Higher Ground Expeditions

Guess you might caption this pic "George Washington proud"

Meet a highly trained professional, Mr. Mel!

...is under this big old tree!" 

According to the New York Times, "life is, actually, a big bowl of cherry blossom festivals." If you've never seen the Sakura Matsuri (National Cherry Blossom Festival) you've not seen life in it's fullest!

Thousands are "thinking pink" this weekend. Washington, D.C. is celebrating it's annual Cherry Blossom Festival between March 25 thru April 9; peak blooms are predicted for the week of March 27 thru April 1.

This weekend (3/26) marks the 94th celebration of the original gift of 3,000 cherry trees from the City of Tokyo to the people of Washington in 1912.

Higher Ground has participated 4 years in this festival. Preceding this post were several HG favorite pics from past festivals. For more information on this festival log on at www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org. Go see for yourself, return safely, and report back to this blog site all of your findings!

So while we were skiing at Blue Knob we came across this "sheik" on skis. You ask, what do you mean, a "sheik" on skis? One possible definition is: a true Arab chief. Might I possibly be using an alternate definition here? For those of you who've been involved with HG over the years... you might have heard another use of the title "sheik"! Right?

Well, anyway...can you imagine...watching this "Sheik" ski at a blistering speed down the Jack Rabbit ski slope? It was a sight to behold, indeed. So the pic shown above begins to make sense, right? Yes, it was my futile attempt at catching his image on digital. Obviously, it truly was futile...completely ineffective! Maybe, if you look closely, you might be able to make out the blue streak he left behind!!!

I guess you could apply an appropriate caption this pic, "Where in the world is (Waldo) the "Sheik"!?!

The interesting thing about downhill skiing is that w/ every descent there is an equal, accompaning ascent. This allows a brief period of recovery b/f the next race down the slpoes. So thank God for this double chairlift from the bottom of Route 66 back up to The Summit House. While riding up to the top for more extreme fun, I had ample time to reflect...on life, on my next trail attempt, on the beauty in the surrounding mountains, on counting all the ski poles lying below the chairlift, AND on counting the no. of chairs on this chairlift. The number is an EXACT 154. Yes, there are EXACTLY one hundred and fifty-four chairs on this chairlift. I wonder who has the distinguished honor of painting ALL 154 chairs in the off-season...hummmmm.

And, OH by the way, I was able to spot the "Sheik" on this particular chairlift....with a blue streak trailing behind him...

Also, and OH by the way, the EXACT number of "fallen" ski poles lying beneath the chairlift is 41, not counting all the lost ski gloves, broken ski boots, etc.!