For those looking for some Star Wars reading go ahead and pass this up. I just need to vent a little here.

Yesterday we decided to take the kids up to Palomar Mountain to play in the snow for an hour or so. If you don't know, we live in San Diego County and Palomar is just about 30-40 minutes away.

So we pile into the car and head out singing 99 bottles of beer on the wall because my 10 year old was proud of the fact that he learned the song last summer at camp. While I sing along with him and our 6 year old who's trying desperately to learn the tune, I'm trying to multi-task and get some reading in on the drive up (Labyrinth of Evil). I soon realize it's impossible because just as I begin a new paragraph, Anakin, Obi and Cody end up taking a break from the action to enjoy a beer!

Anyway, we reach the bottom of the mountain and the sign reads, "chains required". Because we're the know it all locals that we are, we continue to head up the mountain behind a few others that had the same idea. Before we knew it, we were in bumper to bumper traffic, moving at pace slower than.... well, Jabba I'd imagine. We wondered if we should turn around and head home but we said, what the heck, we'll go on for a little while more.

A little while turned into an hour before we knew it, but we had reached the snow level and kept thinking that a good area to play in would surely be just around the corner. As we continue onward we start tripping out on the ignorant crowds of people that had pulled over to play right there on the side of the two lane road which blocked traffic even more by the way!

I glanced over at the gas gauge and it says 40 miles till empty! My husband and I realize that we're not in a good situation at all here. The closest gas station is at the top of the mountain but with the road conditions and the horrendous traffic, we were thinking that it was highly possible that people were being turned around for not having chains. We could turn a round and head back down the mountain but would we have enough gas to reach the nearest town?

Two near misses happen next. A teenager in a Hummer attempts to squeeze by, almost hitting our car, and then a few minutes later the car in front of us decides to pull off and park at an angle. We begin to pass and their car begins sliding backward toward our car, kicking up snow into my window! The cars ahead are at a stand still so we can't move! The car gains control and all is well. Actually, I wouldn't say all's well... Just ahead we felt our tires get squirrelly on a patch of snow. THAT'S IT!

We turned around and headed home. We pulled over first to let the kids throw a snow ball or two but as far as we were concerned, we were done for the day!

Are you wondering about the gas situation? We had plenty. I think the incline played havoc on the gas gauge and the digital display that had read 40 miles until empty. It still showed 37 miles but the gauge was on half a tank.

Home sweet home never felt so good. I think we'll stick to the beach from now on. I can handle that type of crowd!