Sorry I've been unable to answer them untill now, but truly, thank you! I'll give the answers as responces to the posts, and I will get to them as soon as I can. However, some are so broad, it will take me a while to formulate my responces, so I'll be answering questions in ease of answer, not necessarily in order of who asked first. Fear not, I will answer all questions in due time, even if the post falls off the first page. Should not take that long, but, you know how the IO is.

Snowmageddon, among other things, actually.

So, here in good ole southern Indiana, we've recently had a lot of snow (and by a lot, I mean maybe a foot or so). The people around here aren't used to snow (*eyeroll* my mom and dad were raised in Idaho and New Jersey, respectively, so we aren't terrified of it like everyone else seems to be), which I think is hilarious. We've had nine snow days so far (not so hilarious) because of just a centimeter of snow. What do your schools wait for before deciding to close? I know my mom had 'mud days' in Idaho, when the roads would be so muddy the busses couldn't travel- do you have anything like that?

What about the general climate? Are you in an area further north where the seasons are pretty much winter and summer, or is the climate in your area more like 'regular', with four seasons?

What sort of animals do you see every day? The most exciting/exotic wild things I've seen here are deer, turkey, a fox, and roughly fifty cows that got loose from a nearby farm's pen and decided to take up residence on our front lawn. Okay, maybe that last one wasn't so exotic, but still.

Any particular holidays? Since we're just a few minutes' drive away from Louisville, my school always gets a few days off for the Triple Crown thing. We also have something called Thunder over Louisville, which is a giant fireworks show that kicks off Derby week. Everyone gets drunk and/or mugged, trampled, wasted, arrested, knocked up- it's lovely, let me tell you. We tend to stay away from /that/ one.

What do you guys generally consider 'shorts weather'? Here, it's about 65+, though I do have a crazy friend who I believe has worn pants twice in the past year: once for his Confirmation, once when his family and mine went sledding.

Also, is it possible to look across the Bering Strait and see Russia? :3 Okay, forget that, but what about neighborhoods? I'm guessing it's not muh like New York where everyone's on top of everyone else, or here where it's mostly suburbs and inner-city areas. Lots of nature? I miss having trees in my backyard.

Wow, I got really distracted. :P

What's the best way to know when or if it's safe to go for hikes? And where are the best places to hike if you're moderately experienced? What sort of trouble can people get into if they aren't careful, but stay relatively close to major population centers?

(Since I live in a desert a day's flight away and all.)
What do you have there in Alaska, snow and ice not included?