A Fun Snow Day

Having a fun snow day once in the while with the family is definitely a must do whenever you can. It is one of the handful of family activities that does not require money or travel and yet makes lasting memories that will remain long after the snow is melted and gone. There are lots of different things that you can so such as sledding, inner tubing, bonfires, quad riding, snow machining, skiing, hiking, camping, hunting, and many others. Your choices depend on what equipment you have, the amount of snow you get, what areas are open for fun, your physical abilities, and obviously the cold weather clothes you have.

All of us were lucky this time because we had snow and freezing temperatures during the Christmas break when we were off work for a week and a half and the kids were out of school and college for the school break. Some of our friends were also off work too so all the timing worked out perfectly to make everyone’s Christmas break that much more fun. The timing like this rarely happens and my employer was moving equipment to the next job so it was a fluke that I had all the same days off as everyone else. I am not complaining whatsoever as having a day to have fun in the snow when everyone is actually off work or school is always a great day. I am sure there are many city dwellers that would love to just have an opportunity to try stuff like this as they’ve only seen it in pictures or in videos.

We have good cold weather clothes that keep us going down to about zero degrees and if it gets any colder than that we want something that has a cab to keep us warm. Be sure to factor in the windchill into planning your outing as the wind makes it colder extremely fast so be prepared. We carry several thermos bottles of hot chocolate with us so everyone can stay warm and hydrated. Many people don’t stay hydrated as well as they should in cold weather as you aren’t getting hot, sweaty, and thirsty like you do in the summer so it is easy to overlook it. Having handwarmers can help too if you don’t have a good pair of extreme cold weather gloves. We use both the disposable handwarmers along with ones that use lighter fluid. We bought a gallon of naphtha to use in ours as it is way cheaper than using “Lighter fluid” so it costs us pennies on the dollar to use them. Definitely don’t use those around gasoline and remember to take them out of your pockets before refilling your fuel tanks.

Inviting neighbors and friends for the day adds to the fun and everyone can bring their favorite snacks and drinks to turn any into snow outing into a gourmet smorgasbord to enjoy throughout the day. I bought my wife a crock pot sized food thermos to keep soups and such hot throughout the day. It is hard to beat a good snack and drink buffet with good friends and neighbors. We have quads, sleds, and a John Deere Gator so we have them grab onto a thick rope and pull them back up the hill with their sleds, people don’t get as tired as quickly. It doesn’t seem like it saves that much effort, but it makes a huge difference after only a couple runs so it really helps a lot overall.

We have a hill by our house that works excellent for sledding after the snow gets compacted into ice as the incline is just right and there is very little vehicle traffic. I do not recommend trying these activities anywhere that vehicle traffic will be a concern as one of you might just become part of the natural deselection process. Unfortunately, common sense is not common anymore as you can tell by the labels warning people not to eat laundry soap detergent pods. Once the snow on the hill is compacted you can slide down it very easily on the sled. I wait until a couple sleds have come down before I go down with the quad and pull the riders back up by having them hold onto a tow rope. The old metal sleds could be “Daisy chained” together using ropes, but there is no way to tie the new plastic ones together so only about two people at a time can be pulled up. This is entertaining too because if you don’t keep the tow rope and weight centered the sleds start fishtailing quickly throwing the riders off half way up the hill. They figure out what not to do very quickly so the rest of the trips will go faster.

The riders would switch out once in a while so they could warm up with hot chocolate or other drinks and give the other people a turn on the sleds. We opened up our woodstove before leaving the house to make sure the house was nice and toasty so everyone could warm up when we got back. I built a bonfire too so we could sit around the fire outside in the snow while everyone raided the snacks inside. Later I used the Gator to tow people around on sleds behind it without needing a hill. Old car hoods used to work great, but they are hard to find anymore so sleds are it now. It was a good snow day spent with friends and family.