traffic!

So.. yesterday I woke up a little early to leave a little early because of the traffic... I left home at 6:50, usually I leave around 7:20 to be to work at 8. I typically take highway 13 to 110 if its snowing or has snowed.  I totally forgot this secret when I left yesterday AM.  I got on 35E and soon realized my problem!! It took me 45 minutes to get to 494 (something that usually takes MAYBE 10 minutes).  7:30 I called to let my boss know I was likely going to be late..  I finally got to work at 8:30.  Another thing I do is take Lexington down to Marshall Ave whenever it snowy, usually saves me a good 30 min (i do this when there is rain too..)  It took me 50 minutes to get home last night... so what, 2 hours and 35 min in the car yesterday, well plus about 20 at lunchtime... 2 hours and 55 minutes!!  I heard that it was going to snow again this afternoon and made the decision that I would pack a bag to bring with me to work in case its bad out.. I can stay at mom and dads, who live much closer to work than I do!  

This morning I heard that there were crashes everywhere, so I again left a little early.  I remembered to take highway 13 to 110 today, and I was on track to be on time.  people were driving very carefully, and rightfully so as there was black ice everywhere.  I was on 35E north between Pennsylvania and Maryland ave, in the middle lane. The car in front of me slammed on his breaks and he started fishtailing.  thankfully no one was in the left lane, so i pulled over there and let off the gas (knowing if i slammed my breaks i would be fishtailing too).  i slow way down without my foot on the gas pedal, and see the new car in front of me is slamming his breaks and fishtailing... i see in front of him, in our lane, headlights!!  Not sure exactly what happened, if this dude facing us spun and hit someone, or hit someone and spun... there were like 4 or 5 cars that stopped, not sure if all of them were involved.. took me a couple minutes to get all the way to the right lane and on my way... called 911 to let them know of the accident, she asked if they would need an ambulance.. i told them the person facing the wrong way on the highway was not getting out of the car, but someone was standing outside talking to them...By the time they called the State Patrol, they had found the accident on a traffic cam. 

I did come to my parents house after work... took me 37 minutes to get from roseville to maplewood- normal drive time 10 min... i am sure i would still be in traffic right now if I would have gone home!  May be spending the night again on thursday cuz i hear we will get A LOT of snow over night that night. 

on another note... i got most of my christmas shopping done at lunch today :)  just have to get one more thing for mom, something for maddie, a little something for haley and a $10 gift! YEAY!