One year, for Christmas, my family went on vacation.

[quakerboy]

My father decided that the proper place for Christmas vacation was Yellowstone National Park.

I learned a lot that Christmas. I learned that with the right sleeping bag, you can be very comfortable in below freezing temperatures. I learned that you can have a small room where one side of the room is above 80 degrees and the other side of the room is below 20.

I learned that "waterproof socks" are a fools game. I learned that -20 is really not that bad as long as you are willing to wear socks with your sandals.

I learned that it can indeed get so cold that a car will not start. And I learned that I can drive 32 hours after getting less than 2 hours sleep per night for a week, when properly motivated by the desire not to spend another night in a room with my mothers snoring.


This winter reminds me of these things. Often. I love global climate change.

[rurallib]

1. Experience, the best teacher.

[ThomCat]

2. Damn.

That really sounds like a horrible holiday. :(

I hope you had at least a couple of good memories.

But, yes, this winter definitely seems to suck.

[quakerboy]

3. It was interesting

My father had reached a point in life where he had a lower metabolism, and only needed a small cup of Oatmeal for breakfast and one "senior portion" meal per day. Somehow in his mind, that equated to thats all the family needed. Including his 20 year old son. Who was broke and trapped in yellowstone, with only souvenir shops and one spendy restaraunt.

Also, I hate snow. Always have. Snow is like (insert your diety here) taking a dump on the world.

So yeah, this is my least favorite winter ever. It far surpasses that one, at least as far as weather goes, because at least you expect deep snow in Montana in December. Not in Portland Oregon. Plus, in all my years living here, this is the first year I can EVER remember having been cold here.