Hiking Season has begun!

A few interesting hikes over the last month or so with two of note that are rather different. The first one was a great new one out in Shenandoah National Park. The Meneka/Signal Knob Trail was a fun hike as the first of the year one. Not very picturesque or lots of water this is a nice forest trail with lots of ups and downs in a round loop for about 9 miles. This was a fun one since we had two shepherding dogs to keep all us humans in line.

The second hike is unusual from most of the others as it was an Urban Hike with portions that you could almost never tell you were in the middle of the city along Soapstone Valley and the Melvin Hazen Trail. Connected via Rock Creek Park it makes an interesting contrast with the forest and the trappings of our city - finding the oddball sewer access or the variety of buildings from expensive to cheap apartments spotted amongst the trees.

This hike definitely has sparked an interest in trails in the area of which there is more to come.

Tale of the Flying Cherry Blossom

Once there was a teeny tiny Cherry Blossom that wanted to fly. So it worked all winter long to bloom, waited patiently and silently through the cold through the snow and through the dark.

Then one spring day it was fed up - it wanted to fly. It pushed hard to free itself from its small prison with all its might until suddenly, it saw the light. It was free, and it saw it had many brothers and sisters. It was happy, but still it wanted to fly.

Then suddenly one sunny day the wind blew - it saw its chance and let go. Up it went - up, up in the sky - and it saw a glorious sight. not just many blossoms, but other bigger blossoms of all shapes, sizes and all colors and made of many things all over the sky.

And thus the Blossom was happy - but as the blossom flitted about through the great monuments it started to fall, slowly and gliding to the ground. Down it fell to the ground, a single blossom, one of millions, unnoticed, but happy.

(more pictures of Cherry Blossoms here and Kite Festival Here)