Alpine Slide

Yesterday I alluded to a lovely couple I met at the Chicago Midway Airport. I want to tell you more about our conversation.

We had been sitting and waiting for our delayed flight for a while when we started chatting. The wife asked me where I am from, and I told her just outside of Worcester. She asked me if I know The Crown Bakery -- a Swedish institution that Mike's family has gone to for years. The couple is from Vermont and stops into Crown whenever they are in Worcester.

A while later we were talking about IKEA, their food, furniture, etc... They were telling me about its Swedish origins. Very interesting.

A bit after that (we were delayed for nearly 3 hours at Midway), they asked me if I have ever been on the Alpine Slide at Jiminy Peak (the photo is from their website).


I related our story from 8 years ago. Mike and I went one day and thought it would be fun to race. We had lots of fun. So much fun that I turned my sled over and went careening down the track. Mike was around the bend, so I picked myself up, jumped back on the sled, and went to the bottom of the track. I went to the First Aid station, then we went back to camp.

I didn't want to be deterred from the fun, so we decided to go back the following day. I thought it would be prudent to wear long pants, etc... The photos below are photos of photos (our scanner is loaned out at present) taken with a cheap camera that had a dirty lens -- read bad photo quality.

Me and my sled



Mike and his sled



Racing


We had fun racing again until Mike turned his sled over and had to get patched up!!! At camp we were given the nicknames of "Skid" and "Re-Skid".

After relating this story to the nice couple, they told me that they design the sleds and tracks, and own the Alpine Slide company. They installed the original track at JP 30 years ago and put in a whole new track and sled system at JP last year. What a small world!!! The sleds have been completely redesigned to have four wheels instead of two, as well as an automatic brake control. The track is now fiberglass instead of concrete. The improvements have dramatically lowered the accident rate.

So... We are really hoping for nice weather this weekend so we can get a group together and do the Alpine Slide!

Crossing our fingers for Saturday sunshine! Have a Happy Day!