Wednesday, February 25, 2009

“I’m too Valuable to Sled Over the Jump”

Those are the words that came out of my friend Kyle’s mouth while he watched the rest of us fly over the jump on our tubes while sledding a couple of weekends ago. Then Kyle decided that since he was too valuable to sled over the jump that he should snowboard over it instead. If you don’t see the logic in that, then we’re on the same page. The results of his attempt are on the video I posted below. Let’s just say that he’s not so valuable anymore.

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When I was a little girl I LOVED snow. I would get bundled up in so many layers that a Mack truck couldn’t touch me. My sister and I would waddle outside and play for hours sledding and building forts. My whole front yard used to look like a secret underground lair with tunnels leading everywhere.

Now that I’m older, and much more mature (I’m using that word lightly) I have to do things like clean the snow off of my car, get towed up my driveway when my car gets stuck, go off the road at least twice a winter because I can’t see anything BUT snow, and wear my big burleys over my dress pants when I go to work. Things like that can really ruin snow’s childish appeal.

This winter I made an attempt to drop my hate of snow like a hot potato.

And guess what… I did! I am actually coming to enjoy the snow! When I went sledding I had such a great time that I felt like a little girl again! We had pizza, music, a fire to stay warm, a spongebob blow up chair to sled down on, snowmobiles to take us back up the hill (which was a major plus because I’m way too out of shape to walk up a hill) and a jump! Check out my video below!

Now I understand why people drive from all over the place to COME to Oswego County in the winter. If you love the snow, and all activities involved with snow, then this is definitely the place to find it when other places are lacking it. There are tons of trails to cross-country ski, snowshoe and snowmobile. You can try more extreme sports like dog sledding and ice climbing, or easier sports such as ice skating, ice fishing or sledding!

Unfortunately, not everyone has a hill in their backyard, but there are some local places in the county open to the public for great sledding. If you know of any other great places to sled, we’d love to add it to the list, so please leave a comment or send me an email at jtrump@oswegocounty.com.

Fallbrook at SUNYOswego: http://www.oswego.edu/administration/auxiliary_services/fallbrook/

Camp Zerbe in Williamstown: http://www.oswegocounty.com/youth/CZerbe/Zerbe.html

Merrill Town Community Park in Parish: http://www.parishcommunityrec.com/

This is the awesome sledding video (you can watch Kyle around minute 5:09)!

The boys getting ready at the top of the hill

Ashleigh & Me at the bottom of the hill, waiting for our ride back up


Matt, Ashleigh's brother-in-law, showing off on the snowboard


Ashleigh's son Owen


Ashleigh's older son Jake, waiting for someone to give him a ride on the snowmobile


Matt, Ashleigh & Me with a tube train


Manasseh testing out the jump


Getting towed up the hill


Matt flying over the jump backwards


There were 4 guys packed on this sled!


Matt flying over the jump again


My friend Chris going over the jump... he looks so calm!

Monday, February 9, 2009

The Northeastern Sports Show


Ashleigh & Me, working at the Oswego County Booth at the show.

Today I’m going to blog about something outside of Oswego County; I’m going to blog about the great Northeastern Sports Show, held in Syracuse, NY. Oswego County signs up anually as a vendor, giving me the opportunity to rub elbows with outdoorsmen and women of the area. The annual show is something I look forward to every year!

My coworker, Mel, and I, were assigned the task of setting up for the annual show. We arrived to the New York State Fairgrounds around 10 a.m. We had to wait behind a guy who decided washing his truck right in front of the building entrance was an awesome idea. We waited patiently (well, Mel waited patiently; I threatened the guy under my breath). Finally, Mr. Clean moved his truck and we proceeded to Row H, where our booth is always assigned.

Our display is simple: There is one huge wire contraption that pulls apart and stands up tall, and then there are long black panels that cover the wire contraption that serve as the backdrop of our display. Photos are then placed on the panels. We finished setting up the wire contraption when we realized that the panels had been put away in the wrong carrier. This didn’t seem like an issue, until we tried to pull them out.

They were stuck, I mean really stuck. Mel grabbed the carrier and I grabbed the panels and we just began to pull. It was like watching two young kids play tug-o-war, except we aren’t exactly young and our stamina isn’t what is used to be. After 20 minutes of switching sides, angles and technique, a nice young gentleman (who had been watching and laughing the whole time) offered his assistance. We declined (we didn’t want to look weak – we were at a sports show after all) and kept on pulling. FINALLY, after slightly tearing one of the panels, we got it! The panels were free!

The panels need to be hung up much higher than we can reach, and normally we remember to bring a foot stool with us. Not this time. Mel and I contorted our bodies and found ways to hang up the panels without a fuss… until one fell down and smacked me in the head.

Surely after my new brain injury, nothing else would go wrong. We went to pull out the photos and alas,

THEY WERE MISSING!

I frantically called my co-workers back at the office and had them search high and low for the photos. It turns out they were being used at another show and hadn’t arrived back at our office yet.

We had two choices: A. Just keep our black panels up and hope that our tourism staff is cute enough to draw attention to our booth, or B. figure out a way to order new posters within a day!
We went with plan B, although I think we could have pulled off plan A!

Our friends at StepOne Creative in Oswego, and Walmart in Granby, both offered to print our posters in one day! Jan sent photos over to StepOne and I drove a CD of photos to Walmart. I arrived back at the office with half an hour to spare! My coworkers rushed to laminate all of the posters - something that couldn’t possibly go wrong.

Guess again.

Laurie handed Mel two posters a time, which Mel didn’t realize so she accidentally laminated them together! After some serious brainstorming, these genius women figured out how to save both posters without as much as a scratch!

I finally left the office an hour and a half after work, after finishing the posters and creating a separate promotional display for our blogs (I’m shamelessly promoting myself, I know).

Luckily, the fiasco of a day turned out in our favor! We finally made new posters and our display looked awesome. The show was a blast too! My partner-in-crime, Ashleigh, volunteered to work our booth with me on Friday night. We both wore our burlys to feel like real outdoorswomen!

I am leaving you with photos from all of the activities at the sports show. If you didn’t check it out this year, make sure you come next year and visit our booth. We’re always in Row H!


Wearing our burlys.


Fellow blogger, Spider, signing his books!


Spider's display


People checking out all of the vendors

Kyle, Ashleigh's husband, trying out some of the bows.


Matt, Kyle's brother, also trying out a bow


They had a shooting game!

Jake, Ashleigh's son, is already in training to be a great hunter!


Boys and their toys!


Birds of prey!


Trout fishing


Matt caught a trout and won a prize!


Jake and a friendly hunting dog


The main attraction: the Grizzly Bear!