Snow driving adventure

After close to 4 weeks since the snowbugs were spotted, the snow is finally upon us. We awoke this morning to a winter wonderland.

Fortunately for us, Stephen spent yesterday with the pastor changing our summer tires for the winter ones.

Unfortunately for us, the first heavy snowfall happened the night before we have to drive 1 hour away to teach an early morning class.

Since we didn't get our car until last spring, we have not had to drive in the snow yet in Japan. And really, since were California kids, driving in the snow has never been part of our day to day lives. Today was a trial by fire.. er.. uh, snow.

First thing about driving in Sapporo in the winter is that you must clear off the car.

We were in a hurry, so we left a nice pile of "lazy cake" on top.

Stephen did a great job. since it was the first real snow, it melted in the sun as we drove.

By halfway there, the road was mostly slush and water.

The most harrowing part of the trip was when a HUGE truck passed us and covered our tiny car in a tidal wave of dirty snow-water. I had a minor panic attack for the 1.5 seconds we couldn't see out of the windows. Stephen kept his cool and remembered the wipers. (That's why he was driving.)

We arrived safely in Chitose, with some lazy cake still on the roof.