I hope the paucity of posts this past week can be forgiven. These past few days have been especially busy at work and I have been feeling a bit under the weather.
On Monday and Tuesday of this week, maybe Wednesday, also, I can't exactly remember, I had the eerie pleasure of driving through a bit of fog on my way to work. Fog also greeted me as I arrived and hung around for some time on those days. The view from The Northern Light's second-story office usually gives a pretty good view of Canada just across the water. On the foggy days, however, visibility stopped just beyond the road that runs parallel to the water line.
With these instances included, I only have to use both my hands to count the number of times I've been in fog. Understandably, this came as a surprise to all my co-workers. Most of them were even more surprised to learn that the very first time I had ever been in fog was four years ago at the beginning of my freshman year at Western.
You see, fog does not happen much, at all really, in my hometown. I vividly remember how surreal it was to walk through it that night I experienced it for the first time. I also remember being a little angry, seeing as how that particular instance of fog delayed me from flying home for a few days.
Experiencing it again this week made me think back on my first weeks at Western,which were also my first weeks in the Pacific Northwest, and all the drastically different weather conditions it had to offer. With my adult life in this part of the country just barely beginning, I can't help but think what other unique aspects of this place will send memories of my earliest days here rushing back.
I guess only time will tell.
Showing posts with label las vegas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label las vegas. Show all posts
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Driving in the Rain
Today on my drive to work, the sky really let everyone have it. Hell, lake-fulls of water fell from the sky pretty much all day. I write this post not as a hackneyed rant on how much it rains in the Pacific Northwest. That complaint really doesn't have any teeth anymore, and it's something I've gotten used to as a transplanted Washingtonian.
Instead, I'd like to spend some time here thanking everyone I passed or saw driving on I-5 on my way to work for driving safely in the rain. Wet-weather driving probably comes as second nature to most everyone who calls this corner of the U.S. home, but it is truly refreshing to see for someone coming from a completely different climate (me).
In my hometown of Las Vegas it rains as much as it did today for a few weeks in August and September; our wet season, if you will. Because of the paucity of rain showers leading to normally dry ground and the Las Vegas valley's geography, flash floods are not uncommon. The yearly occurrence of flash flooding even inspired our regional flood control district to initiate a fairly well-known billboard campaign warning of the dangers of floods with billboards like this:
Despite these painfully obvious warnings, some people continue to not get it. Shots of stranded motorists being rescued from cars they drove into waist-deep water are a more common site on the local news than I'm comfortable admitting regularly.
You'd think images like the one above would be hard to forget.
Some Las Vegas drivers also seem to think that driving in the rain at or over the speed limit is a good idea; as if getting to their destination as quickly as possible is the best way to drive in wet weather. People eventually learn, but then inexplicably forget a year later, that driving in the rain means slowing down. The posted speed limit is not a challenge, it is the fastest most drivers can safely travel in the best conditions; roads glossy with water are far from ideal.
Fortunately, people in my adoptive state seem to get it. Most everyone I saw driving today kept a safe distance from the car in front of them and did not seem to feel the irresistible urge to go flat out. I have a feeling this will be only one of the many things with which I am continually pleasantly surprised as I grow more and more to consider Bellingham my home.
Instead, I'd like to spend some time here thanking everyone I passed or saw driving on I-5 on my way to work for driving safely in the rain. Wet-weather driving probably comes as second nature to most everyone who calls this corner of the U.S. home, but it is truly refreshing to see for someone coming from a completely different climate (me).
In my hometown of Las Vegas it rains as much as it did today for a few weeks in August and September; our wet season, if you will. Because of the paucity of rain showers leading to normally dry ground and the Las Vegas valley's geography, flash floods are not uncommon. The yearly occurrence of flash flooding even inspired our regional flood control district to initiate a fairly well-known billboard campaign warning of the dangers of floods with billboards like this:
 | ||
| Source: http://www.ccrfcd.org/2004billboards.htm |
You'd think images like the one above would be hard to forget.
Some Las Vegas drivers also seem to think that driving in the rain at or over the speed limit is a good idea; as if getting to their destination as quickly as possible is the best way to drive in wet weather. People eventually learn, but then inexplicably forget a year later, that driving in the rain means slowing down. The posted speed limit is not a challenge, it is the fastest most drivers can safely travel in the best conditions; roads glossy with water are far from ideal.
Fortunately, people in my adoptive state seem to get it. Most everyone I saw driving today kept a safe distance from the car in front of them and did not seem to feel the irresistible urge to go flat out. I have a feeling this will be only one of the many things with which I am continually pleasantly surprised as I grow more and more to consider Bellingham my home.
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