few days away

over the holiday weekend, i headed to the cabin for some quality family time. it was good to see my brother, who was in from chicago, play with my nephew, and spend some time with grandma and my cousins. even in the wind and fairly cold weather i golfed 36 holes. sunday we shopped for 4 hours at the outlet mall, and just as we were ready to head home severe weather hit. we were stranded in the hallway by the bathrooms for over an hour longer. we watched the awnings whip in the wind, and golf-ball size hail pummel the floor. the cooper roofs sounded like heards of horses were running across them. the sky grew very dark, and a weird green color before becoming very bright again. after the storm, we tried calling home to get the latest weather updates, we had heard rummors that more severe weather was on the way. no one answered. we ran out to the car, turning the radio on to wcco. it was eerily calm outside. the fierce wind from earlier had completely vanished. the sky was mostly clear. all was still. wcco informed us of much storm damage around the metro area. we exchanged weary looks and again tried calling home. we certainly didn't want to be stuck in the middle of another storm. wcco announced another sever storm crossing through sherburne county, where the cabin is, headed in our direction. we opted to drive over to a different bathroom, where we could park closer to. we were the only 5 people hunkered down in the bathroom hallway (all the stores are glass-front, so the bathroom hallway is the safest place to be). we kept ourselves entertained, my 14 yo cousin, modeling her new wardrobe. again the rain began to fall. harder. harder. the sky grew darker and small ice balls fell from the sky. the wind picked up. a few mall patrons joined us in the bathroom hallway. one woman, who was in the other bathroom hallway with us during the first storm, told us her windshield was cracked all the way across from the hail. another woman told us her rear-view mirror was shattered. the second wave of stormy weather was not as severe. after over an hour, we were finally on our way back home.
although chilly, the rest of the weekend was rather enjoyable.
my thoughts and prayers do go out to the people of coon rapids and hugo, who sustained much damage from the storm. a tornado touched down in both cities, killing a 2 yo boy, and injuring others. it's amazing, and very saddening just how powerful and destructive weather can be.