Our Attempt to Yellowstone

This past weekend my roommates and I were making a trip to Yellowstone. Our plan was to drive up in separate cars and then before we entered the park to pack the 6 of us into Carol's car to go through, that way it would be cheaper. I for some reason wanted to stop and get gas (even though I had more than a half tank and we would've been fine), so we pulled off. Carol kept driving for some reason instead of waiting for us. We called and they just said to meet them up there. Once we were done at the gas station, we drove for about 30 minutes and I noticed a truck coming from the other direction. His flashers were on, so I slowed down thinking there was a cop up ahead or something. We went a little further and we saw a car pulled off on the other side and a man standing in the road waving us down, or so we thought. I had almost come to a stop when I looked around the bend in the road and noticed more lights. There had been an accident up ahead. My roommate Amanda who was sitting in the passengers seat immediately started saying, "Don't be Carol's car. Don't be Carol's car." We got closer and it was her car. I luckily saw my 3 roommates running out of a van to come and meet us where we pulled off. The other two in my car just saw Carol's totaled car sitting against the guard rail. They thought they were still inside. Amanda was already in tears and opening the door before I had completely stopped. Our roommates had all been wearing their seat belts, luckily!, and were able to walk away from the accident. They had hit black ice and spun out of control, hit the guard rail and kept spinning until it stopped. Luckily the guard rail was there, because it was a drop off down into the forest. Carol's hand got scraped up from the airbag, Danika's leg and neck are sore, and Jessica got whiplash. Other than that they were okay. We were blessed to have a couple ladies stop and play "Mom" for us when we definitely needed it. They had blankets around girls, coats were being pulled out and they were making us sit down. They also pointed out to us that we no longer had 2 cars to get home. I called our friend/big brother here at school, Levi, and he came to our aid with his lovely girlfriend/our old roommate Katie. They didn't make it in time to see the scene of accident, but they did make it in time so that Levi could help Carol with all the things that have to be dealt with afterwards.

We were incredibly blessed that day and the Lord was definitely looking out for us. If things had been different the accident would've much worse and there would've been more injuries. A few examples...
1. I drive faster than Carol. If I hadn't pulled off to get gas, I would've hit the black ice instead or if she stopped with us.
2. If I had hit the black ice, Carol would've been right behind us and crashing into my car soon after I started spinning.
3. My car is not built for safety. It's a good car, but much like a tin can. The girls in my car and myself would've needed matching ambulances if it had been us. Carol's car is much newer and built better.

Sadly Carol's car was officially totaled. It should've been taken to Salt Lake yesterday for scrap metal. We were all very grateful for the Lord's hand in our lives and for having each other there when we needed each other. The girls that were in the car are all just very sore right now, but doing fine.