We went “Wauklyn” in a Winter Wonderland yesterday — not many opportunities for us to do that here in the mild maritime pocket of Portland.
We went out to Lauralhurst park, to see if the pond was frozen. All of Portland was out with us. People were sledding down the street and people without sleds had their river-floating gear. Lots of cross-country skiers — lots of snow gear that probably hadn’t seen the light of day since 2008, when we had our last major snow that stuck.
Us Coloradoans got rid of all of our snow gear about four years ago when it became clear that we’d hardly ever have cause to use it. But two wool socks in a rain boot makes for a good snow boot, and when the snow is as dry as this you aren’t so much in for wet as cold. So we piled on our woolens like a 1940s Rockwell Painting and went out in it with the rest of the city.
We don't even have that many plows in our fair city, and the few we have are usually dispatched to the interstate. So the roads have been packed down to a slick slab that has since frozen over with the frozen rain overnight. High hopes for it melting in time for work to proceed as normal for most of the citizens (and, for me, so the library will open). But it’s been fun to look at in the meantime.
