Weather to Travel?

Weather--particularly cold weather or rainy weather--transports my thoughts to another place. Wearing heavy jackets and wrapping scarves 'round my neck in cold, crisp weather sends me to the Red Square in Moscow, and humidity so heavy the very sidewalks seem to be melting and shimmering in the air before your eyes takes me to Houston.

Today is overcast and rainy, full of the kind of cool rain I’d imagine Portland or Seattle get in June. The pavement is slick. There’s been just enough rain to wash sediment and gravel-like dust over the parking lot and my tires make a soft crunch as I drive. As the thunderclouds gust vaguely overhead, the wind brings reminders of north-eastern Germany in July. Damp, cool raindrops mingle with sunshine and filter through tree leaves onto paved black roads and cobblestone sidewalks and European roofs. I spent one summer in Germany studying business, and one of our classrooms at the small international school I attended was three flights above the ground. We would wrap ourselves in light, gauzy sweaters and sit at shiny modern desks by open windows, listening to the rain drum gently, let up, and drum again. It whispered back and forth with distant peals of thunder while our professors droned on and on and I made multi-colored notes on notebook paper faintly lined in blue and wrinkled and softened by the humidity.
In the absence of a plane ticket, it's lovely to have sweet spring weather to help me transcend the limits of my bank account. Still, I'd rather be in Europe.