Totally Tubular

We've made a concerted effort this winter to enjoy outdoor time (well, because what else are we going to do?) On Friday night, it was warm enough that we could sit out by our friends' big outdoor fireplace (wrapped in my mozy, of course!), sitting 6' away but drinking, eating brownies made from a recipe from the Back In the Day Bakery in Savannah, and talking, while seeing the sparks go up the chimney, reminiscent of the fireflies in their yard in the summer.

Today was something none of us had ever done — snow tubing! And it was a blast (even if I am exhausted now).


We had heard good things about the Three Rivers tubing run at Elm Creek, so we headed out to Maple Grove this morning as the snow was falling. It made for a beautiful park scene.


We had reserved in advance (you have to), so check-in was super-easy, and before we knew it, we were on top of a hill with our 3 tubes lashed together and the staff member giving us a big push with his foot to set us off (by the next run Patrick had figured out the flying leap).


The new snow made the runs "a little slow" according to others I overheard, but we thought it was perfect. When you have 3 tubes together someone always ends up backwards for a bit, but we found it the perfect amount of thrill. At the bottom of the hill you all have to clamber out, and then drag your tube over so you can go back up the hill; luckily they have a "magic carpet" kind of moving sidewalk up so all you really have to do is line up, hold your tube tight, lean upwards a little, and get off at the end. The kids on the rope tow on the hill next to us were going up the hill super fast, but this was more my comfort level.

At the top of the hill at the busiest part, it was always a little wait (especially for the "best" runs), but honestly clambering back up the hill with a tube is more work that you think it's going to be, so a rest is nice.





At the end, Beatrix's hands were really cold, so Patrick and I got one run down with just the two of us, which made things a little faster. By that point, I was really hot (ok, so I overdressed a little, I have a fear of being cold), and we were near the end of our times lot and had girl scout cookies to deliver, so we headed back home.

It was really fun and I can hardly wait to go again! Thanks, Heather Johnson, for the recommendation!


Comments

Laura said…
It sounds like a fun winter day out! Novelty is hard to come by in our current (temporary) way of living. I'm glad they had the moving sidewalk to return you to the top of the hill. I like sliding down (tobogganing, etc.) but not so much the climb back up to the top. ~ Laura
March 1, 2021 at 10:15 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Do We Mean When We Talk About Race?

Image
 (sign from a NOLA bar) Probably the world does not need another middle-aged, white, cisgender woman writing about race. But the world DOES need my daughter's take on it, and she doesn't blog, so here I am. When we first knew we were having a girl, we knew she would have blue eyes, because mine are blue-grey and Patrick's are blue-green. The genetics don't vary much on that one. Other than that, we thought, with dominant genes and some luck, that she might look like her Aunt Patrice. Which she actually does. Except for the tiny little issue that somehow my Nordic genes totally went dominant rogue and she turned out to be blonde and very light skinned. (age 1.5 in the Scow family christening dress) So since she's been old enough to communicate, she's had people confused about her racial identity. She's been told she checked the wrong box on forms, she's had teachers deny her ancestry, she's had government officials question her Global Entry, she's
Read more

New Year's Eve 2023

Image
I did not want to be laying in bed, wearing a fleece onesie and still shivering, while my husband and daughter headed out to the several wonderful NYE parties we have planned. I have a beautiful new dress that I got in Duluth for tonight, and was looking forward to the collection of friends we would be seeing. Our friend Whitney in particular is throwing the last party at her B and B, and it's breaking my heart not to go. But I feel logey and coughy, and more to the point, I have a low fever, and I don't want to mess around with possibly getting anyone sick. I'm still holding out hope that I'll miraculously feel better and the fever was a mistaken reading, but I doubt that. And I feel lucky to have 3 sets of people who want me in their lives tonight and who I don't want to get sick. As our yoga teacher Viv says, it's not like a page turns and everything is magic. You get some things that are good, and some that are not, and life is living in the middle. -- In 20
Read more

Choosing Happy

Image
This post is brought to you by a few thoughts from yesterday: First and foremost, Patrick's new book that he wrote for Beatrix for her sixteenth birthday. Available for a hot second before we leave for spring break tomorrow. The response of someone he knows on the internet, who wrote yesterday that he had decided years ago that he would never be happy (and reading his posts, he seems to be right.). It was one of the saddest things I've encountered in a long time. A friend's social media post, in which she discusses another person's comment of " I really think a sizable proportion of the population has become addicted to being angry" with the sage response of " I think a lot of them are doing it because it's more enjoyable to be angry than to be depressed." A nd we finally finished watching this season's Fargo last night. I won't give any spoilers, but it's extremely on theme with this post. So this is the deal. There's a lot on
Read more