February 21, 2019: Winter Sports

An abnormally early spring break for my son gave us some different options.  One of the things we talked about was Cubs Spring Training in Arizona.  The only issue with that is that the first game wasn’t until Saturday; we would want to be home on Saturday since he was back in school on Monday.  It’s definitely on the bucket list, but it would have to be another year.  Plus, a road trip would be a much cheaper option.  With plenty of trips on the docket for this year, that definitely comes into play.  I would also save a couple vacation days.  My wife brought up the idea of tubing…  After further review, we settled on it; we would head up to Traverse City for a couple days of winter sports. 

Leaving on Wednesday morning at 5am, the traffic wasn’t bad, but the weather definitely was.  It was tough sledding for a few hours… snow/rain in the air, wipers going the whole time, slick roads… heck, once we got into Michigan and started heading north, one of the two lanes on our side of the road was completely covered in snow… it was like one lane traffic for a good hour.  We finally made it, and had to hurry to get to our first destination. 

It was “skates and pucks” time.  There was an hour of open ice at a local arena.  We would be able to take our hockey sticks on the ice and shoot the puck.  After coaxing my son for about 15 minutes, he finally got out there, and started skating around.  After the last time on the ice, where he slipped and cracked his head, he was very hesitant.  This time, with his helmet, it took him a while, but I think we got him back.  It was a blast.  For me, it was my first time ever playing actual ice hockey.  I know it wasn’t a game, but to be on skates, with a hockey stick, shooting pucks in the net… it was a first!  I know, crazy.  Played plenty of floor hockey, and ice hockey in a local park with my gym shoes, but never on skates.  I loved it.  I told my wife I’m going to learn how to skate and join a men’s league… mid life crisis time?  Maybe too early for that, but most importantly, glad my son got out there; definitely may be some skating lessons in the future for him.  Get him ready for some actual ice hockey maybe???

Next up was tubing.  Again, never been tubing.  Sledding plenty of times, skiing too, but tubing.. it was a first for all of us.  We signed up for the 7-8pm slot.  It was about 30 degrees, snow was coming down pretty good, and we had the tubing hills almost all to ourselves.  It was perfect.  It was one of those nights that I’ll never forget.  I looked at the big hills, and got a little nervous; meanwhile, my son was down the chute first time by himself… so much for being nervous.  We went down separately, together, forwards, backwards, spinning…  like I said, a really, really cool night.  Then we hit the restaurant in the ski lodge for some dinner; it was packed because of a “ski league” they had earlier that evening.  Good food, good beer, and less than a mile from where we were staying. 

The next day brought a quick stroll through downtown Traverse City; some more good beer and more good food.  Next up was another first; we signed my son up for a snowboarding lesson.  We sat there proudly watching him.  Sure he fell a bunch of times, but also learned to snowboard, learned how to stop, learned how to use the tow rope.  We asked him how he liked it afterwards, and he gave it a 10 out of 10; possible birthday gift…  Yet, when we asked him if he wanted to snowboard some more or go tubing, the choice was easy.  More tubing!  We ended the night coming down on our bellies, flying down that hill.

It’s these times that make everything worth it.  These are the days that we work for.  To be able to enjoy a little getaway, to try some new things, to do it all as a family… OK, enough of the mushy stuff.  We did get to watch some of the Hawks game Wednesday night; we were up in Michigan after all.