Go Tobogganing

Go tobogganing
December 7, 2013

I grew up in Saskatoon where it's pretty much always winter.  That's not true.  Summer is beautiful, but it's short and winter is very cold.  As a kid I played in the snow a lot.  I quickly learned that one of my most disliked feelings is snow directly on the wrist... ughh!

When I was a kid we would go to this amazing tobogganing hill that overlooked the river and had a play ground next to it.  That was pretty great!

It's probably been about 15 years since the last time I went tobogganing, so I figured it was time.

We got a lot of snow and very cold temperatures at the beginning of December, so that seemed like the perfect time.  Since Calgary gets a lot of chinooks, I didn't want to risk losing the best chance of the winter.  I have been proven very wrong on this.  Calgary has had record breaking snow falls in the past month and the chinooks haven't been all that effective.  Oh well; better safe than sorry!

The city website showed a few great hills, so I chose the one closest to us and sent out an invite to a lot of people on facebook.  With the short notice I didn't expect a lot of participants.  Even if no one came, hubby and I would have a great time on our own.


We borrowed crazy carpets from my parents (straight out of the 80's) and wore multiple layers.  Luckily, our great friends, Kristi & Mark, were able to join us.  Even better, they brought their 9 year old son.  It was really nice having him with us because he brought a childlike excitement to it that wouldn't have been present otherwise.  That was fantastic!

The hill was shaped like a bowl and there were houses on all sides, so we were shielded from the wind and the sun was shining bright.  We were actually too warm at some points.  The day was perfect!

We were the first ones on the hill, which was nice.  After a bit of time a few other people joined, but it wasn't crowded at all.  There was a dad and his young son whom we interacted with a bit.  They were a lot of fun.  It was nice being around other people enjoying themselves as much as we were!

We had a lot of fun and wiped out a lot... especially me.  I spent a lot of time watching my legs fly up in the air as I rolled down the hill.  The crazy carpet took some practice but, after following Mark's lead, I found that on the stomach was the best way to go.

We were out there for about an hour and then decided it was time for some hot chocolate.  What a lovely afternoon!

Note: watch this silly video:

If you turn the sound up, you can hear me cackling.