Portland, Oregon is experiencing a freak snowstorm in February! I don't think this has ever happened. At least not in my lifetime! We had a huge snowstorm (complete with ice and everything) in 2008, but that was in December I believe. In 2004 we had one also, but that was in January.
So I'm cooped up and of course bored out of my mind. So this post might be a little random and all-over-the-place.
The Funniest Thing I've Ever Seen
Okay... let me see if I can tell you about this. It was, I maintain, the funniest thing I've ever seen. In the midst of the aforementioned 2004 snowstorm, my family went to Disneyland. Actually, come to think of it, that snowstorm was in the end of December because we were in Disneyland for New Years. Anyway.
On either New Years Day or January 2nd, we went to Universal Studios (I'm already laughing, by the way, just typing that sentence.) It was a wet and drizzly day, and I was in a bad mood. I was 16 so I was in a bad mood half the time. We had just been at the Jurassic Park ride and, if memory serves, there was a cafe down there too. You accessed it by way of these giant escalators that seemed to go on forever (probably just a few hundred feet.)
You know how at the airport when you drag your suitcase off the escalator, over that metal part, and it goes ZZZZIIIPPPP? On those metal groove things because the grooves are perpendicular to the way you're walking? Well, the grooves on this escalator were parallel to the escalator. Which didn't matter at all until my sister stepped on it.
My dad and I had gone up the escalator and my mom and sister were, as usual, lagging a little. My sister was 7 years old. At the top, my dad and I stood and waited for them. Soon, my mom and sister came into view. They stepped off the escalator, holding hands, and then it happened. My sister slipped, banana peel style. That was funny, but it wasn't the funniest thing. The funniest thing that happened is what happened immediately after she slipped.
Nothing.
Everyone became the Blinkersons except for me. My dad was blinking at my mom and my sister. The people behind them were blinking up at them. My mom was blinking down at my sister. My sister was blinking straight ahead. And me? I fell down laughing. After a second or two, my mom came to her senses and dragged my sister up by the hand. Oh my goodness. I laughed so hard I almost peed. Tears were running down my face and my abs hurt for days! My parents and my sister were chuckling but no one found it as funny as I did. I still laugh when I think about it now.
How is this tied to the snowstorm you might be wondering? Well, I think that one of the reasons I found it as funny as I did is because of a similar thing that happened less than a week before, when we were still home and playing in the random snowstorm.
My sister and I were out sledding down a tiny barkdust hill in the backyard. We had two sleds, one was big and red, and the other was a round disk sled. I was at the top of the little hill, my sister was at the bottom. Her disk sled was in my way.
"Hey, can you move that sled?" I shouted.
She tried to kick it out of the way, missed completely, and ended up falling on her butt. Oh my goodness. I laughed hard about that! That paved the way for The Slip At Universal.
Important Discovery
Yesterday, Corky and I made a discovery: Snowboards make the very best sleds.
There's this big empty field near where we live, and it has sides kind of like a bathtub. Obviously not straight up and down, but pretty steep! In the basin of the field, the snow is like 1.5-2 feet deep. We discovered that if you sit on the snowboard, between the bindings, put your feet on the front and hang on, you will whiz down the hill and then continue going for a good 50-100 feet until you bog down in the deep snow. It's so fun!
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