In case you haven't heard, Columbus, OH got a dose of some record snowfall this past weekend. I think the official total was 20.6" making it the worst snow storm in a century. In a 24 hour time frame we received 15.5" which was also a record. The snow started around 9am on Friday, March 7th and finished around 7pm the following day.
Once we had received about 5" of snow I suited up to face the storm with my camera and trusty sidekick (Sherman) in order to snap some shots. We ended up walking to a park along the Olentangy Bike Trail which has a path in the woods along the river. Usually you can go a good mile or two along the river, but it was already flooded about halfway through. We'll see what it's like once it thaws, maybe I'll head back down in a day or two to check it out. Sherman was having a blast prancing through the trees like a kid in a candy store. I managed to calm him down enough to snap a few pictures of him in these wintry conditions. I also observed a bunch of elusive robins playing in the snow. I managed to get one while he was in mid-air, I call it "Air Robin".
On Saturday I decided to go back out with Sherman. We went back to the same park for Sherman to get some play time in. On the way there I didn't have to have him on his leash at all, there were no cars out at all. Everyone was taking shelter in their homes. Out in the open at the park was pretty intense. I would walk along just fine in 10" of snow and then all of the sudden fall in a snow drift up to my thighs. I remembered my camera, but unfortunately forgot my memory card which was sitting next to my computer from the day before. We were probably out the for an hour but it felt like we were out there for three hours walking in the knee high snow.
A couple of hours later I decided to make an attempt to go out and see what it was like beyond the park by the river. As I was cleaning off my car an older gentlemen came up the street sliding along on his cross country skis. I had to laugh because nothing beats being able to ski down a city street.
Finally, after cleaning my car off for 20 minutes I was out on the roads, which were pretty bad at the time. Luckily I only got stuck once, and that was due to the fact that the main road was blocked by someone stuck, so I had to cut through an unplowed parking lot. I managed to get out without any help and began to head towards downtown. On my way there were cars stranded all over the place and I helped 3 people get out of the snow. I actually pushed a van up a hill with my car at one point, that was entertaining. Once I got to downtown I felt like I was Will Smith starring in my own "I am Legend" movie. The city was deserted. I pulled off to take a few pictures, but didn't venture too far away in fear of slipping and breaking my camera. In one of the pictures you can just barely make out the silhouettes of downtown Columbus, less than a mile away.
On my way home I decided to stop at OSU to check out the view off from one of the parking lots. Cruising through campus was pretty interesting to say the least. I had a jerk behind me who thought he must have been Micheal Schumacher driving in a new Dodge Ram. He ended up spinning out in the middle of an intersection, almost hitting me as he lost control. Further down the road I saw a small blob coming at me. It was a snowmobile, blasting down Woodruff Ave! I couldn't help but think how pointless it was to have something like that here in capitol city of Ohio, maybe Cleveland but definitely not Columbus.
On Sunday I decided to start the day out by heading to a park I had read about online near downtown. It was supposed to be a bird sanctuary, but really all it turned out to be was a pathway going along a road, not much of anything besides seagulls there. So I decided to head out to Alum Creek State Park up North, near Delaware. There was only one road open to get into the park, and it looked like only one other person had dared to make the trek into the park. I was a little nervous at first, but soon I found that my new Subaru is a beast, even on inadequate tires. I managed to get all the way back without a hiccup. Sherman and I spent about 5 hours there walking around in the middle of the park. The park was empty and was basically untouched. Sherman and I tracked 3 deer for about an hour until finally they lost us in a ravine. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any good pictures, that would have made the day that much better. We ended up stumbling upon a bird feeder in the middle of a big meadow surrounded by birds. I slowly snuck up and nestled down to shoot some of the visitors. They were surprisingly fine with me being within 10' from them and having Sherman lay at my feet. I got some fun shots of a few birds and decided to head home, I was beat and Sherman had softball size snow balls hanging from him!
