Families Take President's Day To Enjoy Snow
CAMINO (CBS13) — The trip back down the hill could be a long one. It took people hours to get there Friday and Saturday and they are squeezing in an extra day of fun. In the early evening Monday, there were backups along I-80 heading into Sacramento, but Highway 50 was smooth sailing.
Hundreds of families headed up for the day hoping to avoid the kind of traffic they saw earlier this weekend.
The Stuhr family waited until Presidents' Day to take their first trip this year to the snow.
"We were worried about 50 cause we had seen there was road closures, that we would need chains after Placerville, but weather conditions changed a little bit so we decided to ride it out and see how far we could get," said Kim Stuhr.
That meant stopping along the Highway at Camino. Several other families had the same idea, and one guy was even in shorts.
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"It's not even cold, its beautiful," said Neelu Batra who was tossing snowballs at her two children.
"Some people want to still get that last ski day in so I assume traffic will start picking up towards afternoon, " said Sgt Gilbert Lee, with the California Highway Patrol in Placerville.
CHP says it wasn't the roads that were the problem throughout the day. There were no delays or chain controls on I-80 or Highway 50. Instead, trees heavy with snow were falling, blocking traffic and causing power outages.
The Pollock Pines Safeway, a routine rest stop, was closed.
"We're probably going to go across the street to a gas station that's our best bet,' said Vicki Folsom from Woodland.
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Folsom and her family did their best to plan a trip with no traffic
"No traffic, not with three kids," she said.
She'll let them play a bit, snapping their first snow pics while it's still light, before loading them up and heading home.
"We don't want to go any further than this," she said. "Hopefully people will know it will take a while and take their time. Keep speeds down. Roads are icy even though Caltrans is doing a great job keeping everything plowed."
Authorities are reminding people to be "good citizens," and if Mother Nature calls while stuck in traffic that they turn around and find a bathroom.
There were reports of people relieving themselves along roadways and in parking lots of businesses during delays Friday and Saturday.