Garth's Blog: Let It Snow... In March?

Note: Photos were added here on 3/8/09. Additional winter storm pics can be found on my January 2 post.

The forecast calls for more snow this weekend in the Portland metro area. I hope it starts falling in time for Kathy’s and my hike on Saturday! Either way, I am happy with the snow levels that have hit the Portland metro area this winter.

Last Thursday’s snow accumulation wasn’t too impressive, but waking up to a view of white trees prompted me to make an early Americano run around the corner to Black Rock coffee bar (pictured above, from this winter’s second snow event in January). Whether or not our snow storm earned the news media’s “Arctic Blast” moniker, this has been the best winter weather I’ve seen in my life.

The snow started falling on Friday, December 12. I caught my first glimpse of it while driving home from a class reunion at Warner Pacific College.

On Sunday morning, the snow started to accumulate while we worshipped at church.

On Thursday night, December 18, we met my family at a yacht club on the Columbia River for a tour of the annual Christmas ships parade.

My parents, Kathy, Summer, and I boarded a friend's yacht and gazed out the windows as the other brightly lit ships bobbed past us.

We even ventured outside to the deck, breathing in the chilly air as we weaved through the display of floating Christmas imagery.

By Saturday, ODOT had issued a warning for motorists to curtail any unnecessary driving. Of course, I used every excuse I could think of to drive my Jeep all over town.

The icy ruts were the cause of several accidents, many of them worse than the pile up in this photo.

Sharing the road with only a few other brave souls allowed me to rescue stranded drivers at will, glide through sparsely populated stores, and, most importantly, replenish our depleted supply of Peet’s coffee beans.