dan backed the car up. We were in the direct path of other trees and debris and our car was rocking back and forth. Then a power line fell and was dangling about six inches from our car. A few seconds later, the tree that we had backed up to avoid, fell down and landed right where our car had been sitting. These people's entire yard was in ruins. Trees were everywhere. Their garage, which we were sitting right next to, had been shifted off its structure and was not looking good. Dan finally said, "We need to get into that house!" That meant we would have to run through this craziness and risk getting struck by something, but I knew he was right.

We ran to the back door that led into the garage and thank God it was unlocked. We went in and knocked on the door leading into the house. A nice man came to the door right away and told us to come in. He directed me to the safest hiding spot in the basement, where his wife was already sitting. I sat in there with her, shaking and shocked that this had all happened so quickly. Once we were safe, I tried to call Lissa to make sure everyone was ok. I couldn't get a hold of her, so I started to panic. I tried over and over, and nothing. The storm finally subsided and we realized that these poor people's house was totally wrecked. Their garage was destroyed, their trees were all gone, some of their windows were broken, water was leaking in their house, their power line was completely down on the ground. But my main focus was MY SON. I still hadn't heard from Lissa and I was getting worried. I later realized she had been trying to call me, but the service is so bad out there that my phone wasn't picking up any of the calls and I couldn't reach her because their main phone line was down.

Dan and I got back into our car, which was miraculously unharmed, and drove back down the road as far as we could go. We ran into some big trees blocking the road so we parked the car and climbed through them. We ran up and down and around the dirt roads, through and over the trees, trying to get a hold of Lissa every 2 seconds. Just a short distance from her driveway, we came to a HUGE clump of trees that was blocking the road. Dan and I were so soaked and dirty and climbing over 10-feet high debris, trying to get to her house. While on the top of a very large tree, my other sister Lynn got through to me. She said that she had talked to Lissa and that everything was ok. The kids were ok, the house was ok, everything was fine. THANK GOD. Hugh sigh of relief. We didn't see an end to our climbing in sight, so we turned around and headed back to our car knowing everyone was ok. Dan and I were filthy dirty, sweaty, absolutely disgusting.


The first clump of trees we came across. This was NOTHING compared to some of the things we saw ahead (and I didn't bring my camera all the way, so I don't have pics of it all).


Look at my pants...so dirty and soaked. It was fun walking into the airport like this.

By this time I had given up on our trip, thinking the whole state had been destroyed as badly as what we were seeing. Have you ever seen that show "Man vs. Wild"? That dude gets put in a desert or a jungle or somewhere equally as deserted and finds his way out all on his own? That's how I felt. It was totally crazy. We got to our car and managed to find our way to the highway, through downed trees and power lines. We made it to the airport with plenty of time and our flight ended up being delayed so we had enough time to eat.

Sooooo we left poor Lissa and family to care for our baby with NO electricity or water for a day or so. We felt really bad, but there's really no way we could have gotten to them until way later that night when the roads and their drive were cleared. If Dan and I would have left their house even three minutes later than we did, we never would have gotten to the airport in time for our flight. If we would have left home any later, we would have had Elijah with us when we were trying to seek shelter. Everything was timed perfectly. We feel like there were about 1,000 angels surrounding us on Thursday. That tree could have easily fallen on our car while we were sitting in it. Those people could not have been home to let us in. Lynn could not have called me to save us from another hour of dangerously climbing over trees to get to Elijah. It's crazy. We were both in shock for a few hours after escaping the war zone.

Check out Lissa's blog for photos of their yard before any clean-up was done.


The HUGE tree we climbed over in an attempt to find out if everyone was ok. Here it is a few days later and on the side of the road.


The house we sought shelter at. Notice the damage and lack of trees. Before the storm, there were many pretty trees in their yard. From this angle, you can't see the damage done to the garage. I think they may have to tear it down and rebuild.



We made it to Vegas safely and had a wonderful time. Lissa & family eventually got their driveway/road cleared and the electricity eventually got turned back on, but we know things were extra difficult and stressful caring for our baby under such unique circumstances. We are SO APPRECIATIVE of their efforts and for letting us get away for a couple days. THANK YOU GUYS. We love you and appreciate your efforts and appreciate you allowing us that time away.

Part II of our trip tomorrow...