Winter is for Hibernation

I know there are a lot of people out there that like winter but I'm not one of them.  The cold sucks.  The snow makes for pretty scenery but I'd be fine seeing it in a photo.  Somewhere back in prehistoric times I imagine that humans hibernated much like bears still do.  But then some jerk decided that they could get a leg up on all the normal people by being active during this time of year.  When the normal people awoke they found themselves months behind and had no choice but to be active, too.  In that way it's all very similar to what we're seeing today with more-and-more people being compelled to work during our holidays.  And that's not to mention the work related sleep deprivation many of us deal with throughout the year.  You'd think that our "advances" would have been geared toward making our lives better but in many ways they're costing us more time and making us less human.

Before Boarding

Earlier this week I needed to travel to Salt Lake City for a corporate event.  My flight was planned for Wednesday morning right, as luck would have it, when a big snow storm hit the Seattle area.  I went to bed the night before thinking that my flight would probably be canceled.  I woke up at 4:00a and found that Delta flight 2050 was still listed as "on-time".  Unfortunately, the bus that I usually take to the airport was listed as experiencing weather related delays and I knew that I couldn't count on it.  That meant I would have to hike up to the Kent-Des Moines Park-and-Ride to catch my alternate bus. 

Aboard the Plane

So I grabbed my bags and headed out.  About 6 inches of snow had fallen overnight and it was still snowing lightly.  The distance from my condo to the Park-and-Ride is about 2 miles, almost all of it steeply up hill.  I made it there in about 30 minutes only to find that my alternate bus was now no longer stopping there due to weather.  So I started walking again, another half mile to the other side of I-5 where I could catch the "A Line" bus that serves International Blvd.  That bus got me to the airport in plenty of time.  I boarded the plane "on-time" at 6:30a and stayed there on the tarmac for more than 4 hours.  At 11:00a they were finally able to de-ice my plane and we took off but the whole experience that led up to that had me convinced I was experiencing the last few hours of my life...
 
I returned home yesterday and caught my normal bus back home.  It is about a mile walk from the bus stop to my front door... very flat.  But even though the temperature had risen, the Seattle area was still a mess.  It took me close to 45 minutes to walk that mile because footing was so bad and I had to dodge so many fallen trees.  Several times I found myself falling through ice covered slushy snow, occasionally submerging my feet in freezing cold water.  When I reached the entry to my neighborhood I encountered a convoy of power line trucks that were leaving the area.  I thought that was a good sign... they probably just restored power to my condo.  But when I reached my complex there was nothing but darkness.  It was clear from the absence of cars that the power had been out for a while and most people had left long ago.  I went inside and changed out of the clothes that were soaked during my walk home.  Then I did what we do in the backcountry when it gets dark and cold... bundled up and went to sleep.  Power was restored at 8:15a... evidence from my DVR and wireless routers suggests it had been out since very early Thursday morning.

You may be wondering why I didn't call a taxi on Wednesday... well, I don't think you'd wonder if you've ever been in the Seattle area during a snow event and saw what the roads looked like that morning.  I'm sure the taxis had more than they could handle that morning and I knew my best bet for getting to the airport in time for my flight was a bus that didn't have to traverse any hills.