Pacific Northwest 101

[JennsPeeps]

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HHHahahahhhhhhhaaaaa!!!!! Most people think that WA state is all rain forest & rabid recyclers. They don't realize that the lovely mountains to the east of Seattle create this phenomenon called "a rain shadow".

Sure makes for some good wine.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

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i was completely boogled! i worked in downtown seattle and the first winter i was there we couldnt understand why everyone ran for their cars when the first snowflake fell... we left at our normal time and had to dodge and weave around cars abandoned on the upside of the hill on the west seattle bridge!!! what are they thinking?

oh well.....

Sounds like first snowflake freakout lady. Lol!

I have been known to use my hospital ID to get through police roadblocks, during snow events.

Imps have no shame



"A question for people on the coast. Are there huckleberries there? We have tons of huckle berries here, they sell for over $40 a gallon and taste almost like blueberries but not."
I grew up with red huckleberries. I just had to buy a huckleberry plant, I can't seem to find them wild here. I don't care as much for the blue huckleberries. Kinda like a sour blueberry.


And flying...
When I first moved to Wa. I argued with a friend about the veracity of there being a desert in Wa. Then she took me to her hometown- Pasco.

Around here everyone has their secret huckleberry spots that they pass down from generation to generation.

Yeah, the Tri-cities area and Moses lake and all that is scablands, almost scary,lol.

I have a funny story about you coasties. We were over there in November for a show and that weekend we got -25 here at home. Over there, I forgot which town but anyway we were in the hotel room watching the news and the weather man said "Its a chilly 33 degrees out there, be careful on the roads and wear your mittens". Then we went out for dinner and there were cars all over crashed and smashed because of the tiny layer of ice, we laughed so hard because people couldnt drive and were panicking, best thing ever LOL.

Lucky for us those wonderful mountains to the west of us keep most of the rain away.

Oh that reminds me, back in the 1980's they released reeves pheasants in Spokane County to try and naturalize them like ringnecks because our county is most like their natural habitat, just thought I'd share that little fact.

 

[AngieChick]

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In our defense, even when I grew up in MI, if it was 33 degrees out and icy, they canceled school. We could have several feet of snow and still have to go, but ice with a layer of water on the top is extraordinarily dangerous to drive on, even for us hardened Michigonians. We had a week before Christmas this year that had horrid roads, a continuous cycle of freezing at night and raining in the am, creating sheets of water on sheets of ice. It was incredibly dangerous. My cousin in Sisters was teasing us about not being able to handle a little snow until I told her that it was water on ice.

It always amazes me that we have such extremes in the NW. Sisters gets around 14 inches of precipitation a year, we get over 50", and 20 miles west of us gets over 100". There are rocky coasts running parallel to dense temperate rainforests, all within 300 miles of the high deserts. There are some incredible places to explore.

 

[JennsPeeps]

Also in our defence, there are HILLS in W WA. hills + snow/ice = danger

I went to college in Ellensburg and am comfortable driving in the snow. I now commute to Seattle from Tacoma. I'm that PEMCO lady who freaks out at snow, not because I'm afraid of driving, but because I refuse to spend 2-5 hours on the road just trying to get to my office. To heck widdat.

 

[Imp]

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Amen Jennspeeps,
Hills will do you in. I grew up in hilly SE Alaska, and learned that the gas peddle is your friend. When I lived in Anchorage, in the winter, you didn't have to stop for red lights going up and down steep hills. You laid on the horn and the side streets stopped for you.

Imp- At least that was the theory

I was out shopping today and heard 1st snowflake freakout lady, on the radio, Thought about you all. (It was on Jack FM)

And Flying... Was the reeve experiment successful?

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Here we have mountains with snow and ice. I know lots of people that live in the mountains that have a little parking area scraped out near the road with a rope going up the driveway for when the driveways get icy.

 

[FrenchHen]

I am laughing soooo hard at this! I may be from the south, but I don't fit in there. I didn't see "adopted a culture other than my own" girl. You know, like my Native American friend who does Irish Dance.
Or the white lady in African drumming club...

 

[JennsPeeps]

FrenchHen, PEMCO does have a "confused East Coast Transplant Lady". That would have to suffice for you, the transplanted Southerner.

 

[FrenchHen]

But I'm not confused! I"m like the bee girl in the Blind Melon video who finally found a field of bees to frolic with!

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

The last I heard there were still some breeding in the Cheney area. Someone in the Deer Park area said they saw some reeves, they might be the pair that escaped from me last year.