wait...it snows in California?!?!

So, I was greatly mistaken when I thought it barely snowed here. I had heard that it was a possibility that we would get a few inches of snow at some point this winter, but a foot or more?? I didn't know that was possible! But, last week we got almost 16 inches of snow and it was quite the adventure! Especially for the 50 students and staff we have at JYA, most of whom have never seen snow before. 

We woke up last wednesday morning to at least 6 inches of snow, and it just kept falling all day. Around breakfast time, we lost power on campus and the roads were too bad to take the girls somewhere else, so we stayed on campus with no heat, lights, or water (and just consider the fact that none of the girls had taken showers yet that day and we only have 5 toilets total for all 50 girls....ewww!!). And, the power didn't come back on till the next afternoon. And then it was only a few hours before it was off again for another 12 hours. The snow was soooo heavy and it was really windy, so trees were coming down all over the place and staff had to get up on the roof to shovel snow off so the roofs wouldn't collapse!

I was on night shift last week during all of this, which means I got to stay awake 2 nights in a row while the girls attempted to sleep on the dining hall floor, huddled around space heaters powered by our one generator, which yes, i had to go out and refill with gas in the middle of the night. Fun stuff!!! Lets just say, none of us at JYA are taking heat, water, and electricity for granted anytime soon!

It was pretty entertaining to see the Californians react to snow which is so normal for me to see all winter long. This past weekend, there was an unbelievable amount of tourists up here in Julian to see the snow. Traffic was backed up about a mile out of town with people coming to see the snow. They were getting out of their cars all along the road to play in the snow, which by this weekend was gross and brown, but they were excited anyways. I even saw people shoveling snow into their trucks to take home! If only they knew how annoying snow gets after months and months of it all winter long, every winter of you life...I doubt they would be that excited! 

In other non-weather news...I finally got a car!!! I am now free to explore everything that southern california has to offer me :) I bought a Ford Focus from a girl that I worked with at JYA and I am loving it!!!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!! 

Love and miss you all!!!!!!