Adventures in the snow

2006-1-13 Jadine in Harmony
Originally uploaded by Jadine.

Adventure #1:
It has snowed in Seattle twice since Christmas. (Thanks global warming!) On the first of these occasions, Jen and I left our office in Redmond at possibly the worst time, 5 pm. By then there was already about a cm of snow on the ground and the temperature was hovering around the freezing mark so there was also ice hidden under some of the compacted snow. But, we were in the Subaru, armed with all-wheel drive and ABS brakes, virtually invincible, right? Noooo...not when all the other cars on the road only have two-wheel drive and their wheels are spinning out and blocking access to other cars as they try to climb on-ramps, off-ramps and general Seattle hilliness. As you can imagine traffic was bad...we had traveled about 3 km in 2 hours and were pulling our hair out...there had to be another solution! So, we abandoned the car on a sidestreet (preferable to the middle of the hill like some people were doing...dumbasses), and walked to highway 520 to take the bus. After all, that morning my bus had had chains on it, a surefire way back to Seattle and my pyjamas. As we approached the bus stop, I saw the bus sitting there with its hazard lights blinking. The chains had been put on the previous day in preparation for snow that came a day late, and had been removed that afternoon. Brilliant move. So, the bus would sit there until the truck arrived with the chains...the truck that was undoubtably stuck in traffic somewhere. Then someone at the bus stop came up with the brilliant idea to hitchhike. We were afterall, standing at the on-ramp to the 520 right next to the Microsoft campus. Maybe some kindly stranger would see this as a good opportunity to increase their carpooling power...Sure enough, we got picked up pretty quickly. Our kindly strangers were three Microsofties, perfectly harmless. It was a slow and steady ride along the 520 and as we got closer to Seattle the conditions improved. All told the journey home took a whopping 3 hours; normally it is a half-hour to 45-minute trip. As a bonus though, the roads the next day were perfectly clear as most people were too scared to drive.

Adventure #2:
I went on a whirlwind trip to Whistler with a friend that Jesse introduced me to. We left at 4:30 am on Saturday morning and arrived at around 9:30 am. Set ourselves up our "ski in, ski out" chalet and hit the slopes. The best run of the day was following this photo, on the Harmony Ridge run on Whistler. It was near the end of the day so we had the hill to ourselves. The snow was soft and powdery, and the minus 15 degree wind kissed my cheeks. My toes were warm thanks to the adhesive "Toe Warmers" that I had bought on a whim at the Roundhouse. I have never skied with warm toes before...so much better!! Needless to say, after a full day of skiing, I was nearly falling asleep in my overpriced and mediocre-tasting jerk chicken. It was a pretty quiet night at the chalet. Our hot tub was broken, so we just played cards and sat around. One by one we dropped off, and I was in bed by 1am. We left the next morning at around 10:30 am, had breakfast in West Vancouver, and stopped at the Seattle Premium Outlets on the way back to Seattle. That night, I went to a turkey dinner at Jen and Greg's. I brought garlic bread...it was a big hit. Drank some, ate more. This adventure ended by 11 pm when I ran out of batteries. I love my bed...All other beds pale in comparison...