Snow days in the big city

I was talking with a coworker recently about big cities vs. small cities. Due to my background and experience, Portland - my current home - feels like a huge city. Cecily, haling from New York, finds Portland fairly quaint. I then explained that I grew up in Eastern Oregon and the conversation went something like this:

Me: Well, my hometown has about 17,000 people in it. So Portland...
Cecily: Wow. So, that's a tiny town.
Me: Well, not really. It's actually the largest town in Eastern Oregon. My girlfriend, she's from a farming town outside of mine. Probably a thousand people or so.
Cecily: Okay, so that's a small town.

After this conversation, I got to thinking about how small town folk are not necessarily prepared to live in larger cities (and maybe vice versa). It seems that, more and more every year, I keep hearing about old classmates moving back to our hometown or surrounding communities. I know I shouldn't be surprised at their return - I've certainly been tempted to do the same in the past. It's a comfortable move, even if I find the thought of it a little depressing.

In other news, it's been snowing off and on for a week in Portland, and the place nearly shuts down while city drivers drive too fast, too slow, or buy ill-fitting chains and put them on the wrong tires. Meanwhile, in my hometown, my dad is telling me a foot of snow is on the ground, "but people seem to be getting around fine." Hilarious.