I’m pretty sure that regardless of where you live in the States – if you watched the news/weather last week you saw reports of the extreme winter weather the pacific northwest was dealing with.

I’ll spare the complaining that “I know what real winter is” and the “when I was a kid, winter was …” stories. You all know I grew up in Michigan. I know how to drive in it and so does everyone else – oh, and in Michigan, they plow the roads.

That’s the thing. The “extreme winter weather” here was only “extreme” because it’s Seattle. Because the city isn’t equipped for snow. Annually we get less than 6 inches of snow. Last week we got that in one day. Seattle doesn’t plow, or salt/sand the roads. The hills here are insane. The city deals with that by placing road closed signs at the top/bottom of the hills.

I’m torn in my feelings on this. Part of me keeps thinking like someone from Michigan – it’s snow, it’s winter, get over it. Do we really need 5 continuous hours of coverage on the news? Replaying the same news reporters driving down the same roads interviewing people who are “scared of the slush” on the road. (That was a literal quote. She was “scared of the slush”.) Then I remind myself ‘when in Rome’ and all that. Most people do not know how to properly drive in winter conditions. Even if you do the steep hills are a sheet of ice and can easily cause problems for seasoned drivers. I get it. I do. And we stayed put.

The best part about the snow was the excitement of the first snow feeling we would get in Michigan. It was thrilling to play in and walk around in and everything looks amazing covered in heavy wet snow. The boys had a blast. The other amazing thing – the snow melted. Back to temps in the 40′s. I really do hate the cold of winter. I need to take up some sort of winter sport – like skiing or snowboarding. As much as I love the mountains I think I’d not mind the cold if I was out in it someplace beautiful. Until then – a few photos of the snow…

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