Monday, January 25, 2016

Snowblind

It's over. The great blizzard of 2016 has moved on, after dumping up to almost two feet (61 centimeters) of snow on the Washington, D.C. area. The storm doesn't have a catchy name like "Snowpocalypse" or "Snowmageddon" yet, but the Washington Post says the amount of snow that accumulated over the weekend will probably rank in the top five snowstorms to have ever struck this region. 

The fun actually began on Wednesday. Even though everyone knew a blizzard was due to arrive by Friday, people were caught off-guard by a relatively light dusting of snow on the evening of the 20th. Though it only amounted to a couple of inches or so (five centimeters), the fact that it happened just as the evening rush hour was getting into gear combined with the lack of preparation by the authorities to bring traffic to a halt. What would've taken some people minutes to get home ended up taking several hours. Fortunately for me, the snow only started falling as I was getting off the shuttle bus at my apartment complex, so my commute home wasn't affected. Here is the view of from our balcony later that evening:


Thursday was uneventful weather-wise, but it did happen to be my daughter's tenth birthday. In addition to the gifts we gave her, Amber received an additional present in the form of the next day (Friday) being declared a snow day due to the approaching storm:


For its part, the federal government decided it stay open until noon on Friday, so I went to school for one class. The snow began falling and the wind began blowing later that afternoon. By the time we went to bed that evening, cars in the parking lot were beginning to get covered (ours included):



Saturday was the worst of the blizzard. This was the view that greeted me after waking up yesterday morning:



Amber could barely contain her excitement:


The snow was coming down hard, and the wind was furiously whipping it around, but a blizzard like this was too good to pass up. So after lunch my daughter, my wife and I bundled up and headed out into the elements. For me, it was a chance to break in my heavy-duty winter jacket, which I had had specially made last winter while we were still living in Shanghai, but had not yet had an opportunity to wear. Despite my hands freezing up each time I took off my gloves to take a photo, and the pain my face was feeling from the stinging snow blowing directly at me, my body was surprisingly warm in the 23°F (-5°C) temperatures:


Outside was a winter wonderland:



The kids in the apartment complex were taking advantage of the one slope on the grounds. That's Amber walking up, partially obscured by a tree. And despite appearances to the contrary, there were no casualties that afternoon:


While my daughter continued to play on the slope, I took a walk around the compound. Some people were trying to dig their cars out from under the snow despite the fact the blizzard was still going strong:


The cemetery next door:


The boulevard going by our apartment building was sensibly empty of traffic:


Little snowmen were scattered about the grounds:


Our car. Despite appearances, we were relatively fortunate, a result of our location. Cars several spaces down from ours were almost completely buried:


I took this picture while standing in the middle of the road, facing directly into the wind:


Another view from our balcony, shortly after returning home:


A couple more pics:



It was still snowing after dinner, but the worst of the blizzard was over by this point. My daughter and I ventured out once again, while my wife decided it was better to stay inside and enjoy the warmth. Amber busied herself with making snow angels:




Some people were going to have their work cut out for them the following day:



Today (Sunday) was sunny, and with the storm having moved on, it was time to survey the damage. Our balcony this morning:


Pamela had made this snow...thing yesterday, using an old pumpkin from Halloween (which explains its plump appearance). And in case you're wondering, yes, we do still have our Christmas tree up:


I went outside on my own after breakfast, leaving the apartment complex and venturing out into the neighborhood. I first trudged through Oakwood Cemetery: 


After seeing how the dead were coping with the snow, I walked down the hill toward the metro station. The sign seems very appropriate (and gives an idea of how much snow had fallen), but the youth soccer field buried underneath had been closed at the end of autumn to give the field time to recover:


Kids enjoy being kids:


A frozen creek:


It'll be a little while before the cyclists and joggers can get out on this section of the W&OD Trail again:


Hands down the best snow sculpture I've seen this weekend:


Pigeons at East Falls Church metro station wondering what had hit them the previous day. Also probably wondering what happened to all the people - the Washington Metro system stopped operating on Friday evening, and remains suspended as I write this at around 8pm on Sunday evening:


From the station, I reversed course and walked back uphill, using the middle of the street as the sidewalks were unusable unless you wearing snowshoes. At the Eden Center shopping complex, some stores were reopening and the parking lots were being plowed, but things were far from normal:



Following lunch, the three of us went outside as a family unit (that's my camera-shy spouse in the background, clad in her own made-in-Shanghai winter coat):


As I wrote earlier, the situation with our car wasn't as bad compared to some other vehicles, but we decided to start clearing away the snow:


The apartment complex's management was loaning out snow shovels to the residents, but supplies were limited, so we got to work using only a bucket, dustpan and ice pick. About an hour into the job, a shovel became available, but it still took the three of us nearly 2½ hours to remove most (but not all) of the accumulated powder:


And so we got through Snowzilla. Until this weekend, my experiences with blizzards had been limited to being forced to stay indoors by relatively small storms in Tōkyō 東京 and Washington state. I found this blizzard to be fascinating and even exciting, but I don't really want to go through another one anytime soon. Seeing as our next post will be in the Baltics, however, I'm not sure my wish will be granted. All the time I was straining my back and risking a heart attack removing the snow piled up around our vehicle, my mind kept returning to past travels - to places like Waikiki, Okinawa 沖縄, Ko Samui and even Kenting 墾丁, which might give you a good idea of my personal preferences.

The snow may be done for now, but the cold weather will continue. Temperatures are going to drop to around 12°F (-11°C) tonight, meaning everything is going to ice over. Fortunately, both my daughter and I have snow days tomorrow (good thing for me, as I didn't do my Russian homework this weekend), but I have been around snow enough to know that it's going to get messy and ugly once all that white stuff starts to melt (and rain is predicted for the middle of the upcoming week). Thailand is looking better than ever as a retirement option...

Amber's post-Snowzilla snowman


























Tuesday, January 19, 2016

In and out of the cold

My daughter shows off the card she made for students at an elementary school in Haiti. Amber's school recently organized a drive for school supplies to be sent to the Caribbean island nation.

It was 21°F (-6°C) this morning as my wife took my daughter and me to the East Falls Church subway station. Too cold, really, to go outside. But we'd already spent too much of this three-day holiday weekend indoors - heavy rain on Friday evening meant it probably wouldn't have been a good idea to go hiking on Saturday as I'd originally planned, while yesterday we had snow flurries from mid-morning to mid-afternoon (not to mention Amber's weekly Mandarin class). Today may have been bitterly cold, but it was also sunny and so the two of us (Pamela sensibly choosing to stay indoors) headed into Washington to spend the day there.

This being Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the logical place to have visited would've been the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in West Potomac Park, southeast of the National Mall. But to get there would've meant a 20-minute walk in the frigid air from the nearest Metro stop (Smithsonian), so my daughter opted instead to check out the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, which was a much more bearable seven-minute stroll from L'Enfant Plaza:


I wish it could be said that the museum ranks up there with the other Smithsonian showpieces on the National Mall, but it doesn't. The building is huge, but makes poor use of the possible exhibition space. The exhibits within don't present a linear history of Native Americans, and although we are told there are 565 tribes recognized by the federal government, visitors are only introduced to a small handful of them. I'm not sure what my daughter took away from the displays - she seems to have learned a lot more at her elementary school about the tribes who live in Virginia. Still, there were some interesting presentations, such as the fourth-floor exhibit on the history of the numerous treaties negotiated between Native Americans and the federal government (virtually all of which were broken in some form or other by the latter):


A Northern Tsitsistas (Cheyenne) depiction of the 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn (c. 1890):


Amber enjoyed the activities center on the third floor. She was able to explore various aspects of American Indian life, including those related to igloos, kayaks, snowshoes and...skateboards:


The same floor has an exhibit on the Inca (Inka) road system. Here my daughter poses in front of a copy of a rope bridge


For me, the most fascinating exhibition was a small one on the Kingdom of Hawaii and the events leading up to its annexation by the U.S. in 1898, described as the first act in American empire building. The displays are refreshingly frank, especially considering they're presented in a publicly-funded museum:



There were decent views from some of the museum's windows, including the National Museum of Natural History and the National Gallery of Art...:


...and the Capitol and the United States Botanic Garden:


The National Museum of the American Indian is "best known" for its cafeteria, which is hands down the best eatery out of all of the dining options at the various Smithsonian museums. The dishes are organized by regional themes:


I went with the Indian Frybread Taco (with buffalo meat) for lunch, washed down with an alcoholic root beer:


Still, it's a poor reflection on a museum when its cafe gets higher marks than what it has on display. The National Museum of the Native American isn't bad, but it could've been done so much better; the indoor atrium, while impressive, is unnecessary, and uses up space that should've been devoted to more exhibitions. The original inhabitants of this continent deserve better:


It was an uncomfortable walk back to the subway station, as the wind was blowing directly into our faces, making Amber wish we had ski masks. The cold temperatures are set to continue for the remainder of this week, with snow a possibility for next weekend. The frigid conditions are no doubt good preparation for what we'll be facing next winter in the Baltic republic of Lithuania.