It may not be so great in that I-drive-a-fog-silver-car-down-Kearney-every-day sort of way, but gosh golly gee, I really love the Fresno fog.
I like when it gets all socked in and I can pretend that I live inside a cloud. I like watching it descend, and noting how certain parts of my street get denser fog than others. I love that everything feels quiet and calm like the world has been wrapped in cotton batting.
I am probably close to alone in this. (I only say close, because someone else posted Fog as a favorite thing!) Fog is dangerous, people don't take it seriously and drive without their lights on, there are a lot of reasons to dislike Fresno fog.... but gosh golly gee...
When I was in high school I remember living for foggy days. I think every student that goes through Central High School, or any district that has foggy day schedules, becomes an expert fog-predictor. We'd all get so excited when it was a bright sunny day after a soggy wet one, praying it was enough to make a plan C or D- enough to give us 3 extra hours to sleep in, make out with boyfriends, or torment teachers who probably wished we hadn't come in early and had stayed home making out with our boyfriends.
When I was in 6th grade at Roosevelt Elementary, I remember playing hide and seek out in the soccer field before school one day- no need to find cover! Fog was a magical shroud, and it just came down to luck and being able to stay still and quiet enough not to be detected.
Every Christmas I love looking at Christmas lights in the fog, seeing the halos of light in the mist. Its so much more beautiful. The midwest can keep their white Christmases, I want a gray one.
(Image from weather.com)
Foggy day schedules rule!!!
ReplyDeleteRight? I always liked to shove that in the faces of my pen pals who thought their Snow Days were the best. We got out of school AND we still could wear flip flops without danger of losing limbs.
ReplyDeleteI love the fog, too. But when I first moved to Fresno, I went up to Riverpark to catch a movie, and when it was over, a dense fog had descended over the entire area. I must have spent a good 30 minutes just trying to figure out how to get out of the parking lot!
ReplyDeleteAfter Winter Formal, my date and I got lost trying to come home from downtown and ended up in Sanger in the fog. We lived on the opposite side of town from there, pretty crazy!
ReplyDeleteWhen I moved to the East Coast back in 2000 (now back in the West.) I told people about Fog Delays and Fog Days at school. They thought it was so funny. :D I dare them to drive south down 99 on a foggy night!
ReplyDeleteI loved this post! As a fellow Central AND Roosevelt Elem alumni (Central c/o 99) I fully relate and miss foggy day schedules greatly in my adult life. My high school boyfriend's across the street neighbors had a bright teal house. I'd call him in the a.m. and if he couldn't see that house- gauranteed plan C ;-)
ReplyDeleteNothing compares to a foggy night in the Valley. It's like a cloak that envelops everything, turning it into a set for a spooky movie. The streetlights cast cones of light onto the pavement below. The traffic signals cast their glow for everyone to see, at least until the sun comes up, when it becomes an adventure at every intersection.
ReplyDeleteAfter having spent four winters away from Fresno's fog, I can't really even express how much I love and miss it. Even the slightest bit of fog makes me nostalgic and homesick for Fresno. Even when everything is blanketed with snow, it just doesn't feel like Christmas to me without the lovely diffused look of lights through the fog.
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone in your love of fog!
ReplyDelete-Mrs. Borba
Kim - love your blog! Love the fog & foggy day schedule! We had a rare foggy morning this week that would rival anything in Fresno and I was bummed that I had to get Sean on the bus at usual time! (I found out later the fog was very localized to about a quarter mile area.)
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