Tubing!

Yesterday we went up to Garden Valley with my brother and his family. They found this new tubing hill and wanted to try it out. So, I went on the hunt for snow pants (my friend's dad said that when moving to Idaho, snow pants should have come with our house....I agree) and promptly decided we couldn't go. Our goal for January is to have no unnecessary spending. Snow pants ain't cheap. Even from WalMart they were $50 a pair. Well, turns out that Jamie & Carin had extra pants, so off we went.

Once we got there, we strapped on our gear and headed up. You can't ride together, you have to sit in your own tube - but you can go in tandem. Nick & I decided to do that, mainly because I'm chicken and don't like to do things myself. The tube lanes went from "mild to wild" so Nick and I went on the "mild" one to start. Um. Yeah. Our combined weight barreling down the slide at the same time? NOT GOOD. We went SUPER fast, my heart was in my throat for the whole ride and at several points I really thought we were going to shoot over the edge. Turns out, adults aren't permitted down the slide we went, unless they're riding tandem with their CHILD. Not with their SPOUSE. Would have been nice if the dude at the top had suggested that. Or the nifty tips that the dude at the bottom had for a successful tandem ride (going down like a train). The instructions by the staff wasn't the best; apparently they assume if you don't ask questions - you know how to do it. Even though this is new. Jamie & Nick both went through the power lines at the top of the lift, thus shutting down the lift for a few moments. The woman at the top had no problems talking crap about Nick to the other operators, but apparently couldn't be bothered to pass out any tips to get out sooner.

Anyway, after our wild ride down, I was scared to say the least. Nick went down lane 2 (lane 1 was the first one we went down) to see how it was by himself. It was still fast, he said, so he added this like bumper disk to the underside of his tube (apparently slows you down and smooths out the ride) and went back up to test it out. I waited patiently at the bottom, taking pictures. :-) Nick convinced me that going down with the bumper disk and going on your belly - face first - was the way to go. So, I went up again. It was okay, I suppose, but just not my thing. I have huge bruises across the tops of my thighs from bouncing around, my chin kept smacking into the tube and my feet, oh my poor feet, you have to use them to steer. Well, I don't have snow boots. So I had one my hiking boots and I got all banged up and sore.

Well, after that I was pretty much done. I like sledding and stuff, but tubing solo just isn't for me, I guess. After our passes were expired, we trooped back to the car, peeled off the layers of snow cloths and headed into nearby Crouch for dinner. The place we went also has a pool heated with natural geothermal heat. It. Was. Divine. Absolutely DIVINE. I could have happily spent my whole life in that pool - and after the owner guy offered Nick & Jamie (free) beer out of his floating cooler, I know the men were on board with never leaving as well.

All in all it was a good day. I had my reservations and doubts going in, I'm not sure I'd do tubing again - but I'm not crossing it off my list either, I'm glad I went and got to spend time with everyone.

Here's to a great rest of the weekend!