Originally Posted by
doog
I came to Portland to go to school, and when I first came here I was *amazed* at how people reacted to snow. The city of Portland more or less shut down that first winter when it snowed two inches. A few years later we got some snow (probably 4 inches) and I was driving a Miata at the time, on my way home from work on I-5 there were a ridiculous number of 4x4s and SUVs in the ditches along the side of the road, I was doing fine until I nearly got taken out by a car in front of me that did a 360. After having lived here for 14 years I've learned my lesson: take the bus when the snow starts to fall.
I remember when I was in preschool in California and it snowed 1/8" (circa 1990). I was in north San Luis Obispo county (near Paso Robles), and my mom and dad worked in San Luis, on the other side of Cuesta Grade. They shut the grade down, leaving me stranded at the preschool. My dad, who is from Minnesota, even drove up to the roadblock on the grade and tried to negotiate passage with the cops, but they firmly said no. (He ended up driving around the long way through Morro Bay, I think.) Meanwhile, I was finally picked up by a Paso Robles-based friend. Great fun!