While her fellow Californians grumble, Automotive Traveler's Brandy Schaffels welcomes the cleansing power of SoCal's winter rains

The big winter rains have finally arrived in the Los Angeles area. While many of you might laugh at this announcement, because you may have been living with seasonal rain and snow for a few months already, this is actually a monumental event for SoCal drivers. It's been raining for most of this week, and the wet weather is expected to continue into next week as well.

While many drivers might complain about the effects of the weather on their commute, for me, driving in the rain is practically a spiritual experience.

For many years, I enjoyed a 45-minute commute from my home in the San Fernando Valley to my office in Hollywood. I didn't take the freeway: It was a lovely drive across Mulholland and through the Hollywood Hills, with twisty, windy roads that were perfect for evaluating a vehicle's performance, but that also displayed lovely vistas, including the city skyline at night. The narrow, tree-lined roads had none of the bumper-to-bumper traffic so iconic to the region.

In the summertime, I could hear birds singing, and sometimes saw such wildlife as deer and coyotes. But in the wintertime, it was even better because, as much as I love to drive, I love to drive in the rain even more.