Yay snow!!!

[hberdan]

Oh yes!
10" of snow on my snow stake in the front yard!
"Snow at last! Snow at last! thank God Almighty, we have snow at last!"

"But it would seem a greater marvel to hear about men who are able to tame trees and boards, so that by fastening boards seven or eight ells long under his feet, a man, who is no fleeter than other men when he is barefooted or shod merely with shoes, is made able to pass the bird on the wing, or the fleetest greyhound that runs in the race, or the reindeer which leaps twice as fast as the deer... Now such things must seem incred-ible, unlikely, and marvelous in all those lands where men do not know with what skill and cleverness it is possible to train the board to such great fleetness that on the mountain side nothing of all that walks the earth can escape the swift movements of the man who is shod with such boards... We, however, have sure information and, when snow lies in winter, have opportunity to see men in plenty who are expert in this art. "
"Konungs skuggsjá, ("The King's Mirror") 1250AD"

[Petros]

Great quote Hberdan, where is that from? Norwegian king?

The Norwegians are the peoples generally credited with inventing snow skiing. Lucky dogs, the rest of the world was still messing about with boats and wheels.

[Mattel]

Hey guys, As you might know, I had a mid life crises, sold my Tercel - moved to Hokkaido, Japan. Hope you all had a great New Years. mincing up the words of Kenny Powers: I'm going snowboarding on the reg, meeting people on the reg, eating ramen noodles on the reg, working to much on the reg!

We are having a major snow shortage this year. Which is a bummer considering i'm working in the ski industry. Never driven with snow tyres before now but amazed what a major difference to driving it makes. Although ice is still ice and we are getting plenty of that. We are meant to have 16meters of snow each season between Dec to March and this season there has been perhaps 1meter so far. They use a bit of salt on the road so the few carib sprinters I've seen are later model all-tracs and have rust familiar to all you in the rust belt.

We are using new toyota hi-aces with 4wd diesel propulsion and cool little toyota proboxes which just power through anything although we are still waiting to get to this stage for major snow clearing http://gizmodo.com/5718892/new-york-loo ... -right-now The japanese are pretty damn proactive when it gets to moving snow

I've been thinking of buying a car while I'm here can pick up an early Forester or nissan rasheen for about $1200 but the paperwork is prohibitive. There are some awesome AWD cars here. Little Honda Fit Awds, Yaris Awds, Odyssey Awd's and a whole lot of Weird JDM only minimovers including the Daihatsu Naked with magical gear package!

[ARCHINSTL]

Heyy, Matt!
As the writer states, "That, my friends, is snow." Un-be-liev-able!
I love some of the Japanese car names - the Daihatsu Naked! With 'magical gear package?'
Gotta do a Google.
Be well!
Tom

[hberdan]

Wouldn't you love to have a car with that name?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daihatsu_Naked

[ARCHINSTL]

This is a bit OT, but it explains why Japanese cars (and other items) sometimes have weird (to us) names:

Japanese consumer products, including automobiles, quite often have English names (or at least names that sound "Western") rather than Japanese. As one leading authority on the phenomenon explains:

"English is used as a design element in Japanese products and advertising to give them a modern look and feel (or just to “look cool”). . . . Quite often it is easier to come up with English names than Japanese for a particular product. New products are brought to the marketplace in Japan more than anywhere else in the world and Japanese words and slogans quickly get used up. Japanese graphic designers will often tell you that English is widespread because the Japanese writing script (or scripts) limits their creativity - there are only so many ways to display their language, and only so many different types of fonts to use."

Since the English language is used as a design element, rather than as an attempt to communicate with English-speaking people, there is sometimes a lack of attention to spelling, grammar, and idiom, and hilarity ensues. In the Japanese automotive world, this practice has led to such curiosities as the Toyota Carina "EXCITING VERSION" and the mid-engined Honda Beat roadster which is badged as the "TYPE R MIDSHIP AMUSEMENT." (The same thing happens in reverse--the Chinese and Japanese get a good laugh out of the mis-use of their written characters by Westerners in product labels, magazine graphics, and tattoos.) *
The above cribbed from a Car Lust article from 2008.

The funny names now make sense -
Datsun's Sunny and Fairlady;
Honda's Acty Crawler and Life Dunk and Joy Machine (Hmmm - a drive-in car?);
Mazda's Bongo Friendee and Scrum;
Toyota's Deliboy (really!);
Nissan's Big Thumb;
Mitsubishi's Guts and Delica Space Gear;
Isuzu's Mysterious Utility Wizard and Mini Active Urban Sandal and Giga 20 Light Dump (a truck or a - uhhh - function?).
And the winner is...?
Tom M.

* My second post on this page to illustrate this point:
http://www.tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtop ... stat#p8573

[Starbug]

LOL, I want a Naked with Magical Gear Package! That would be the most awesome car ever.

Tom, your explanation of English being used in Japan is excellent. It explains so much. If you want a laugh at English being used badly in Japan (or other Asian country), check out www.engrish.com.

[Petros]

I thinkg a "Naked Joy Machine" would be a good seller here.

[Petros]

We had cold but fantastically clear weather on New Year's day and my daughter (home from collage) wanted to get out of the house, so we took a little excursion with my T4wd into the local mountains for a short hike.

It was remarkable since we had so little snow on these mountain roads, allowing us to get to our favorite places out past Darrington on the Mountain Loop Hwy.


Roads up into the Cascades, cold but clear. Trees frosted over from many days below freezing. Heading south on the mountain loop hwy at about 1200 ft above sea level.


Trail head down to the North Fork water fall, about 1600 ft elevation. My daughter all bundled up for the very cold weather.


That me! looking at the waterfall and all the ice build up. For those of you that saw the pictures of the August 2009 PNW meeting this is the same waterfall that I posted pictures of during that summer outing.


Daughter looking at North fork falls, notice that sheet of icicles hanging off that log over the river.


Despite the cold the water still flows, look at all the ice!


After the waterfall we still had some day light so we drove up the Mt. Pugh trail road. This shot is at about 2400 ft elevation at dusk. This is as deep as the snow we encountered on the high mountain roads, only about 5 to 6 inches. cold and dry, easy driving.


Tercel with Mt Pugh in the background, summit is about 7200 ft and has an old fire lookout on it.


We decided to explore the entrance to mt. Pugh trail at dusk.


creek along the way.


tasting an icicle along the trail, not much help in quenching thirst, but fun to do.


Fantastic ice formations along the creek on the trail

We returned to the car and the Tercel took us home without incident. A great little outing on New Years day.

[ARCHINSTL]

Apart from the amazing (to a flatlander) scenery, you do take some nice photos!
I especially liked the one with Mt. Pugh in the sunlight.
Tom M.

[hberdan]

This is a bit OT, but it explains why Japanese cars (and other items) sometimes have weird (to us) names:

(The same thing happens in reverse--the Chinese and Japanese get a good laugh out of the mis-use of their written characters by Westerners in product labels, magazine graphics, and tattoos.) [/i]*

Tom, totally true. An older friend of mine was a US Marine in the Pacific in WW2. He said they made money from the Navy guys by copying the script from captured Japanese cans and crates of rice, fish, etc., painting them on old sheets with homemade rising suns, taking them down to the beaches where supplies were being unloaded , and trading the "real Japanese war trophies" for cigs, beer, good food, money, whatever. To hear him tell the story is hilarious. He said, just think, some rear echelon veterans have those prized "war trophies" at home, and instead of being battle flags, etc. they're actually just food labels.

[Neu]

Here's the car, looking a lil rough.


Bad pic of the lower elevations


Waterfall


Waterfall


The coast earlier in the morning.

[ARCHINSTL]

Boy, you guys DO have the scenery up in the PacNWST! Thanks!
Tom M.

[takza]

Boy, you guys DO have the scenery up in the PacNWST! Thanks!
Tom M.

They also get a boatload of rain...except for some reason around southern Oregon..N. Cali its fairly dry. Cross the Cascades to the east and it's a different story...dry grasslands/almost desert with trees at higher elevations...less people further out. All great scenery compared to the midwest....where those damned farmers have taken over.

[Neu]

I've done a fair bit of traveling in these United States and I will always love the pacific northwest in a different way. It's just wonderful up here, even when it's raining.