Grand Avenue by Mike Thompson for February 01, 2023

When it snows south of the Potomac, most drivers pull off to the side of the road and stare at it.

Yes, when I was 12, in 1957 in St. Louis County, it was knee deep.

I had a dear friend who remembered the horse-drawn wagon with runners that took students, dressed against the cold (and wrapped in protective quilts, blankets, or rugs) to school on snowy days. It isn’t always the snow depth that cancels school these days but those drivers who are either inexperienced or must think the posted speed limit is mandatory regardless of weather conditions.

Yes, I still have the 45 rpm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x81hStpKDE

It was only uphill in the snow in the morning; by the afternoon it was blazing heat in a swamp.

When schools were truly local, not consolidated monstrosities, most of the children could, and did, walk to school….

Anyway, I walked a mile….both ways.

I seem to recall a few times in college where I had to make my way through shin-deep snow on the quad as I walked to class.

And I’ve taught at a couple of places over the years that were very hilly, which meant that when I decided to walk to work I actually did end up walking uphill both ways (for at least part of the walk).

We had snow days (I’m of grandma’s generation) but maybe not as often. Kids need to remember that for every snow day, they will go one extra day in June. So snow days have their downside.

I walked to school for the first 10 years and after the blizzard of ‘78, the piles of snow on the sides of the roads were like mountains. I haven’t seen anything like that since then though.

grew up in RI and had to walk to school from 5th grade to 8th grade and thanks to google can tell you it was 1.6 mile, one way…’nuff said

No! It was neck-deep, at least that’s how my great grandpa describe it.

Knee deep? Yes several times, but I was much shorter when I was a child.

I didn’t have that problem. I walked a mile in 100+ heat.

I did walk to and from school, but when it snowed, the whole city shut down. No snow removal equipment.

My first day at the new school in 1st grade. NM pushed me out the door and told me to go to school. I stood at a street corner crying, lost and scared. I was more scared of getting NM mad at me. A kind lady helped me find my way.

I was on leave between military assignment and went to see my Aunt who I lived with when I went to high school. I drove past the high school, then where we used to live. I was blown away with how far I used to walk to school everyday. It was about 5 miles. The only difference was it was only uphill one way, and it didn’t snow that much, but rained often. The pacific northwest.

In my day, I had to ride the bus for 45 minutes through the snow with no smartphone.

Is that St. Louis County, Minnesota?

I grew up in the Black Hills – plenty of snow and school was never closed because of weather. If you couldn’t get there you made up what you missed. I graduated in 1963, a totally different mindset back then.

My first school was in a little town in Lake County Calif. One morning there was about 4in of snow, it had not snowed there in 100 years.