Snow again?

So we have a storm warning tonight, and the next couple of days actually. Aidan is hoping for a snow day.

We don't normally get very much snow in Grants Pass itself - the elevation is about 900 feet on the "valley floor". We get an average of a dusting or two each winter and it's nearly always melted by noon. There are, however, foothills surrounding the city and we often see the snow there.

We actually did have a nice snow fall last Thursday; I took this picture looking out the kitchen door overlooking the patio at about 7:00 that morning:

At about 7:20, Aidan and I headed out with the snow coming down again, looking like a feather pillow was being shaken. I was wondering how the driveway would be since, as anyone who has been here knows, it's a little steep. I kept the car in first gear and it ended up being fine. But then I turned out onto Starlite Place and oh crap, it was icy!

As the car fishtailed, I was telling Aidan what to watch for (he currently has his learner's permit), "steer into the skid..." keeping the car in first and riding the brake. Now I realize that trying the brake wasn't the best idea, but at the time I had trouble keeping my foot off and of course the car wouldn't stop although I swear it slowed it down a little but what I didn't expect was this odd jerky motion as a result; I'm still not sure what that was about.

As we came around the hairpin turn and headed down that last straight stretch, I was picturing us gliding right on through the stopsign at Highland Avenue and I hoped there wouldn't be a vehicle coming because a collision would have really sucked. Hey, a dry spot under that tree! I was able to stop there and re-group a bit. When I "slid" the rest of the way down it wasn't so bad since the hill wasn't as steep there and there wasn't as far to go so I didn't pick up the speed like I had earlier so it was possible to stop at the stop sign. Whew!

I dropped Aidan at school and continued on to work. Just past Gold Hill I noticed there was noticably less snow and by Medford (30 miles from GP), there was NOTHING.

What an odd feeling. Here I've just risked my life and that of my child, and nobody at work had a clue about my drama. *sigh*

Yes, I used to say, "I grew up in the ice and snow, I know how to drive in this stuff!" But sadly, I haven't had enough practice over the past 25 years so now I'm like many of these other west coast people who have no clue...