So apparently the storm that came through on Friday night was a Derecho (which per Wikipedia, is a widespread and long-lived straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving band of severe thunderstorms). In keeping in line with naming the significant weather events in this area (re: snomageddon, snopocalypse, etc), I came up with my own: Derechocaust. You heard it here first.
It was amazing how quickly the storm crept up on us. I honestly had no idea that this storm was even going to happen until I got home and Brett said there was a storm with high winds making its way to the east coast. My mom watched Will earlier that day and had made dinner for us (thanks Mom). My friend Lauren also came by for a impromptu puppy playdate and wine hangout. I skeptically watched as Brett brought the patio furniture, lawn furniture and cars inside the garage. I only half listened when Brett cautioned me and Lauren about the storm while pulling out the flashlights out and putting them on the table.
Mom left and made her way back down to King George and Brett left to go out in Arlington with some friends; leaving Lauren and me to some much needed girl/wine time (well, girl time plus Will). Around 10:15, the lights started to flicker. Lauren and I looked at each other - uh oh. We looked outside - there was nothing but heat lightning; no wind, no rain, no nothing. Then the lights went out. Lauren and I armed ourselves with the flashlights and headlamps that Brett dutifully left out for us and stood at the window in the kitchen to watch the storm unfold. Within minutes the trees were bending against the strong winds. I kept thinking that the way the trees were moving reminded me of the 'monster' in LOST. Lauren decided to stay a little while longer until the storm died down.
Brett's account of the storm was a little bit different. He was at Clarendon Grill in Ballston having drinks for a friend's birthday. The power went out in Arlington leaving the bar crowd to make their own music. Who needs a cover band when you can group sing to Journey "Don't Stop Believin"??? The computers were down, so they may just charge for 4 drinks. Wouldn't that be great!
I went to sleep confident that the power would be back on in the morning. Afterall, we only lost power for a couple hours during snomageddon - what's a little wind storm compared to feet of snow and ice??? Luckily there was no damage to our home or any of the other homes in the cul-de-sac. A drive through the neighborhood and the surrounding area showed that we were very fortunate. There were downed trees and branches EVERYWHERE. It seriously looked like a tornado ripped through Vienna. All of the stoplights were out, roads were blocked so that traffic could only get through on one lane, and the traffic was horrendous. Our neighbors told us that it could be several days to a week before power was restored. WHAT - a week!?!? with an infant?!?!?!? in 100+ degree heat!?!?!? You've got to be kidding me.
Fortunately, my parents in King George were not hit very hard by the storm and luckily they had an extra (and empty) freezer in the basement. I packed up my stuff, Will's stuff, and as much freezer food as I could fit in our coolers and made our way down south. Interstate 95 was a MESS. It took about 3 hours to get to King George. Lucky for me, Will is fantastic at car rides and was a doll the entire ride.
My friend Amber has a sister that is in the hospital. I dropped off some food for her and her family and got to spend a little bit of time with Amber and visit her sister in the ICU. I took Will to the pool and to the lake for some fun in the sun. Will got to spend some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa Newton and I got to hang out in the AC. Brett and Woody roughed it out and stayed at the house on Saturday night and commiserated with the neighbors and drank all the beers before they went bad. He stayed in town so he could go to watch Tiger at Congressional the next day. He's much braver than I am!
Come Sunday night, we still did not have power in our neighborhood. So we made our way to Brett's parents house to stay with them on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday night, we got the good news that power was restored in our neighborhood. Phew - 4 days! Happy to have power back!
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