Waiting out the Weather

The two hour drive home from the cottage took over 3 hours today, mostly because I stopped for dinner about 3/4 of the way back in order to wait out a storm. I hadn't planned to stop but the really black cloud approaching from the west was making me a little worried and I figured there was no rush, better safe than sorry, as they say. About five minutes after I ordered my food and sat down, so much rain started hitting the window and the wind was blowing it around the parking lot outside with such force that I actually considered moving to a table towards the centre of the room, as it was so black outside that I wondered if there was a tornado touching down nearby. The power shut off across the street, taking all the streetlights and stoplights for several blocks in both directions with it, but all was well inside the restaurant where I was. The waves of water outside looked more like a winter snowstorm than a summer thunderstorm, but then again, it could have been the frigid A/C inside that was confusing me. :)

Here's a picture of what it looked like outside the window beside me during the height of the storm:

And here's another shot I took stopped at a red light when conditions lightened up and I headed back on the road. The rest of the drive was rather wet but uneventful (although it was weird to go through those first few intersections in the dark with no stoplights whatsoever, not even flashing ones), although the lightning displays were absolutely amazing. Still, I'm glad to be home and dry and out of that weather!