Snow Tubing

Friday we got another foot of snow.  Yeah, I thought spring was on its way too, but HAHAHHAHAHAHHHH!!  We live in Maine.  So yesterday (Saturday) we decided to put all this white stuff to good use. Via SNOW TUBING.  We drove to Seacoast Snow Park in Windham.  Only 25 minutes yet a world of fun away!

Here we are at the bottom of the hill.  When we first started we were feeling perky and WAY EXCITED!  So we hoofed it up the hill.  I overheard a family walking alongside us saying it was GOOD to walk, that we were all doing it the old fashioned way.  (Old fashioned = code language for WORK OUT)

Here we are at the top.  I cannot tell you how much FUN!! it was cascading down.  Snow spraying hitting your face, the wind in your hair.  I felt positively giddy.  As you can see, there’s not a huge wait for a lane.  This is b/c there are 12 lanes to choose from. And snow tubing sessions are divided into 2-hour blocks.  Only *so many* tubes are sold per session, so things keep moving.  Single riders can go in any of the 12 lanes, but if you want to link your tube up with other riders, you have to choose the proper lane: 2 riders, up to 6 riders, or more.

The four of us hoofed it up the hill once and rode down.  Then we hoofed it up again and went down again.  After this we were TIRED.  The hill’s not that high but it ain’t that short either. So we decided it was time to be carried.   That’s right; CARRIED!  Not on the backs of sherpas but via conveyor belt or rope tow!  The conveyor belt works just like you’d imagine.  You step onto it and stand with your tube as it whisks you up the hill.

Image: Seacoast Fun Park

We didn’t use the conveyor belt method. Mostly b/c all the double tubes had to be carried that way and the wait was much longer.  As we were all using single tubes, we opted for the rope tow.  The rope tow line was fairly short and the method more appealing.  You sit in your tube and relax.  A handle connected to your tube is looped onto a metal claw attached to the rope.  You and your tube are yanked up the hill to the top, where at a specified location you toss yourself off your tube and proceed a few steps to collect your ride.

Image courtesy of Geoff (maybe that's his kid?)

Here we are waiting at the bottom of the hill in the rope tow line.  You can see the mechanism to the left, pulling the happy tubers up to the top.  The wait was short and while waiting we listened to music over the loudspeakers.  They were playing “The Q” – the Top 40 radio station here in Portland.  Very toe tapping / booty shaking music, sure to put you in a good tubing mood.  My younger daughter is a BIG Q fan – but that’s for another post altogether..

Me & “Greenie”

Here we are back at the top, waiting in line for Lane 1.  Lane 1 is the best lane – single riders only – it’s curvy and has a mogul in one spot.  Worth the short wait.

After this I couldn’t take anymore pics b/c my iPhone camera stopped working.  Personally, I think it got jealous of the fun we were having and decided to stick it to me.  So I didn’t get any shots on the rope tow, or while tubing down any of the lanes.  But that’s probably for the best.  We went a total of 9 times in our 2 hour session, mostly linked together in a big mass of four tubes.  The added weight only served to increase our speed, velocity & fun — so together we FLEWWWW down the hill, Whoopping & hollering and having a BLAST!!  I’m glad I couldn’t take photos — for once I simply sat back and enjoyed the ride. 🙂

0 thoughts on “Snow Tubing

  1. I’m originally from North Dakota, so I am familiar with long winters and lots of snow. I am not familiar with such spectacular hills, though! That looks like a lot of fun (although I would probably discover some nearly impossible new way to loose a limb… or at least a digit or two)! 🙂

    1. I managed to plow into my own daughter at the bottom of one the lanes. In my defense I was coming at her at warp speed and she should have known NOT TO STAND THERE WATCHING. Fortunately kids are resilient and we were all well padded. 🙂

  2. You look so cute in your snow gear, and it looks like much fun. that says alot coming from a wimp like me who usually hides in the lodge with a bottle of brandy, on ski trips. glad you had a good time!

    1. Thanks for the compliment! I’m telling ya 4L – You should take your kids. If they start giving you crap put them on the forced march up the hill. They’ll sleep the rest of the day! 🙂

  3. looks like you had a blast–did it bother your equilib, though? hope you’re feeling good. i went snowtubing (under duress) twice with school. i screamed like a psycho all the way down the hill and the kids thought that was priceless. there may even be footage on youtube. 🙂

    1. Thanks Nat, so far so good. I felt like I was moving for some time after and was fearful it might give me vertigo. My ear’s been driving me nuts (what’s new?) but as we’re on snow storm #3 since Friday, who knows the cause. I just keep thinking happy thoughts (as usual) !! XO

  4. holy crap that looks like SO much fun!
    We have one of those tube parks around here and now I really want to go because you made it seem like a wicked good time!!!

  5. Oh my COD that looks amazingly fun. I wish they had that around here. That would be so much fun. Oh, and the iphone hates cold weather and I heard it won’t work with cool fingers so maybe that’s why it went kaputz?

    1. My iPhone must be temperamental. It gives me grief routinely. Cold, hot, in between. Day, night. Answering calls, during calls. Sounds like a new post in the making. (Gotta write these things down..)

      As for the tubing, maybe you have a new business idea?? I mean, CANADA – shouldn’t there be a tube place there?!

      1. Holy cray you’re right! WTH is wrong with us Canadians that we don’t have that? Oh yeah, we have ski hills, and all mountain regions with hills big enough for that are considered National Parks.

  6. I went for-real snow tubing once in Idaho while on spring break (YES! A wild, sexy spring break in IDAHO!), and it was one of my most memorable experiences ever. Partly because we were all wearing jeans, and our butts got soaked on the first run and stayed soaked for hours. But even better was when we were kids and my dad would hook a tire to the back of his pickup with chains and drive us down the country roads.

    The rope tow is genius and should be my new method of getting to work.

    1. This is why I love you. You go to spring break in REAL places. You know, the ones everyone else goes away from. Leaving you the whole state to enjoy. PS: Your dad had the right idea! FUN WITH CARS! In HS I used to take the top off my jeep, pull out the back seat. We would put a blow up pool in the back, fill it up and drive around in our swimsuits w/ supersoakers. Loved it!!

      PS: w/ all the snow NYC’s gotten the past 2 yrs, the rope tow could be a seriously good idea.

    1. Thanks so much Tink! Why can’t there be MORE of these places worldwide?! Oh right… you need SNOW. To bad you can’t ship that as easily as everything else.

  7. A jealous iPhone! Haha!
    Looks like a fun day. I can just hear The Q station being piped in everywhere.
    I want another chance at snow tubing. Our last and only experience was a bummer. It rained on us while tubing. 🙁

    1. RAIN!?! And no refund?!! Well, I guess that’s understandable. Not like the snow tube place has a direct line to the clouds, but still. It’s like ordering a snow cone and getting tomato juice.

      I have a feeling The Q is being piped all over the US. With nary a change in programming. I seriously need to write this post. Soon!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.