Both Sides Now

The Grand Basin again, but from the top of Art Hill this time. It is foreshortened by the lens but that's a long hill down to the water, which is one of the reasons why it is STL's favorite sledding venue. The other is the great surroundings. St. Louis University, where I went to school, is only a few minutes away. When my friends and I were poor undergraduates, we used to liberate trays from the cafeteria and use them for one-person, butt-bumping, tipsy sleds. You really had to be careful when you reached the bottom. The drop off the edge is close to a meter. If the Basin was well-frozen, you would bump hard but keep on sliding. But if there was no or this ice... You get the idea.

It looks like we are about to get clobbered by a tornado in this picture but it was just another garden-variety rain storm rolling across the American prairie. We haven't had a tornado in St. Louis proper in many decades. Which is not to say we couldn't have one tomorrow. (They are more likely in the spring and summer, anyway.)

TOMORROW: Glass Birds In the Rain Forest