The forecast for Tuesday was slightly better - warming and no more snow. So I thought I would make the attempt. Besides, as I am sticking to the freeway - no back country roads at this time of the year - I figured the odds were in my favor.
I left home just before 6 AM and the freeway was wide open and clear and basically dry. I left the half hour later than normal so that I could have some daylight on my journey. Traffic was flying along all the way from the King-Snohomish county line through Mt. Vernon. Then Someone, it appeared, had drawn a line just north of Hwy 20. South of that "line" there was NO snow on the flat (some in the mountain foothills). Across that "line" there was snow blanketing the fields. The difficulty wasn't the beautiful fields covered with snow and accented with small fogs here and there. The difficulty was the ice on the freeway that accompanied the snow in the fields.
I have no idea what happened, but there had been a major accident right past the Cook Rd exit. The accident had happened quite a bit earlier (I had heard about it while driving through Everett) but there was still a major presence on the road. A flatbed tow-truck had loaded a pickup. And behind that, and parked on the shoulder, was a badly rear ended and mashed up Washington State Patrol car.. I didn't see the rest because traffic was moving again and I had to concentrate on what lay ahead. Rather than my usual 70 mph (posted) journey up the grade to Bellingham, I opted for a nice sedate 50 -- and lived to tell.
I arrived at work and at 7:45 was not surprised to be there alone. The surprise was that the snowplows had piled snow across the parking lot entrances. I drove past the office and to the Rite-Aid next door and turned around in their nicely plowed parking lot. Drove back and realized the only option was to park on the street. There was room for parking and for a driving lane, so I parked, grabbed my lunch, and worked at not slipping and falling on the ice that was on top of the snow. The first couple of steps were the deepest as I crossed the plowed area.
It was nice as time went by to no longer be alone. First Yadira showed up; then Mike, and finally nearly everyone else showed up as the time went by. Mike put a nice large sign on the door that said "We are Open" which gave us hope that FedEx and UPS and DHL and friends might actually deliver the important things we might need!
Out of my window. ..Interesting lighting that some of the shadow is blue and some is gray.
As the sun shifted to the afternoon, the shadows lengthened and the snowfall became a little more picturesque.
Nicole's car is giving a demonstration of why no one wanted to attempt the jump into the parking lot. That is the driveway she is parked next to! Wouldn't it be fun to get hung up and have your wheels somewhat off the ground -- no, walking was more appealing than that!
Then Mike took pity on all incoming and outgoing participants in the snow day and created a path. Personally, I freely admit to sexism when it is to my advantage. I firmly believe that God made men with their abilities so that we can let them shovel outside in the cold while we do whatever seems more reasonable at the time - inside!
At the end of the day it was time to head southward on the commute -- leaving time to make it all the way past the snow belt and down to Mt. Vernon and again past the snow line before it actually got dark. Beautiful late afternoon winter!
And now that it is going to be March is just a few days -- and now that we have had a final fling with winter so that we have participated with the rest of the country -- IT IS NOW TIME FOR SPRING!
On the road again -- almost to Mt. Vernon
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