Expedition 5280: 11/23/08

Friday, November 28, 2008

Thanksgiving

Here's the gang! Brian & Odette hosted Thanksgiving at their home again. We had such a great time last year, we looked forward to celebrating together again this year.

Steve was trying to get the lighting and camera setting just right. In doing so, he snapped many images. This particular image captures the essence of each individual!

Brian with Sara.

Cam has sworn he wouldn't hold a baby until it was at least six months old. William decided that napping really wasn't his thing for Thanksgiving and became a bit grumpy. Cam decided to try his hand at soothing a baby.

Bethany.

Sara and Cam with Wheat Thins.

Liz and Laura. Liz had prepared Brie with honey, cherries, puff pastry and walnuts- really delicious!

Father and son

Doesn't he look like a stooge??? We stopped the stiff torture and resumed a faux-hawk by the end of the evening.

A Recent Rare Phenomenon

Last night we were at a local coffee shop with some friends. While sitting by the widow, we noticed that it had unexpectedly begun snowing. A few minutes later we all looked up to notice bright flashes, similar to that from a camera flash reflecting in the window. Since you never see lightning (or hear thunder) during a snow storm we all looked around for the abnoxiously bright flash from someones camera. It was nowhere to be found. Next thing we hear the boom of thunder and immediately car alarms start sounding. At this point we all look outside to see what looks like hail....but its not. It is simply pea sized snowballs that are falling like rocks from the sky. Needless to say, this was the first time any of us had experienced anything like this. The snowballs were not hard but soft...just like snow. The lightning and thunder continued for a while longer, as most everyone who was in the coffee shop either was glued to the windows or went outside for closer inspection. Bethany, who was sitting with our group, said that she had heard something like this happening before and said it was called a "thundersnow storm". Well, it is a true and rare event that is even more rare in a "land locked" state like Colorado. Here is the local newspaper headline from the Rocky Mountain News: "We were enjoying the lights, sights and sounds of a thundersnow that rolled through downtown around 9:30 p.m. And, we didn't make up that word thundersnow, either. It's a real, but rare phenomenon (and very rare in landlocked Colorado), according to a quickie Google search. In the simplest of terms, cold air meets warm air. As those two air masses interact, it causes friction, or a convection (up- and-down movement of air), which if violent enough, can cause lightning and thunder".

If you are still interested, check out the Wikipedia article for it : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thundersnow