Thundersnow & Sledding

So last night around 5am, the thunder woke me up and lightning struck twice pretty close to my house. The light actually illuminated my room. After that it started snowing like crazy. I found out today that this phenomenon is known as thunder snow. Below is the wikipedia definition of "thunder snow".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thundersnow

Waking up later at around eight, I realized that it would be my fourth straight snow day of not going into work, because there were at least 3-4inches of snow on the ground. This amount of snow is really rare for Seattle.

I decided to spend my snow day sledding with a friend of mine. We walked down to McClellan ave, a pretty steep hill going from Beacon Hill down to Rainer Ave. It was closed off for car traffic, but there was already a group of sledders trying out the slope as we arrived. Also there were people with snowboards and skis. We tried using the plastic lids for garbage cans and containers, but those didn't really work. Others there had brought some Masonite boards that were coated in white on one side, making them really slippery.

The sledding was absolutely amazing. I have never gone so fast in my life down the hill on a sled. My favorite rig was the strip of Masonite, which was about the size of my torso. I layed with my belly on it, face first, arms and legs up and just glided down the hill. It was kind of like doing yoga, using my stomach muscles to keep my arms and legs off the ground.

This street is a series of about 4 hills all in a row and at the bottom of the second one the kids built a jump out of a pile of snow. I did that jump, my sled stopped, but i kept flying and landed flat on the ground. It was the equivalent to a belly flop in the snow. My thighs now feel as if they've been sunburned. Despite the aches I might have when I wake up, I am quite satisfied with my sledding experience here. Maybe, I'll try it again tomorrow...