White Easter

We went out of town for Easter to a small mountain town of Brinje, an hour southwest of Zagreb, actually already close to the coast. I have some more distant relatives there, so it made for a nice day trip for all of my family (parents, sister, her kids included) to head out there. They got to meet Chris and the kids and I could catch up with everyone. The road was nearly empty as most people got on the road two days earlier. We saw a light dusting of snow on the ground as we got closer to Brinje and it was beautiful to see. We spent the day eating sweets and talking to people. In the early afternoon though, we noticed that it started snowing outside. Yes, snow on Easter. I must say that the view was just breathtaking. We were in a valley surrounded by tree covered mountains all covered in snow. Just like a in a postcard.

Since the ground was still warm enough we figured that we'd be OK driving back. Yeah right! A one hour trip back took an amazing three hours. Snow accumulation seems to have been instant. By the time we pulled out of the driveway, the snow plows were already going through the town. Same on the highway, the roads were already being cleaned. That was nice to see. They are used to snow and ice in these parts and the snow crews were ready. Despite that, the roads were still so treacherous that we drove some 20mph for much of the way. Snow was so heavy that visibility wasn't very good. We drove a bit faster as we got closer to Zagreb. Close to the city the snow turned into heavy rain. That rain turned into snow overnight so we woke up to snow covered streets in Zagreb on Easter Monday. It all melted quickly, though, so by noon it was all gone. Til next winter (I hope).