My favorite sound in the entire world (as of this point in my experiences) is the sound of snow crunching underfoot as you walk through it. This is because of two reasons:
1) It is snowing, and I love snow.
2) In order to hear this crunching, it has to be quiet and whenever it snows, things get really quiet. It does not matter if it is out in the Gorge or in the middle of downtown. Snowy mornings are almost always quiet mornings.
This was the case this morning a few years back. Though there were ample signs of life continuing on in the foot prints and tire treads cutting through the snow, I saw nary another soul in this hour or so I wandered downtown. Eventually I found myself on top of a parking garage, which seems to happen with alarming regularity since I got into photography. I liked the pattern in the tire marks as they cut through the intersection and got this shot with my Nikon FM2. Actually I really really like the flow of travel amongst all the trails left by both pedestrians and motorists. It is interesting to see where people turned, where they swerved, etc. Maybe that is just me.
I have few qualms about living in Portland. It rains a lot. The city is green. It is close to the mountains, the gorge and the beach. The people are ... interesting. What is not to love? Well the fact that we get one good snowfall every other year in town. If we had more practice at driving in the snow, maybe we would not all panic the moment we got half an inch of the stuff. ;-)
If you are interested in pricing for my images, or just plain curious, more info can be found at my website: www.zebandrews.com 