Sledding with Floridians

The weather was not ideal, but we were committed. Larry and Dixie were in for the Autoshow and to see his family, but while they were in we had agreed to take Dixie sledding. The snow we got was not very deep, in fact no hill that we found did not have grass and leaves poking through the snow. Additionally, the temperature never produced the kind of snow which turns to ice after doing the run a couple time. Nontheless, we pressed forward.

The night before, we had made a trip to Target to pick up the sleds. These were not going to be needed for much more than the one trip we planned and would otherwise be stored in my shed. There were assurances that my kids could use them after the Floridians left, but given their small use on the trip and the questionable conditions we steered them to the same sleds I predominately used growing up, the saucer.

The advantages of a saucer sled are these: they are cheap, they are pretty quick and they work for people of all sizes. The usual downsides are you have little control in your speed, your direction, or the direction you are facing. Perfect for a novice.

Because there were eight of us, we drove in two cars looking for the right spot. Enough of a hill, with enough remaining snow, few trees and not pointing right into the rode. The women in the flex scouted, while Larry and I trailed behind. We drove Hines drive looking. We started at a spot not far from our house, decided to hunt better ground and then after driving a few miles looking, we returned to our original spot. No trees, the debris on the hill was just leaves and the incline was good enough. Addionally, while it did point toward the road, there was a crop of dead cat's tails to catch you and a far amount of flat ground befor you ever made it to the hill.

The kids wasted no time. Each grabbed on of the four saucer sleds and made their way to the top of the hill. While they started the fun, we made a quick observations on the rules of momentum. Siena's trips down the hill ended not long after the incline ended, this'll the larger kids began knocking down the dead plants on run after run.

After a little while into this the adults, with the exception of Shelly who was clearly smarter than the rest of us, began taking their turns. Dixie was first, noting the bumpiness of the ride and having a less than graceful tumble across the large weeds, which had already been knocked down a bit. When Larry and I went, we raced, because, well, because that is what guys do.

I could tell you who one our race, but I stopped a serving that particular fact because of something I had completely missed about the hill we had selected. It had all the features I described, but it also had one other feature I had completely missed, even as Dixie told us about the bumps. The light snow at the bottom of the hill had pealed back to reveal a sidewalk, the asphalt of which created a four inch solid bump. In a car this would have been noticeable, on an uncontrollable, thin peice of plactic going ludicrous speed toward oblivion, it was everything. My tumble to a stop, included an assessment of how deep I thought the bruise on my hip was. It hurts just to write about it.

By the end of our adventure. I had a deep bruise on a hip, Sierra was telling people she broke her coccyx, we broke one sled in half and another gathers leaves as you use it, because of the crack it has formed. In other words, a good time was had by all.