Don’t be fooled… this kind of “run” is not running, it’s sledding! In the Indiana park of Pokagon lies a treasure. It’s a toboggan slide. It is awesome! We visited on President’s Day because the kids had a day off school.
The best part is that it’s refrigerated, so you can ride on it even if there isn’t any snow. They open it right after Thanksgiving. However, even a light coating of snow makes the ride even better. It’s the perfect scenery!
We got to the park around 10:30am. That was a half hour early so we could be one of the first in line when it opened at 11:00am. But guess what? About 100 Amish people had the same idea! The Amish do not drive, but they do hire drivers to take them places, and right when we arrived 4 vans of Amish people arrived too. Luckily we got our sled rental before they did and we ended up being the 3rd sled down the track. If you look at this picture closely you will see a lot of people dressed in black on the stairs. That’s a tiny group of the Amish people there that day. They had completely matching outfits on. It’s always interesting to see them – especially when we are at Cedar Point! I find their lifestyle so intriguing.
You rent the sleds by the hour. A big sled fits up to 4 people on it. The smaller sleds fit 3 people. The big sled as come in “light” and regular variety. The regular sled weights 60 pounds!! That makes carrying the sled up the hill a bit of a workout. That’s another reason we got there early to get our choice of sleds. The light sleds only weigh 30 pounds.
You carry your sled up to the top of the 30 foot tower. Then they pile you in the sled – criss cross feet for the first person, then the rest of the people sit down with their feet wrapped around the person in front of them. You get super cozy in this position!!
Then, they give you a push and down the track you go. It’s a wild and crazy ride!! They operate two tracks, so that keeps things moving along at a nice pace.
I think getting into the sled was actually half the fun of going down the hill. Here’s a peek at us getting into it. Full of laughter!! Skip ahead to :42 to see us launch down the hill. What a wild ride!
We got to go 3 times within 90 minutes due to the amount of people waiting. I rode in the front once. Yikes!! Soooooo fun! My Garmin said we were going 40.5 mph on one of the rides! Check it out!
I highly recommend going on one of these if you ever get the chance. You will not regret it! I’m starting to think that we may have missed our day for sledding in our town, so this was an awesome way to get my fix.
Q: Have you been sledding lately?
Luckily this was MUCH easier on my body than regular sledding!
Q: Have you ever been on this, or any, toboggan run? Did you like it?
Q: Do you go any place that you see Amish (or Mennonite) people or live near an Amish community?
There is a big sledding hill in a forest preserve close to my house but I don’t think I have been there since my son was a youngster. Years ago, there were several toboggan runs in Cook County forest preserves in and around Chicago but budget issues and maintenance costs eventually led to them being torn down. I think there is an Amish community in Northern Indiana. When I worked in the city, I would see them in Union Station taking the train.
We see Amish people when we got to this park in Indiana, and middle of the state in Ohio. We also see them at Cedar Point. They do build barns for people in this area though!
You guys are so flippin fun. You are my favorite/only family I follow via bloggin. 🙂 Can I be an honory daughter or aunt or something???
Living in Central PA, I am very used to Amish in the community I grew up in! I find their lifestyle intriguing as well but it is not weird to see them out and about because they have farms and businesses in the town I grew up in. Such hard workers!
well thanks 🙂 I thought it was especially funny/odd when I came out of the bathroom at the park, there were about 8 little girls squished in to the small bathroom waiting for my stall. They all looked identical!!
oh wow this looks like a blast! I have to check and see if this is close to IU where my kids go to school now.
Deborah Brooks recently posted…Winter Running- Be Prepared From Head To Toe
How cool is this??!! Certainly not something we have here in the UK!
It is really a unique thing. Old fashion, but yet kinda high tech because it’s refrigerated!