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 This young girl enjoys tubing but it’s loads of fun for the young at heart too. The sport requires neither training nor special skills and age doesn’t seem to matter, says travel columnist Doug English who enjoyed the slopes aboard a tube at Michigan’s Shanty Creek Resorts earlier this month. (QMI Agency file photo) |
MICHIGAN - For a child of nine, unable to swim, an inner tube was a way to enjoy the water.
For a geezer of 73, too chicken to put on skis, an inflatable tube was the key to winter fun.
I discovered the joys of snow tubing a couple of weeks ago at Shanty Creek Resorts, 45 minutes drive north of Traverse City, in Michigan.
Tubing requires neither training nor special skills. Age doesn't seem to matter, either. One woman told me she put her two-year-old daughter right inside a tube and she happily zips down unattended.
Getting up the hill is a breeze. Riders sit in the tube and are hauled up via a line with a loop attached to a moving cable. At the top, the loop automatically slips off.
The accepted style for going down is lying on your chest, facing forward, gripping two handles, feet extended to act as rudders or brakes.
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Or you can do as I did, simply plop down on your butt and take whatever comes along.
The accepted style lets you see where you're going, steer, and slow down should you get too close to the crash barrier at the bottom.
The other method results in a ride reminiscent of the old midway whirligig. You start off facing forward but are quickly whipped around so you're whizzing down backwards.
The tube may turn sideways once or twice, but won't stay that way long at these speeds.
Of course, you have absolutely no control, but that, for me, was part of the thrill.
Tubing can be done solo or in tandem. Tubing hill team leader Mike Moody told me the greater the weight the farther you'll travel.
So eight of my colleagues, each in his own tube, held hands and headed down. We broke into clumps of six and three a few seconds into the run, but we did add eight or 10 metres in distance. Next time, 10 tubes managed to stay together - a record for Shanty Creek, Moody said.
I'd signed up figuring I'd make maybe take one run, then stroll over to Cedar Creek hotel for a hot chocolate. But 90 minutes later, there I was trying to squeeze in "just one more''.
Shanty Creek also offers downhill and cross-country skiing, and has a spa.
I noticed our Maple Leaf flying and learned they get a lot of Canadians. (It's four hours or so from London).
A Canadian Spring Break Package March 14-18 starts at $76 US per adult per night, based on double occupancy. That covers one night's lodging at Lakeview Hotel, the hub of the complex, a lift ticket, and free skiing the evening of arrival.
Daily activities include apres ski entertainment, family craft and family game nights, bingo, tubing races, a broomball tournament, and a family sledding party. Visit www.shantycreek.com.
There are two community ski areas on either side of Traverse City, Mt. Holiday and Hickory Hills.
The Grand Traverse Commons has 13 cross-country ski trails. Some of my colleagues enjoyed snowshoeing at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, with its panoramic view of Lake Michigan.
Hundreds of kilometres of dedicated trails attract snowmobilers. Check out the Boardman and Jordan River valleys.
What struck me as the perfect place to thaw out from a day outdoors was the water park at Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City.
The water temperature is 28, the air 29 - so they don't get chilled. Every five minutes, a bell rings signalling that a 1,000-gallon bucket of hot water atop a three-storey centrepiece structure is about to be overturned. And there was me without a bathing suit.
Contact the Traverse City Convention & Visitors Bureau for brochures and maps. Visit www.mytraversecity.com.
Leisure travel news:
- Guests at Fairmont Hotels & Resorts can be introduced to new skills and activities through its Apprentice-Trips by Fairmont program.
Some examples: A French immersion package at Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City; dessert-making at Fairmont Pacific Rim, Vancouver; ski help from a team led by World Cup champion Lauralee Bowie at The Fairmont Chateau Whistler, in B.C. Visit www.fairmont.com/promotions/apprenticetrips for a full list.
- An eight-day wine-tasting trip through British Columbia's Okanagan Valley will be introduced by Rocky Mountaineer starting in June, 2010. The price tag is $7,499 per person, befitting a trip that It begins and ends with limousine transfers wine-paired dinners at fine hotels in Vancouver and Banff and features Gold Leaf service on board the train. Rocky Mountaineer is also launching a seven-day golf-themed excursion from Vancouver to Calgary, via Vernon and Banff. Phone 1-800-665-7245 or visit www.rockymountaineer.com.
- Visitors to Vancouver are now able to download a free application called CitySmart for their smartphones that provides a guide to the city. Tourism Vancouver says this is the world's first completely interactive tourist and sporting event mobile application, providing live, updated tourist and event information, plus an advanced GPS system that gives detailed street navigation and breaking news on traffic situations. To download CitySmart, visit www.tourismvancouver.com/download.
Mail can be sent to Doug English, c/o London Free Press, P.O.E. Box 2280, London, Ont. N6A 4G1; faxes to 519-672-1824.