I did some things today I've never done before – mainly because
we don't usually have ice storms here in Northwest Florida.
It started sleeting about 4pm on Tuesday afternoon and didn't stop
until after 3am Wednesday morning. Since the temperature never got
above 28 on Wednesday the ice never melted, turning Northwest Florida
into a winter wonderland.
For my friends that live in parts north this is a common thing but
the only frozen stuff we deal with here are our Daiquiris, Margaritas
and Bushwackers.
Northwest Florida has shut down. EVERY bridge is closed – which
has effectively has cut everyone off. If you're the barrier islands,
all bridges are closed so you're stuck. If you're trying to go to the
north end of any of the counties, you can't because of too many
closed bridges, icy roads and trees down along the roads.
Interestate 10 is closed from the Florida-Alabama line all the way
to the east coast. I'm guessing most of I10 is shut down all the way
to Texas but I don't know for sure.
Destin has closed up shop as well. There is not a fast food place
or gas station open. We rode around a little this afternoon and
Walmart and a new restaurant in the Palms Plaza are the only places
we saw that are open.
About midday on Wednesday we ventured out to find the Destin
bridge covered with almost an inch of ice.
Obviously it had been closed to vehicles for a while but it wasn't
closed to foot traffic – which meant sledding down the middle of
the bridge.
That was one opportunity I could not pass up so we came back home
to see what we could find to use as a sled.
We went back with a rubbermaid container and some trash bags and
proceed to carefully make our way to the top of the bridge. Walking
on ice is just as hard in real life as it looks in the movies. With
the wind gusting up to 30 mph is was wild up there.
We skidded and slid and sledded for a while but the cold was so
intense that we couldn't stay for long.
On our way back to the car I heard someone talking about people
playing on Wildcat Mountain. Many years ago there was a giant
sanddune that ran through the middle of Destin. At some point the
land was sold and the sand was hauled away to make room for a
neighborhood.
Today, right at the edge of the neighborhood, is a giant sanddune
– all that's left of the “mountain” and it's probably the only
dune around not protected by state law.
There used to be a geocache at the top so I've hiked up that hill
and it is nothing but pure soft sand. Sand that froze pretty solid
Tuesday night. Sand that quickly became Destin's very own sledding
hill.
There wasn't a wind chill factor like there was on the bridge and
the ice was thicker so while the bridge was a cool experience, the
mountain was more fun.
What was really funny were the items used to slide on. There's not
a big supply of snow toys around here so people had to improvise.
There were laundry baskets
Rubbermaid lids
Boogie Boards
Dog kennels
And of course – an ocean kayak.
I know all of the road and bridge closures are a real pain for
some people but I am really enjoying this.
We don't have ice storms often but when we do we play!Labels: Done
