Expectations clash with reality

[bhskittykatt]

I think I made a guest's brain explode.

BG: We live in the Pacific Northwest, where we have nice, mild, rainy weather. Guest is from the Midwest, which sees high temps in the summer and lots of snow in the winter.

Guest: It's pretty cool here, huh?
(It's ~79 degress F)
Me: Actually, this is pretty warm for us.
Guest: Really? You must get a lot of snow in the winter, then.
Me: No, not really. We get maybe two weeks of snow.
Guest: Really?
Me: Yeah, it's usually in the 70's and 80's this time of year, but the rest of the year it pretty much stays between 40 and 60.
Guest: *brain reboot* But...you're so close to Canada!
Ah, yes, the Great White North, where everyone lives in igloos and GK has a pet polar bear.
Guest: I mean, I'm from Ohio, and we have wicked cold winters. You guys are so much further north; I would have thought you got a lot of snow.
Me: Yeah, like I said, we get maybe two weeks worth a year. The eastern half of the state tends to get the hotter summers and colder winters, so they get a lot more snow. And of course up in the mountains they get a lot of snow. In fact, they just finished clearing 20 feet of snow off the parking lot up there.
Guest: 20 feet?!?! *brain reboot* They're clearing 20 feet of snow up there in July?!?
Me: Yep
Guest: And you get no snow down here?
Me: Not a lot, not really.
Guest: This far north?
Me: Yep
Guest: *brain BSOD*
Guest: It's pretty up here.
Me: Yep

[zombiequeen]

I love that!

Camper from a different country "You live hear all year round?"
me "Well, not at the camp, no...but I do live in this general area."
Camper "Were you ever snowed in your house?"
me "Uhm.....what?"
Camper "Because of all the snow you get in winter...Duh, everyone knows Michigan has the snowiest winters."
me "A couple of years ago we had a green christmas, it was almost 50 degrees out"
Camper *head explodes*

I was tempted to tell them that I built igloos in my front yard...but I was afraid they'd start calling me 'igloo lady'

[Mytical]

Ok, for the record, not everybody from Ohio acts like that. I mean I can be pretty dense sometimes, but having somebody repeat the same thing so many times..that is just

[Magpie]

It's better than the people who think that all of Canada is colder and snowier than all of The States, even though large parts (based on population ) are further south. (My dad went to a music camp which was in both countries, and they actually had the Americans convinced that when they hit the border there would be snow).

[firecat88]

I get the same thing from people who aren't accustomed to the weirdness that is Colorado's weather.

The way things typically work in Colorado is that the weather on the Denver side of the mountain is very different from the GJ side. It can be extremely beautiful and sunny in Denver (which is a lot greener), but raining in GJ (which is desert country), and vice versa. Also, Denver gets much more snow than GJ. The only place in GJ where we get a *lot* of snow is up at Powderhorn (ski resort) and, even then, it's almost-all-year-round like it is in other parts of Colorado.

[Whiskey]

I'm from california, we don't have weather \o/

actually, there was like.. snow (kind of) last winter. It melted on contact and the freeways backed up for miles. Everyone lost their mind.

[Mytical]

I've watched it rain on one half of a road, while the other half never got even a drop on it (even seen that happen with snow once). Like an invisible wall or something on the solid yellow line. So nothing really surprises me

[terakhan]

Weather is wacky. I've seen sunshine on one side of a house and rain on the other, a rainbow at 10pm because of a full moon, and snow in mid-June, the latter in Colorado.

[Merriweather]

I'm from california, we don't have weather \o/

actually, there was like.. snow (kind of) last winter. It melted on contact and the freeways backed up for miles. Everyone lost their mind.

When I was in high school near San Diego, we actually had a snowfall that stayed on the ground for half a day - enough for small snowball fights, mini-snowmen, etc. You'd have thought the end of the world was upon us, LOL.

When I lived on the coast of Virginia, my daughter was home from school for "snow days" quite often - whoever was in charge of final decisision on whether to close schools (superintendent of schools, I think) was from Florida, and would totally panic at the first flake, LOL.

[MoonCat]

Weather is wacky. I've seen sunshine on one side of a house and rain on the other, a rainbow at 10pm because of a full moon, and snow in mid-June, the latter in Colorado.

A full moon rainbow!!!

Guys, try living in western NY. People think we have snow 12 months of the year. We had a certain TV personality show up here once for a weather-related broadcast--wearing a parka--in AUGUST. And no, he wasn't trying to be funny.

It snows here. The lake is shallow and the jetstream comes down from Canada with lovely below-zero temps. Sometimes it snows a lot. BUT NOT IN SUMMER!!!

[Setsunaela]

When I was in high school near San Diego, we actually had a snowfall that stayed on the ground for half a day - enough for small snowball fights, mini-snowmen, etc. You'd have thought the end of the world was upon us, LOL.

When I lived on the coast of Virginia, my daughter was home from school for "snow days" quite often - whoever was in charge of final decisision on whether to close schools (superintendent of schools, I think) was from Florida, and would totally panic at the first flake, LOL.

I live near DC in Virginia, and our county superintendent is super paranoid on snow.. Kids are late getting out of school in the summer rather often due to taking so many "snow days" that we ran out of allotted make up days within the year.

[bhskittykatt]

Ok, for the record, not everybody from Ohio acts like that. I mean I can be pretty dense sometimes, but having somebody repeat the same thing so many times..that is just

Funny you should say that. Last night, I had ANOTHER guest from Ohio check-in. He said "I didn't think it got this hot up here! It's too hot to stay in the motor home! I need a room." (It was around 84 Fahrenheit).

I know not everyone in Ohio is like that, but the two most recent comments we've gotten about our local weather have been from Ohioans(?), so it's pretty funny.