Snow in the Rockies

After a fun filled, sun drenched holiday in Florida, I have returned to my 'home' of the moment in Calgary to find it covered in a thin layer of cold white frozen stuff. As much as I love the sun, I must say I do harbor a fair amount of the opposite emotion towards snow.

It makes things beautiful, but people forget how to drive in it, and it's just plain cold. If we could have the fun of snow, while enjoying the warmth of the sun and summer, I would enjoy it as much as any other person!

But sliding around in a car, avoiding icy patches that are staring you in the face, falling on my butt because it was plus 10 this morning, and icy rain is coating everything this evening type of days, do not actually do anything to win me any favor.

Seeing as winter is the option that we are stuck with on this part of the equator and world, I have decided to put together a list of the best places to go while it's snowing. Keep a look out, it will be posted soon, with some old favorites, and some new tidbits that might even have me smiling about the snow. Maybe.

My love/hate relationship

While the snow continues to fall, I am reminded of my last two homes, in New Zealand and Australia, where the snow didn't find me.  I had to go find it.  And when I did see snow, it was a completely joyful reunion where I frolicked and played like a small child again!  But the difference was that I didn't see it every day.  It didn't plague me on my days off, taunting me with nice days when I am stuck inside working, and then snowing every chance it gets when I'm allowed to join the outside world.

Here we are, sitting at the half way point of April and we are still getting snow.  A winter day in Melbourne means rain and wind.  Same as a lot of the UK, save Scotland who gets their fair share of snow.  A winter day in the Bay of Plenty in New Zealand, means rain and cold winds.  I can take the wind.  I can stand the rain.  What I'm a little sick of is this white stuff that is a cross between ice and rain, and brings with it freezing cold temperatures, and misery.

Why am I here?  Why do I call Calgary home?  I don't.  That probably explains everything.

On Days Like Today...

Once again the snow is falling outside and I am surrounded by the crazy white stuff.  The only saving grace is the fact that it's not actually cold outside as well.  But it does bring to mind the craziness that ensued when a girlfriend and I were still in Australia.

We had decided that in the wet and dreary winter, that is nothing compared to this I might add, that we were going to drive up to the mountains to get pictures of us with the snow.

Now these aren't Rocky Mountain type mountains, but they were more than our foothills, so we will continue calling them mountains for the time being.

I remember us driving up these crazy back roads, having no chains or supplies - kinda like we would have done in Canada - and finally getting to a point where we could go no further.  (Well without paying that is) So we pulled over to a pullout, and got the camera out.  But before we did, we put on our boardshorts, sandals and took off our jackets and posed!  The pictures were great and got a whole pile of respect from those back in Canada, but man was it still freaking cold!

Great pictures, and great memories.  Too bad this snow isn't like that snow.  Instead of having to live in it, we got back in the car and went back to civilization - which didn't have any snow!

Sometimes Travel Isn't Necessary

Please forgive my lack of posting the past couple days.  But as the title suggests, sometimes you don't have to stray very far from your own back yard to find yourself in an exotic land.

And that is exactly what happened in Calgary for the past two days.  A snowstorm blew in and was causing all sorts of commotion with close to 30cm of snow dropped in about 8 hours.  It's amazing how drivers who have been living in a snowy wintery wonderland for years on end, can still forget how to drive after the snow disappearing for all of five days.  

It was quite a scene, sitting on my balcony and watching the craziness slide by.  And slide it did with the amount of people on the road who were a little too heavy on their brakes, as well as their petrol pedals!  Cars going backwards, sliding sideways, and of course a fair number were stuck.  Stuck in snowbanks, stuck after spinning their tires, it was quite a sight to behold!

And on days like that, it's nice to know that I can step outside my condo and see a sight so foreign (though it shouldn't be) that all I can do is laugh.

God bless the last snowstorm of the year.  (And hopefully the last one that I will have to live through here in Canada!)