The holiday season approaches....
Well, here it is the start of another week, getting closer and closer to the end of the year. I think someone at work today said that there are 41 days until Christmas. Closer though is the Thanksgiving holiday break.
Thanksgiving, for those non-Americans who happen to be reading this, is perhaps one of the most revered of the American "holidays". It's a time when people will drive, fly, bus, and hitch to get back to see their family; and don't forget, being winter, that can mean long times on the crowded highways, often in treacherous weather conditions.
One memory I have from the first year I was living in the USA was of a total whiteout on the highway. We were close to Cleveland (Ohio) heading north to Michigan. Cleveland, being near one of the Great Lakes, suffers from what they call "lake effect" snow, which basically means that the wind blows across the lake and generates a lot of snow, and quickly! So, here we are, making good progress when we started to see lots of snow ploughs out on the highway -- this is always a sign of worsening conditions. Soon the conditions had become so bad that the road began to disappear and shortly after, a whiteout occurred...total loss of vision. This indeed was extremely scary and downright dangerous - it's little wonder there are so many multiple vehicle accidents on the roads during the winter months.
The photo here is indicative of what it's like on the roads during winter. It's no wonder that cars here get rusty so quickly, because not only do the ploughs clear the snow, they "seed" the roads with salt, designed to melt the snow and ice to make it easier to navigate.
Thankfully we own an all-wheel vehicle, a Mitsubishi Outlander. It's extremely good in snow, which is just as well, because that's what we hoped for when we bought it. According to American "standards", the Outlander is a small-size SUV. I wondered what SUV stood for when I first arrived...and soon found out it meant what I knew in Australia as a 4WD. The SUV stands for "sports utility vehicle". Trust the Americans to come up with a long winded name for a 4WD.
It's a time when Americans like to reflect and think about where they came from and where the future may be leading them. Well, that's what I think they are pondering anyway.
So...you might have guessed that I have adapted (kind of) to the winters here. I'm cautious driving on icy roads, and always heed the advice of others, especially when it comes to driving in snow.
Time for bed...more to follow in a couple of days...till then, take care!
Thanksgiving, for those non-Americans who happen to be reading this, is perhaps one of the most revered of the American "holidays". It's a time when people will drive, fly, bus, and hitch to get back to see their family; and don't forget, being winter, that can mean long times on the crowded highways, often in treacherous weather conditions.
One memory I have from the first year I was living in the USA was of a total whiteout on the highway. We were close to Cleveland (Ohio) heading north to Michigan. Cleveland, being near one of the Great Lakes, suffers from what they call "lake effect" snow, which basically means that the wind blows across the lake and generates a lot of snow, and quickly! So, here we are, making good progress when we started to see lots of snow ploughs out on the highway -- this is always a sign of worsening conditions. Soon the conditions had become so bad that the road began to disappear and shortly after, a whiteout occurred...total loss of vision. This indeed was extremely scary and downright dangerous - it's little wonder there are so many multiple vehicle accidents on the roads during the winter months.
The photo here is indicative of what it's like on the roads during winter. It's no wonder that cars here get rusty so quickly, because not only do the ploughs clear the snow, they "seed" the roads with salt, designed to melt the snow and ice to make it easier to navigate.
Thankfully we own an all-wheel vehicle, a Mitsubishi Outlander. It's extremely good in snow, which is just as well, because that's what we hoped for when we bought it. According to American "standards", the Outlander is a small-size SUV. I wondered what SUV stood for when I first arrived...and soon found out it meant what I knew in Australia as a 4WD. The SUV stands for "sports utility vehicle". Trust the Americans to come up with a long winded name for a 4WD.
It's a time when Americans like to reflect and think about where they came from and where the future may be leading them. Well, that's what I think they are pondering anyway.
So...you might have guessed that I have adapted (kind of) to the winters here. I'm cautious driving on icy roads, and always heed the advice of others, especially when it comes to driving in snow.
Time for bed...more to follow in a couple of days...till then, take care!
posted by ausurfer at
11:10 pm
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