We're Here

Here we are in Rochester, and I must say it was an...interesting trip up. About eight hours into the twelve hour journey, Gary and I renewed our vow to never, ever, ever come to Minnesota in January again.

We meant it last time we made that vow. I'm pretty sure we aren't going to have to learn this lesson a third time. It's not fit for man or beast up here. I stick by the theory I made a few years ago that the reason people stay up here during the winter is that something freezes up in their brain during the brutal weather and they forget how horrible it is from winter to winter. Then they are stuck and can't get out during the worst of the weather, but then it gets nicer and they don't remember how horrible it was. It is a vicious cycle. These poor folks have three seasons to escape but don't.

This time, it was fog that made the trip interesting. Not just any fog, though. Warm fog. I'm not sure what a weatherman would call it. It is unusually warm up here (for this part of the country). Most of Iowa was in the fifties on our way north, and Minnesota was in the high thirties. That warm air was hovering over literally feet and feet of piled up snow over the fields and at the edges of the roadways. It created this monster fog from the warm air over the cold snow. You just couldn't see at all, and you couldn't see for hours. It cleared up about 15 minutes before we got to the hotel. Sigh.

And it gets better. Freezing rain and sleet and snow tomorrow. But at least we don't have to drive in it, since I will be at the hospital all day. Inside is about the only way I want to deal with Minnesota weather. It is pretty to watch, because it can snow a whole lot in just a little bit of time. But all in all, I'm glad I'm just a visitor.