The Winter Driving Lesson

Having lived a number of years in places such as Truckee California and Anchorage Alaska, Steve is well versed at driving in extreme winter conditions. For the past week he has been coaching me on how to avoid spinning out, how to slow down, how to use your emergency break to turn a corner, etc. I have nodded, listened, and absorbed all the wealth of information my wonderful husband has been willing to disburse without gaining an ounce of his enthusiasm.

Apparently I own the "Sheerah" of 4-wheel drive cars ... the Suburu Outback. "It will go anywhere, Crystal, you'll see!" "Your car sticks to the road like no other". etc... etc...

Yesterday morning we went for a little drive down to Hudson Point for another "driving lesson". The point is a small strip of land that jets out into the Puget Sound on the north side of town. During our winter storm we had sustained 40-50mph winds that created large snow drifts, especially next to the water. You see where this is going, don't you? I fortunately had my camera with me. Keep in mind, I wasn't driving.

As we're approaching the end of the strip I notice a rather large mound of snow (a drift) right in the middle of the roadway and say outloud "Wow, that looks really deep Steve." He replies very confidently, "Oh honey, your car can go through ..." but he doesn't get to finish his sentence, for indeed, we are stuck. Right in the middle of the road. (was my little Sheerah mocking him?)

What can you do but bust out laughing and jump out of the car and start digging? Okay, so I took pictures too. Fortunately there was a very nice and helpful young Coastie that offered to tow us out. I got to stand on the sidelines, take photos, and giggle with the Coastie's girlfriend about how "my husband was just teaching me how to drive in the snow". Gotta love a man who shows by example!