Tubing at Mad River Mountain

This afternoon we took the kids tubing at Mad River Mountain (which is very close - 25 minutes away). We've never been before, but this fall each of the kids got a free three hour pass for getting straight A's on their report cards, so we really had to make the trip. And the passes cost $20 each, so it was really a good deal. The kids have been asking to go since Christmas vacation, but it was really cold then, and since we have a three day weekend, we had planned to go this weekend. The 38 degree weather was a huge bonus.

Unfortunately, everyone else within a 50 mile radius also thought it would be a perfect day to go tubing as well. So the lines were long. Very long. We waited 45 minutes to buy our passes because they were so busy that they had no tubes for a while, and they won't sell passes with no tubes. Luckily it wasn't very cold and we were dressed for it, so waiting was not a huge pain. Ben and I considered leaving and coming back another day, but the kids were not happy at all about that idea.

So we finally got our passes - good from 3:25-6:25 - and headed to line to go down the hill. The really big hill. And the line moved pretty well, but it was just really really long. But the good news is that going down the hill was really very cool. So fast - the snow had melted some so it was a sheet of ice. We only stayed 2 hours - and made it down the hill 5 times. Sam was really beat by that time, and Ben and I were starting to get cold. Maria could have easily made it through the third hour. It was tiring standing in line all the time. We went down twice with all four of us together - the last time all in a line, with Ben in front, and we went so fast! We also each experienced the hill on our own, and each adult with each kid (I think). The kids weren't scared at all - I thought they might get worried standing at the top and looking all the way down the hill - I know I was a little scared!

It really was a lot of fun. We might even do it again sometime, maybe on a less perfect day so the crowd isn't quite as bad.

Here's the movie version of one of our tubing runs: