Saturday in New York City. A perfect winter day, sunny and cold with snow blanketing every untrafficked part of the city. Three gals finished brunch, almost left their plastic purple sled under the table, and headed off to Central Park.
Three California girls: Miranda, Charlotte, and I all grew up in San Francisco. At this point we’ve survived many east coast winters. We know how to stay warm, we’ve mastered winter accessories (warm must win over cute. Sigh). But not one of us had more than a clue about sledding. That wasn’t going to stop us from trying.
San Francisco is notorious for its hills. New York is not. Usually the three of us are what you might call “hill snobs”. What, you call that a hill? Please, that’s barely an incline! We searched for the perfected slope for our sledding maiden voyage. As we walked, Miranda shared what she knew about sledding, “My friend Dave broke his arm sledding a few years ago,” she paused, “And you remember Naomi? She went sledding in college, slid into a broken bottle and had to get stitches all up her arm.” Suddenly every hill we saw, every bump in the road seemed too steep.
We finally found a incline hill that didn’t scare the shit out of us seemed just right. I was elected to go first as I had been sledding before. Once. Six years ago. Unfortunately my mind was void of memories of that experience, filled instead with thoughts of broken arms/stitches/teeth getting knocked out/not having health insurance. I wouldn’t let my friends down. I plunked the sled down in the snow, awkwardly sat upon it, grabbed on to the purple plastic handles, and shuffled my feet to give myself a push. Then I was flying through the air, sliding down the pathetic excuse for a hill at perhaps the speed of a squirrel. Fast enough to have fun!
After a few trips down, we all felt a little more confident. We decided to go look for a better hill.
Soon we came across the perfect hill. Lots of other sledders seemed to think so. Sure, they were all under the age of six. I’d like to think they had just as much (and probably more!) sledding experience as we did!
Despite our initial tentativeness, we had a blast. It was so fun. We didn’t need to go down big hills! We shrieked with delight, sliding down two at a time on our purple saucer, the third person playing camera man.
I really needed this reminder that it is fun to go outside in the winter! Central Park is so gorgeous covered in snow! It’s always tempting to stay in and warm and hibernate all season. Must resist! I can’t wait to go sledding again. What are other fun outside winter activities?
That’s fantastic. Thanks for the white flashback. I was Central Park in May. Plenty of frisbee catching dogs but no snow though. Be tough to catch frisbee there now. Love the site. We spent about a week in NYC (Harlem 135th st)
I live just 10 blocks from where you were! We were neighbors for a week! May is many people’s favorite month in NYC, so well played. Thanks for reading!
Ten blocks. Depending on which direction… that’s weird,we were supposed to stay at a place on 125th st but got conned and ended up 135th and Adam Clayton. Not that it mattered just one change on the subway down town. My highlight was scoring txt to Letterman. And we scored two tx to Wicked in the lottery.
I love this.
You should teach me about sledding read: I shoulda asked you for advice 🙂
I have not been sledding in ages – looks like so much FUN!!! I loved going tubing growing up – a little more bouncy and falling off the tube.
I watched a little kid with a tube and was totally jealous- looked a little safer than our plastic sled, but I have no clue if that’s actually true!
I found myself laughing out loud while reading this post. Thanks for sharing.
Oh I’m so glad! I often don’t think of my posts as particularly funny so it always makes me SUPER happy to know I made someone laugh!
snowshoeing and crosscountry skiing are my two favorite snow sports! also, both don’t require steep hills that could get you hurt/killed.
aw man, I wish (I was as smart as you and that) I had taken advantage of colleges who would supply the equipment!
Spray a little “PAM” ,you know for cookie sheets/muffin tins, on the bottom of your sled……..whoosh!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ha! who knew? We definitely weren’t ready for much “whoosh” factor this time around. But for next time, thanks for the tip! 🙂
Yep, yep
Love it! Although right now, if you’re outside in Chicago for more than 6 min. you’ll get frostbite…so sledding is out for me right now. *Tear
6 minutes?? that’s such a teeny tiny window! sending warm thoughts your way- love your blog!
I always Loved Sledding, Making Snow Forts, And Downhill Skiing! This Post Is Delightful:)
I would loooooove to make a snow fort. Calvin and Hobbes definitely put fantastical ideas in my head of what one could do with snow. Having next to no experience with snow, I never really realized what was easy on paper was impossible with actual white stuff!
i grew up in ny and now live in ca. I miss it so much. thanks for sharing this. brought back good memories 🙂
I have never been sledding, and the idea of a pitiful excuse for a hill actually sounds great to start off with 🙂 Considering I pathetically failed at snowboarding and skiing when I tried them, sledding might be a good alternative. If I’m ever actually somewhere where there IS snow, that is. Great photos! Glad you guys had fun 😀