The 5 stages of snow in Portland

****Special Post by Guest Blogger Moosedrool.****
How the city of Portland deals with snow is a lot like the 5 stages of grief. First everyone is in denial, where they stay home and convince themselves that the snow will go away soon. Then the anger starts as people realize they hate driving in snow. Then barganing starts when folks start to go places again, slowly and only if it's a short distance to drive. Next comes depression because even if the snow were to all go away, we still have another 4 to 5 months of cold, cloudy, rainy weather. And finally acceptance as we all buckle down and go on about our lives all bundled up.

Everyone except ODOT. They apparently are stuck in the denial phase. Every year it seems we have severe enough weather that closes down the roads, and every year ODOT shows that the most they can do is hold press conferences and close the roads. Other cities have snow plows and even hire equipment to help clear things up.

Needless to say, with the closure of I-84, we had to find an alternative route to go home for Christmas. That route took us through Seattle. It would have taken us further on to Spokane, but it got dark and late and we decided to hole up in a hotel and wait for more daylight (and hopefully for more snowplows). For the kids who didn't have to drive all that way in the snow and ruts, they are having a great time jumping on the beds and watching cable tv. For the rest of us, we only have another day of snow covered mountain passes to look forward to. I miss denial.