December 22, 2008
The trip to Los Angeles was great! However, there were some complaints about how chilly it was with evenings dipping into the high 40's. Those complaints didn't come from me. I knew what the weather was like at home in Richland. There is a weather application on my iPod Touch so I am always able to see what the current weather (and five-day forecast) is for the cities I select (currently those cities are: Richland, WA; Provo/Springville, UT; Cleveland, OH; Santa Monica, CA; Portland, OR). I closely monitored the forecast for Richland and I knew it was going to be Cold when I returned home. The forecast was for a high of 19° and a low of 4°. I think it was about 11° when I got off the plane.
It had snowed a couple of inches every other day for over a week. That's really not a lot of snow, but it is too much if you live away from a main street. It just gets too deep to be able to drive and get good traction, unless your vehicle has a high profile, or mud/snow tires. My 2002 Accord with highway tires has had to sit in the garage for a full week. If you can get your car out of your neighborhood, there is no problem. The city workers keep the main roads well plowed and sanded.
Below are some pictures from in front of our house.
We work hard to keep the walk shoveled, but the snow on the street is higher and it keeps blowing back over the walk.
The moisture in snow is usually 1 inch of water to 10 inches of snow. This is very dry, powdery snow. The weatherman says the moisture equivalent is not 1" to 10", but 1" to 30". If you keep up with this snow, you can sweep it out of the way with broom.
Those of you from snowy places know that once you drive over the snow on your driveway, it turns to ice and is hard to get up. Well, that is what happened to our driveway and though it had most of the snow removed, there was still a nice thick layer of ice underneath. We have company coming over on Christmas Eve so Kyle helped me clear the whole thing so our guests have a safe place to walk. We did such a good job, they can even play basketball on it if they want!
This is one of the piles of ice that we scraped off of the driveway. Kyle was happy to help until he found out the ice had to come off, too.
Most of these presents are for Megan and Robby. They are bringing their parents here on Dec. 27th
This portrait of my grandmother, Ann Fein Gollos Hayden, hangs in my Aunt Mitzi's bedroom. It is a beautiful portrait and is exactly how I see my grandmother in my memory.
Apparently this is THE stroller you have to have if you live in Santa Monica. I think I saw 75 of these strollers...called "Uppababy" stroller.
This little shop is one block from Mitzi and Stan's place. We didn't go in, but I took a picture of it because of the name. Ponte Vecchio reminded me of Drew on his mission in Firenze.
That is Catalina Island in the center of the picture.
Malibu
These cute kids are from a very exclusive, expensive private French school. They were singing Christmas carols in French at the Studio City Mall. When I turned around I saw the scene below.
It was hard to get a good view of the singers with all the parents filming the whole thing.
A view from the mall.
Mitzi at the food court. She found this cute sweater at Banana Republic.
There were a couple of fake owls on the edge of the roof at the mall food court. I think they were supposed to keep the pidgeons away.
It didn't work.
This was the view as we went over the hill from the coast into the valley. It was beautiful that day. Hardly any smog.
This was Saturday afternoon. I wouldn't have expected to see this kind of traffic.
The route to Gary's house in Pasadena took us right past the exit to my grandparent's (former) home in North Hollywood. The house is about 3/4 of a mile from here.
This picture is for Kyle.
The flight home was wonderful. The only problem is that I left 50 degree sunny skies in California and arrived to 8 degree snow on the ground cloudy skies in Washington.
Wouldn't you like to visit a town named Wallula (http://columbiariverimages.com/Regions/Places/wallula.html)? The name "Wallula" has the same meaning as "Walla Walla" in the Nez Perce language, meaning "plenty of water" or "place of many waters". This is a good name, since the original town of Wallula and nearby Wallula Junction are now under the water of the Columbia River. The "new" Wallula is just off of the Columbia.
Near Wallula, on the Columbia River, is the Boise Cascade Pulp and Paper Mill plant. Make sure to put your a/c on "recirculate" well before you get there and leave it on for about ten minutes after you pass by. P-U!
Just as you pass the paper mill you see the Wallula Gap on the Columbia. I was a little late getting this picture, as the "gap" started to close.
Just past Wallula we turned east and to our south was an awesome site! This is the Stateline Wind Generating Project. There are 454 wind turbines over 44,800 acres. These tubines provide electricity for over 71,000 homes. Isn't that an awesome use of a stark hillside? The wind sure howls through this area!
The relays were held at the Baker Ferguson Fitness Center/Harvey Pool complex on the Whitman College campus. The funds for the pool facility were donated by a local wheat farmer who saw the need for a quality indoor pool to be used by the community. The only problem is that the spectator area feels like a sauna with the rising heat and moisture and it only gets worse as the meet progresses with all the water in the pool getting stirred up. With eight lanes and four boys lined up behind each lane...there were a lot of boys on the deck before each relay!
You can kind of see Kyle in this picture. He is on the left side of this picture, in the middle. He is the skinny one with the purple cap, adjusting his goggles.
View on the drive home, heading west.
Probably a winter wheat field.
The clouds looked amazing.
