What do you think Weather is like in Texas? Warm, sunny, palm trees. You think so? I thought so, too. Can you imagine icy roads with 2 inches of snow? Well that is exactly what happened a few weeks ago.

There were accidents all over the city! That’s because in Texans they don’t have winter tires on their cars and also the city doesn’t clear most of the roads with snow ploughs or salt. One day there were 120 accidents in Dallas!!! Even our school had to switch to online learning as it was too dangerous for our parents to drive us. And it was sooooo cold. One day, the temperatures dropped to 3.2°F (-16C) which was the coldest temperature in Dallas in over 100 years.

But that wasn’t even the worst. Right in the middle of that winter storm my dad woke me up and said we are having a power-cut. I thought it wasn’t a big deal but it was. It was a very big deal!

My dad and mom packed me with several layers of clothes and we all snuggled together in my parent’s big bed for the night to keep us warm.
After the first cold night we booked ourselves in a hotel but when we checked in they had to close down as well. I was so sad. And there was no other room in the whole city that we were able to book. All sold out, from the presidential suite to the cheapest motel room. There really was not one single room in Dallas available for us. And believe me, we tried everything!!! So we had to go back to our cold house.
Lucky we have a gas fireplace in the living room. It doesn’t heat up the room. I think it is more for decoration but if you sit right in front of it, it is kind of warm. So we pushed our sofa to the fireplace and played that we are on a long-haul flight from Sydney to Singapore. So I did what I normally do on a plane – I read for hours. Luckily my E-reader has an integrated light so it didn’t bother me that the house became dark.  We sat there, in front of the fireplace wearing our jackets and hats, waiting for the power coming back on. We couldn’t even eat at the table because it was so cold. The sofa was the only place we could be – our island of refuge.
Luckily we found a hotel for the next night. A very nice one as well. We stayed there for one night and when we came home, the power was back on!!!
After all it was a very wild, crazy and cold experience. But here is the happy ending:
After the big cold knock out me and my neighbors had fun in the snow. Building a snowman, making snow angels, getting pulled by the neighbor’s car up and down the street whilst holding on to a rope and sitting inside a tube,… That’s the way I like winter!