(Updated 3/15) Dodged the Blizzard, But Not the Crowds (2/18-3/8)

[mickey916]

Background: DH and I retired four years ago and live in Massachusetts. Since our retirement we have become Annual Passholders and have visited Orlando several times in the spring and the fall. Last winter DH expressed a desire to skip some of the winter by heading to Florida for a shorter trip in February. However, he was a little concerned about not being home to clear snow which would make it obvious that we were away and make it hard to get back in our driveway upon our return. We figured our odds were pretty good if we just booked a 2.5 week trip.

So, we planned our trip for 2/18-3/8. We were very pleased to look ahead at the forecast to see no accumulating snow predicted for at least the first 10 days of our trip. Unfortunately as we arrived in Florida on Friday 2/20, there started to be predictions of snow. By Saturday the news was predicting a substantial blizzard! So much for no snow. Fortunately our adult sons were nice enough to move back to our place on Sunday so that they could be there to clear the blizzard once it hit on Monday. Also fortunate, they were both able to work from our home on Monday and Tuesday, as we thankfully never lost power.

Our yard ended up with 36 inches of fresh snow and there was already at least 12-14 inches on the ground from previous storms. To give you a full appreciation of the impact, here is a photo of our house after our sons cleared a path in the driveway.



We are so grateful to our sons but it was very nerve wracking to be so far away while the blizzard hit. Since they had everything under control at home, we put our concerns aside and enjoyed our days in the much better Florida weather! Please join me as I detail our latest adventure.

 

[mickey916]

Here’s our itinerary for our blizzard escape:

2/18 Depart for Staunton, Virginia
2/19 Drive to Santee, SC
2/20 Drive to Orlando, Disney Springs & dinner at Epcot
2/21 Festival of the Arts
2/22 Festival of the Arts
2/23 Magic Kingdom
2/24 Deleon Springs, Blue Springs State Park, Coronado Springs
2/25 Animal Kingdom
2/26 Jacksonville, Nate Bargatze Big Dumb Eyes Comedy Show
2/27 Disney Springs, POFQ, OKW, Saratoga Springs
2/28 Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, Winter Park, Loew’s Royal Pacific Resort
3/1 Animal Kingdom, Disney Springs, Flamingo Crossings
3/2 Hollywood Studios, Skyliner
3/3 Magic Kingdom, Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge
3/4 Flamingo Crossings, Disney Springs, Beach Club Resort
3/5 Riviera Resort, Epcot Flower & Garden Festival
3/6 Flamingo Crossings, Disney Springs, Drive to Santee, SC
3/7 Drive to Staunton, VA
3/8 Drive Home

 

[DLo]

Wow! That’s a lot of snow. Following along. Looking forward to reading more .

 

[ddluvsdisney]

Wow looks similar to my house! Haha
We still have a pile of snow on my front lawn from the plow.
Looking forward to another great trip report and some yummy food.

 

[mickey916]

Wow looks similar to my house! Haha
We still have a pile of snow on my front lawn from the plow.
Looking forward to another great trip report and some yummy food.

Most of our snow is gone except a portion near the driveway where the snowblower piled everything. We did have some yummy food (and surprisingly a couple of really bad treats we actually threw away, which we never do!).

 

[disneyAndi14]

Wow it looks my house, haha I didn’t think anyone else got snow like Minnesota, I was wrong!
Excited to hear all about your trip!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Fortunately our adult sons were nice enough to move back to our place on Sunday so that they could be there to clear the blizzard once it hit on Monday. Also fortunate, they were both able to work from our home on Monday and Tuesday, as we thankfully never lost power.

That must have been a huge relief to have your sons take care of your house. I assume that you would have had trouble getting into the house when you got home from your trip if the snow hadn't been removed ahead of time.

 

[mickey916]

Wow it looks my house, haha I didn’t think anyone else got snow like Minnesota, I was wrong!
Excited to hear all about your trip!

We don't get it as much as you do that's for sure. This was a record-breaking storm and our area was in the "bullseye". Crazy that it wasn't even on the forecast the day we headed to Florida.

That must have been a huge relief to have your sons take care of your house. I assume that you would have had trouble getting into the house when you got home from your trip if the snow hadn't been removed ahead of time.

It was a huge relief. We are very fortunate. We definitely wouldn't have been able to get in our driveway. We did have a lot of melting but not enough.

 

[disneyseniors]

Following along. I feel your pain with the snow, as I am from N. Mn. Right now we only have about 5 inches with warmer weather coming this week!

 

[mickey916]

Following along. I feel your pain with the snow, as I am from N. Mn. Right now we only have about 5 inches with warmer weather coming this week!

It's been a rough winter for sure! I think we're on the other side of it hopefully.

 

[mickey916]

2/18/26 Hitting the Road - A New Route​

We’ve been experimenting with different driving routes, hoping to avoid as much traffic as possible in the metropolitan areas, especially in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and DC. This time we decided to try a route taking us over the Mario Cuomo bridge through Pennsylvania to Staunton, VA. We actually stayed in Staunton on our last trip due to its proximity to the train ride we were doing with DS and we really liked the area.

In an attempt to avoid Connecticut traffic, we departed our house at 3:00 am. One of the things we do to pass the time as we drive is to see if we can find license plates from all 50 states on passing vehicles. I use an app to track our progress. We’ve never been successful. Last time we got all but Wyoming and Hawaii:



We actually had a van with Alaska, one of the perennial difficult plates, pass us at 10:00 am so we were confident of our chances on this trip!

It was Ash Wednesday so I had researched various churches along the route so we could stop for ashes. We made it to Allentown PA in time for an 8:30 Mass so we stopped there. After Mass, we continued our journey. Along the way, we ate Uncrustables for a small meatless lunch and arrived in Staunton at 2:00. Oddly enough, while it was certainly warmer in Staunton, there was still snow on the sides of the roads and in the parking lot of the hotel that far south. We didn’t actually stop seeing snow until mid-way through North Carolina. Shows you what a winter it’s been on the East Coast.

After checking in, we took a brief nap and then went for a walk to get our steps.

In a strange coincidence, the prior weekend DH’s sister had come over to watch the Daytona 500 and mentioned that she and her friend were going on a brief road trip the next day to “someplace called Staunton” in search of some warmer weather for a few days. I asked if she meant Staunton,VA and how long they would be there. It turned out they were staying in the Hilton hotel in the same parking lot as our Fairfield Inn through Thursday! What are the odds of that? So, we invited the two of them to join us for dinner at the Mill St. Grill on our arrival day (Wednesday).

After our nap and steps, we walked over to their hotel and drove together to the restaurant. Sadly, I was out of practice and I completely forgot to take pictures of our meals, which is too bad because they were all really good!

Our server brought over the bread service with housemade strawberry butter. Here’s a picture of the bread from our return visit on the way home (that’s not the strawberry butter though):



This was freshly made bread with a couple different kinds of bread baked together, served warm and the strawberry butter was delicious. It was a great start to the meal.

I told the server that DH and I would be sharing the Greek salad (Crispy Romaine lettuce topped with Kalamata & green olives, artichoke hearts, pepperoncini peppers, Feta cheese crumbles, & tomatoes. Served with balsamic vinaigrette) and the Vegetable Primavera Alfredo (Zucchini, onions, mushrooms, carrots, red bell peppers, & broccoli sautéed in a Parmesan cheese cream sauce. Topped with parmesan cheese.)

The kitchen split the entrees for us into separate dishes for us to share. We always appreciate that. We enjoyed both dishes very much. The salad was very fresh with lots of vegetables and olives.The vegetable primavera alfredo had fresh roasted vegetables in a light, creamy sauce with well cooked pasta.

My SIL ordered the Bean Burger (A spicy mixture of black beans, mushrooms, onions, & red bell peppers and grilled. Served with melted Havarti cheese, grilled onions, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, & a side of cilantro- citrus mayonnaise. Served on a toasted bun) She said it was an excellent bean burger and a huge portion with the side of fries.

My SIL’s friend got the Caesar Salad with Grilled chicken. She too really enjoyed her meal.

We were all too full for dessert but our server brought over small complimentary dishes of peppermint ice cream for each of us. It was very good and a nice sweet treat to end our meal. Here's a photo of the peppermint ice cream from our return trip:



We were all very impressed with the Mill St. Grill. The service and food were very good. We gave our meal an A-.

After dinner we were still very tired from our early rising and long drive so we headed back to the hotel for an early night.

 

[bjscheel]

Aww, January 2024 we had a blizzard at home while in WDW. We live in the country. We were able to fly back on Saturday as expected, just on a different flight, but had to spend the night in Omaha. Sunday we were able to drive within 3/4 mile of home- DH was ready to walk but it was -11 and windy. Neighbor took him home through fields with a tractor so DH could scoop the roads out. If we had had to wait for the county plow, we wouldn't have been able to get to our house till Tuesday.

Glad you had someone at the house. Our petsitter decided not to come and I'm glad, but I worried about the furnace pipe getting covered, and about the cats, who had to do a few days on their own after the neighbor couldn't come. At least the dog was at the vet.

 

[summerlvr]

Who knew Staunton was such a popular stopping place?!? Many, many years ago when my grandparents lived in Connecticut, we always stopped there. But being that we started in Virginia, Staunton was where we stopped for breakfast. Then we would stop in Scranton, PA for a late lunch before arriving in Stafford Springs CT about 12 hours after we left Virginia.

 

[Wood Nymph]

It turned out they were staying in the Hilton hotel in the same parking lot as our Fairfield Inn through Thursday! What are the odds of that?

That is a very rare coincidence. We once found our neighbors swimming in the same Holiday Inn pool in Springfield, IL as we were. That was a surprise to us.

This was freshly made bread with a couple different kinds of bread baked together, served warm and the strawberry butter was delicious. It was a great start to the meal.

The bread and strawberry butter sound delicious. There is a supper club in Wisconsin that serves a freshly baked loaf that is half white and half rye. I love these small restaurants that cook lots of great, fresh meals.

 

[Trish24]

Background: DH and I retired four years ago and live in Massachusetts. Since our retirement we have become Annual Passholders and have visited Orlando several times in the spring and the fall. Last winter DH expressed a desire to skip some of the winter by heading to Florida for a shorter trip in February. However, he was a little concerned about not being home to clear snow which would make it obvious that we were away and make it hard to get back in our driveway upon our return. We figured our odds were pretty good if we just booked a 2.5 week trip.

So, we planned our trip for 2/18-3/8. We were very pleased to look ahead at the forecast to see no accumulating snow predicted for at least the first 10 days of our trip. Unfortunately as we arrived in Florida on Friday 2/20, there started to be predictions of snow. By Saturday the news was predicting a substantial blizzard! So much for no snow. Fortunately our adult sons were nice enough to move back to our place on Sunday so that they could be there to clear the blizzard once it hit on Monday. Also fortunate, they were both able to work from our home on Monday and Tuesday, as we thankfully never lost power.

Our yard ended up with 36 inches of fresh snow and there was already at least 12-14 inches on the ground from previous storms. To give you a full appreciation of the impact, here is a photo of our house after our sons cleared a path in the driveway.

View attachment 1056182

We are so grateful to our sons but it was very nerve wracking to be so far away while the blizzard hit. Since they had everything under control at home, we put our concerns aside and enjoyed our days in the much better Florida weather! Please join me as I detail our latest ver

Background: DH and I retired four years ago and live in Massachusetts. Since our retirement we have become Annual Passholders and have visited Orlando several times in the spring and the fall. Last winter DH expressed a desire to skip some of the winter by heading to Florida for a shorter trip in February. However, he was a little concerned about not being home to clear snow which would make it obvious that we were away and make it hard to get back in our driveway upon our return. We figured our odds were pretty good if we just booked a 2.5 week trip.

So, we planned our trip for 2/18-3/8. We were very pleased to look ahead at the forecast to see no accumulating snow predicted for at least the first 10 days of our trip. Unfortunately as we arrived in Florida on Friday 2/20, there started to be predictions of snow. By Saturday the news was predicting a substantial blizzard! So much for no snow. Fortunately our adult sons were nice enough to move back to our place on Sunday so that they could be there to clear the blizzard once it hit on Monday. Also fortunate, they were both able to work from our home on Monday and Tuesday, as we thankfully never lost power.

Our yard ended up with 36 inches of fresh snow and there was already at least 12-14 inches on the ground from previous storms. To give you a full appreciation of the impact, here is a photo of our house after our sons cleared a path in the driveway.

View attachment 1056182

We are so grateful to our sons but it was very nerve wracking to be so far away while the blizzard hit. Since they had everything under control at home, we put our concerns aside and enjoyed our days in the much better Florida weather! Please join me as I detail our latest adventure.

Very much looking forward to your latest report. Ironically, we flew from NYC the mor

 

[Trish24]

Background: DH and I retired four years ago and live in Massachusetts. Since our retirement we have become Annual Passholders and have visited Orlando several times in the spring and the fall. Last winter DH expressed a desire to skip some of the winter by heading to Florida for a shorter trip in February. However, he was a little concerned about not being home to clear snow which would make it obvious that we were away and make it hard to get back in our driveway upon our return. We figured our odds were pretty good if we just booked a 2.5 week trip.

So, we planned our trip for 2/18-3/8. We were very pleased to look ahead at the forecast to see no accumulating snow predicted for at least the first 10 days of our trip. Unfortunately as we arrived in Florida on Friday 2/20, there started to be predictions of snow. By Saturday the news was predicting a substantial blizzard! So much for no snow. Fortunately our adult sons were nice enough to move back to our place on Sunday so that they could be there to clear the blizzard once it hit on Monday. Also fortunate, they were both able to work from our home on Monday and Tuesday, as we thankfully never lost power.

Our yard ended up with 36 inches of fresh snow and there was already at least 12-14 inches on the ground from previous storms. To give you a full appreciation of the impact, here is a photo of our house after our sons cleared a path in the driveway.

View attachment 1056182

We are so grateful to our sons but it was very nerve wracking to be so far away while the blizzard hit. Since they had everything under control at home, we put our concerns aside and enjoyed our days in the much better Florida weather! Please join me as I detail our latest adventure.

Very much looking forward to your trip report. Yours are always excellent but this time I feel a special connection to it as we flew down to Disney from the NYC suburbs the morning of the blizzard. We were one week in Disney, then a week further south. And photos sent to us of our house looked much like yours in the snow!