Atlanta Winter X Games

The beginning of the week was what many Southerners are calling "Snowpocalypse."  Please.  It's 4 inches of snow.  That's nothing to a north east transplant like me.  The ice on the other hand, that's just dangerous.  It wouldn't have been a problem if salt was laid down BEFORE the snow fell and not AFTER.  But that would make sense.  So there was a sheet of ice all over Atlanta, causing everything to come to a stand still, and for Do It Yourself Winter X Games: Atlanta to happen.

Every time it snows here in Atlanta, and it's not often, it seems I have to work.  It snowed on Christmas Day, which was great, but yup, I had to work.  It snowed prior to that too, and you guessed it, I had to work.  But not this time.  This time I had off when the snow started falling on Sunday, and I had off when it was at it's worst on Monday.  On Sunday night I did what I always try and do when it snows here: stand outside and soak it in.  I love it, in part because it's so rare now.  I can't say I loved it as much when I lived in New Hampshire and it would snow twice a week.  But when it snows twice a year, I can't get enough.

Monday morning I decided to walk around the neighborhood and get some photos.  After only a few minutes, I decided I would walk 2 miles to the mall, figuring it would be a wasteland.  Boy was I right.

Perimeter Mall, a preview of a scene in Walking Dead Season 2?

Under the snow was ice.  Awesome! Not.

If only it snowed more.  This would be an epic sledding hill.

Upon returning from my trek, I noticed one of my housemates with a wheelbarrow of snow.  Hmm.  I went out back to find both my housemates at work in the snow.  Some people did snow angels, some people made snowmen, other people went sledding or tubing in their neighborhoods.  We did none of that.  We snowboarded down a ramp built on our deck stairs.  Get jealous.

Falling down stairs would never be so much fun.

The helmet, sadly, was required.

Then we had the bright idea to put a board on some pavers and...

Cover it with snow, giving us a ramp to jump off!

Later, we would turn the snowboards into sleds.

Tuesday we made golf balls out of snow and hit some tee shots off the other side of the deck.  That night I a friend posted this video, giving me a great idea for the next day.  So on Wednesday I got my ice skates and picked out a nice slab of ice in the parking lot at work and had some fun:

This was, believe it or not, not the first time I ice skated in a parking lot.

It was the weakest "blizzard" I've ever experienced, but it was also the most fun.