Winter is here, and so is winter driving! Or, as one friend likes to call it: “The Season During Which Minnesotans Relearn Physics.”
Well, we knew we couldn’t avoid it forever. But man, things change fast up here! I mean a day prior it was a typical sunny, cool, fall day. And then on Saturday it was all like:
Photos in order are: 35W South, Driving Across the 35W Bridge, Downtown Minneapolis and the Stone Arch Bridge, Near Hwy 7 & Hwy 100 in St. Louis Park, Lake Calhoun, Uptown, Our Front Yard, and The Hubby in the Snow.
Yuck! But there are a couple of awesome things associated with the first snowfall of the year:
1) I made an appointment to get snow tires put on my car on Friday evening. If I was a day trader I would so have been buying stock in tire companies in Minnesota at the end of last week. I don’t know how Discount Tire in Eden Prairie managed to fit me in, but they did. Off came the worn, barely-acceptable-for-dry-summer-roads tires, and on went shiny new Michilin X-Ice 2s! Considering what the roads looked like at the end of Saturday afternoon, I felt really lucky to have gotten this chore done just in the nick of time.
2) We managed to get the motorcycle put away for the winter on Saturday morning just as it was starting to snow. We didn’t really make it to our storage garage in Mounds View before it got gross out, but we did manage to minimize the damage.
I was the driver for this little expedition and had to get all winter-geared up for the 15-mile drive in 25°F, lightly snowing weather.
I’m wearing thick socks, insulated ankle-high workboots, jeans, carhart overalls, a t-shirt, a sweatshirt, my leather motorcycle jacket, a carhart coat, lined leather gloves, a neck wrap, a fleece hood that covers my nose and mouth, and my full-face helmet.
I’ll start out by saying that we made it to Mounds View without incident. But the ride overall…what’s the word…oh yeah – sucked. The Hubby rode behind me in the car and I slowly made my way up 35W on the light layer of fresh, blowing snow. One thing that I discovered right away is that the snow was heavier and wetter than I had anticipated. I had to keep wiping snow off of my face shield, and near the very end of the ride it started icing over and had to be scraped off. Blergh. But, like I said, this was earlier in the day, so the snow hadn’t started to really accumulate yet and clog up the roads. And now it’s done.
That’s about it. The snow stayed overnight and through the weekend. It hasn’t melted yet, but the temperature is supposed to rise up to as high as 50°F by the week’s end, which should make Black Friday shopping a bit more cheery!
I had some fun with my new camera this weekend. I took lots and lots and lots of photos, and then proceeded to erase lots and lots and lots of photos. I learned that my camera currently knows a hell of a lot more than I do, but I reckon to be fixin that right quick.
Here are some of my favorite photos from the weekend:
I’m going to try Flickr out for sharing some of my photos. I’ve set up a Flickr widget in the Biodork blog sidebar to the right. It will take you to my album if you want to see some of the wacky times I’m having. This will also provide an outlet for me to post my photos without driving you all batty.
This is a collection of photos and quotes gathered from my Facebook friends and Twitter peeps about Saturday’s roundhouse, no holds barred, smack you upside the head, first snowfall of 2010 for the Twin Cities and greater metro area. Thanks to all of those who gave me permission to share your photos here.
From Brianne in Minneapolis
It tis a pretty white wonderland out there! Love the first few snowfalls! So pretty and why am I up so early?
WTF, snow?
Negative: I have to drive to Bloomington within the hour. Positive: I’ve had snow tires on since May.
If you haven’t been outside yet: You don’t want to be outside #Slipocalypse
Snow is a four-letter word.
Heavy, wet snow. We have a couple of inches and it is expected to fall all day; and we have an invite to a patio party this evening. Life in Minnesota!
I want a f*cking award for driving to Bloomington in a #slopocalypse
From Annetta in Minneapolis
: SNOW! </giddy>
Good thing I allowed extra time to get to work. Took me 12 minutes! Double the norm. God bless 4-wheel drive and anti-lock brakes.
Aaaand my little corner of Minnesota officially has snow! WI is wet and cold, but the fluffy harbinger Old Man Winter is nowhere to be seen.
Ummmm…….. that’s a lot of freakin’ snow. Good thing I planned to be hibernating today.
Today I get to go to Edmonton. I snow. IN SNOW. I LOVE SNOOOWO+WWWW
Snow must be very heavy. The tree branches are sagging.
IT’S NOT WINTER THE SUN IS SHINING LA LA LA I CAN’T HEAR YOU
From Annetta in Minneapolis
The kids were so excited to stuff themselves into snow gear and get out there this morning!
Plan for the day? Stay inside while I love the hell out of the man outside shoveling. Then curling up inside while we test this Netflix online thing. Mmm, hibernation!
Five cars in ditch and one awesome dude if front of us who went into the median, FLOORED the gas and pulled a U-ie, drove into the opposite lane. Lucky for him there was no oncoming traffic. I cheered. Might as well have been a Viking touchdown.
Nothing goes better with snow than a hot bowl of pho and happy hour drink specials until 5pm. Cheers, Hai – Ngon Bistro
Holed up in my hermit cave with pizza fixins I picked up yesterday. I sense baking madness shall overtake me today. On this day of snow.
I really wish I could hibernate.
Alright! Shoveling snow. I think my arms are pretty much disabled for the rest of the day.
From Lynn in Cleveland
I. LOVE. SNOW. And if you don’t, suck it up!
Snow is wonderful if you don’t have to go out in it. I love snow, but after having to drive through the worst of it, work all day, dig my car out, and then shovel the driveway, I’m temporarily over it. Maybe I’ll feel better tomorrow.
Need something to keep out the cold. Is scotch and hot chocolate a bad idea?
This snow is very very wet and very very sh*tty to shovel.
It’s absolutely wild out there…streets here aren’t plowed yet and the snow just keeps coming. We did make it to the store for necessities and are staying in today with a fire, games and soup.
Power just went out @ the mall. Awesome!
Have one boy outside in the snow and one boy on the couch under a blanket watching Spiderman 3. Got a whole bunch of wet jackets and mittens drying in the bathtub on a rack for the next go round. I’m a little worried about my mom, her power is out from the snow. I braved it and went grocery shopping and now it’s all about staying tucked in.
From Sunny in Shakopee
What a crappy day.
D. is literally trapped in her house because there are two trees blocking the exit from her street.
If it wasn’t so wet, if it wasn’t for the snow plow (twice), if it wasn’t for the depth….this shoveling thing might not be so bad.
Our awesome crew of Delivery Men and Women will passionately and speedily bring you piping hot Pizza Luce Pizza all the while making it look easy. We RULE at delivery, especially when it snows.
Okay, freaking out a bit. My gutters are now bending from the weight. I’m hideously afraid of heights and can’t get up on the roof to clear out the gutters. I’m worried they are going to bust. DAMN IT!!!!!
Perfect day to be watching a marathon of “In Living Color”
This weather’s been messing with my sinuses all day.
From Forrest in Columbia Heights
i hate snow.
It’s a damn good thing F. got the lawn raked last night – cuz today he has to shovel up to 10 inches of snow. God I love having a man around.
Worried about how heavy the snow is. Anyone else having pounding on their roof from it dropping from tree branches? Praying the power doesn’t go out!
It’s still 60 degrees in Chicago. I will try to convince the weather to come with me when I return tomorrow.
Snow… blech!
Ok, I’ve already done my first round of shoveling for the day. That’s the only way I can keep up with it, it’s so wet and slushy! Sure is pretty though.
I think this definitely qualifies as a “storm”. I’ve gotten so used to meteorologists trying to create drama with severe forecasts that I just kind of assumed there would just be a few flakes.
From Kammy in Minneapolis
Seeing a vivid-red cardinal in a snow-flocked tree reminds me of the beauty of the seasons. I’ll be trying to remember that while shoveling!
It’s officially winter: Minneapolis declares the first Snow Emergency of the season.
F*ck you, snow. Just f*ck you.
Mmmm…wine and a snowy evening snuggled in with my two favorite men. Nothing could be better.
PLOW THE F*CKING ROADS – RT@MnDPS_MSP Of the 401 crashes today, 45 were with injuries
From Kammy in Minneapolis
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Being cold sucks, shoveling snow sucks, driving and walking in the snow sucks.. but it’s so beautiful!
meh….fraking snow.
Happy snow, everyone! *le SQUEEEEEEEE!*
It’s only 4:45. Dark descending. Surrounded by snow. Lassie, go get Timmy!
