By Lani Gering

Snowzilla at the Harbor!

As I write this at the last minute – literally a few hours before we go to press – the snow from “snowzilla” is finally starting to melt away and we are looking at three days or more of 60 degree weather. It has been a very strange winter so far with Christmas day temps in the 70’s and the below freezing temps we experienced last week. I am a Wyoming native and we have some pretty whacky weather there as well but I thought I had moved somewhere where it would be more predictable.

This snow storm was my first at the Harbor. The last really big snow storm -“snowmaggedon” in 2010 – found me living in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria where I had a driveway and a decent amount of sidewalk that had to be shoveled. To be honest, I actually emailed my old neighbor and snow shoveling expert Pam to tell her I was going to miss shoveling snow with her. Well……after looking at several Facebook posts from the old neighborhood, I decided I really was much happier sitting in my cracker box condo and letting the maintenance people worry about the drifts that were piling up all around the building. Also knowing that my vehicle was all snow and frost free in the heated parking in the building was a huge plus.

While condo living is a little more civilized than living in a single family home (amenities like the roof top pool, etc.) it also comes with a bunch of “rules” – except one! From the photos accompanying this column you can tell that I did get quite an accumulation of snow on my north facing balcony. I so wanted to go out and shovel that all off but…it would have ended up in front of the door to the coffee shop that resides below me. With all of the rules that come with living at One National Harbor there are none that addressed what to do with all that snow. As I write this, it is slowly melting but I know it will be a slow process since I don’t get very much sun on my side of the building.

While I will be waiting some time for the balcony to clear off, the rest of the harbor was up and running pretty much all the way through the storm. We have an amazing crew of maintenance people that take care of the streets and sidewalks here. We also have a great bunch of people that reside in the harbor. One of the residents decided it would be fun to have a snowman making contest and another organized a snowball fight. The photo I have of my friend Ranarda and her pals “Drunk Lady” snowwoman doesn’t really do it justice but you get the idea of the creativity that went into her construction. There were several non-traditional snowmen in the group.

Needless to say, it was a fun weekend being snowed in here in our little community!

If you want to shake off the winter blues, take a trip to the Harbor and experience the shops and restaurants that are growing in leaps and bounds! There is something for everyone’s palate here in the Harbor as well as some very fun activities including the Capitol Wheel and the Carousel. The big screen features top sporting events and will be a great way to watch to watch my Broncos play the Panthers on Super Bowl Sunday!! Omaha!!!