Snowbound

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We're having quite unusual winter weather in Seattle at the moment. We typically get snow maybe once or twice a winter, and it usually melts quickly afterward. But we've had two snowstorms in the past five days and expect another tomorrow.

Last weekend it snowed a couple of inches. Our part of Seattle (West Seattle) got it worse than the rest of the city, and it apparently started with some frozen rain because there was a sheet of ice under the snow. It took until Tuesday for the ice to melt off the sidewalk. No one prepares for that here (e.g. by keeping ice melter on hand) and none of the hardware stores have any in stock.

Wednesday we were supposed to get more snow. Seattle ended up in a snow shadow of the Olympic Mountains all day while all of the surrounding areas were getting snow. But at 4:00am Thursday it started to snow and it snowed almost continuously until 3:00pm. Once again, West Seattle got more than the rest of the city (we got 8" on our patio) but the whole city got blanketed. We are also having an unusual cold snap where we aren't getting above freezing so the snow and ice are sticking around a lot longer than usual. We aren't expected to get any melting before the next snow storm hits tomorrow afternoon.

So we've been essentially housebound. Most people are just staying home - there is very little traffic even on the main streets. But plenty of people are out walking around.

We live on a bus route that loops around the north end of West Seattle. Today to get out of the house we hopped on it and rode to the nearby business district (called the Alaska Junction - where Alaska St. crosses the other main street, California Ave.). We visited the pet store and the toy store and then went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch.

Audrey was fascinated by the chopsticks. She experimented until she was actually picking up noodles with them and getting them into her mouth. No style points, but still I was impressed.

Coincidentally, Audrey and Charlotte have been getting along exceptionally well the last few days. Excellent timing since we're housebound.

I'm hoping it stops snowing, melts and dries out after the storm this weekend. I was hoping to get in a couple of bike rides during my vacation.