Birthday 2012….aka “We Survived the Derecho”!

What a wild night!   The night before my birthday was definitely one that will be remembered….the winds just howled and howled…battering and bending the trees.  At one point, the wind was so strong that I thought our house was going to lose some shingles….or that the chimney would topple.   The winds were so incredibly strong!   It turned out to be a Derecho (never heard of it before).   This type of storm contains winds similar to those of a tornado, but instead of spinning, they’re straight line winds.  I never want to experience a Derecho again!!!

Daybreak brought my birthday and shock at all the damage to the trees in the neighborhood.   We thought we’d make a quick run to do some errands, but that proved fruitless.   So many trees were down, so many places were without power…and nearly all the traffic lights on the main roads were out.  At nearly every intersection there were cones preventing left turns.   It was very eerie.  Thankfully, we didn’t have any real damage at our house….just lots of broken tree branches and a bit of wind born litter. 

When we ventured out, I was certain that my birthday plans were about to get cancelled as moving around in the county was nearly impossible due to the lack of power.   Sigh.  After the fruitless attempt to run errands, we thought we’d still have a nice breakfast out….followed later (hopefully) by the nice dinner we had planned.   Of course, those plans nearly went by the wayside.   It was nearly impossible to find anyplace with power for breakfast.  We finally did locate a restaurant that was open -Eggspectations in Chantilly.  We had a wonderful breakfast.  Our waitress was such a sweetie….she even made me a special “waffle dessert” in honor of the day. 

We soon discovered that our dinner plans went bust…the restaurant we’d planned to go to was missing part of its roof!   I had really had my heart set on that particular restaurant, so to say I was disappointed would be an understatement.  We did manage to find a nice place for dinner in spite of the challenges – The Ice House in Herndon.   It wasn’t what we’d originally planned, but it definitely provided the proper ambiance for my birthday.  (Anyplace that has good fresh seafood is perfect!!!)

To brighten my day, my daughter and son-in-law sent me this gorgeous floral arrangement.   Definitely a cheery and bright surprise!