Driving Through The Eye Of The Storm

Today's post was going to be about a visit to a magnificent flower show at the Convention Center in Hartford, Connecticut .

For photos, I had visions of spring beauties such daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips in all the colors of the rainbow and absolutely couldn't wait to share them with you, my dear blogger friends.

Yesterday morning it was easy to jump out of bed very early, anticipating the drive to Hartford and subsequent show. Of course, outside there were blizzard conditions. My husband reminded me the weather people predicted more heavy snowfall and difficult driving conditions.


"Oh, it's New England," I said. "Who cares about the weather? The weather doesn't stop New Englanders. We are hardy people! Besides, the weather people might be dead wrong. The storm will probably ease up soon and pass right over us. They are forever calling wolf."




So off we went. Another prediction I made, of the driving getting better as we got closer to Connecticut, was way off the mark. As a matter of fact, we were driving right smack into the eye of the storm.

"Oh my goodness," I said, as snow fell fast and furious and visibility became extremely difficult. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all." My poor husband, who knows my determined ways and spontaneous decisions, quietly reminded me he had warned me about the storm. The gigantic bite of humble pie stuck in my throat like a golf ball.

Trailer trucks sped behind us like charging monsters, their headlights looking like white eyeballs in the fog and snow. I flicked on the car's flashing lights to let the monsters know I was not going to speed up. It was impossible to convey that I was scared whit less! Would we survive this trip to the flower show? Would our car get bumped off the highway and land on top of some icy lake or in it?


Thoughts of being home by the crackling fire in the living room fireplace came to mind as we inched our way to Hartford. The experience turned out to be quite petrifying, to say the least.

To add insult to injury, the printed directions had our exit in the city going to the left. Barely able to see two feet in front of me on a four lane highway, filled with trucks and cars with their lights on, my husband told me the exit was to the right. It was virtually impossible to navigate across four lanes so the car went right by the exit. We had to get off way ahead, turn around, and come back to downtown Hartford. Honestly, I wanted to bawl my head off.

When we finally got to the Convention Center, we parked in the multi-story garage, and made our way inside. Down one elevator and up a second, we finally found the Exhibit Hall. All the signs indicated a Fishing and Hunting Show.

"Excuse me," I said to a very unfriendly lady behind a desk. "We are looking for the flower show."

"That was last weekend," she said. Her words struck like hammers in my ears. I looked at my poor, dear husband who survived driving the last two hours through the blizzard with me.

"I'm sorry honey," I managed to say. "I must have read the dates wrong."



All was not lost. We drove to an Olive Garden to have a nice lunch and then made the long, snowy way home. Thankfully, the roads had improved since the morning but driving was still not smooth sailing. When we finally drove into our snow-filled driveway, I heaved a huge sigh of relief. It felt so good to be alive, in one piece, and blessedly home!

So, instead of photos of the flower show in Hartford, I'm sharing shots of a past visit to the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens in New York. At least there are flowers to look at instead of snowbanks! ha!



Every time huge mistakes are made in life, I ask myself, "What did I learn from this?" In the case of the long gone flower show, what I learned was to always call ahead of time to double check that an event is taking place. Secondly, I learned to stay put inside when there's a blizzard outside. (Duh)

So, dear blogger friends and visitors, I hope you enjoy the photos of the Botanical Gardens. Maybe next time I'll get to take and share photos of the Hartford flower show.

But if there is a blizzard again, will I still go? Not on your life, or mine. A valuable lesson has been learned. If I miss the flower show again, we'll just have to be patient and wait for spring!

Have you ever gone on a botched day trip?