Gravity + Hill + Snow = FUN

Go to any reasonably steep hill after a good snowstorm and you will undoubtedly find kids having fun.

In the 1950s it was steel runner wooden sleds (my generation), in the 1980s it was plastic dishes (my kid's generation), now, it is all manner of smooth bottomed devices made from plastic, fiberglass, and just about any slick surface you can find. Flattened cardboard boxes worked well for me when caught without my sled. Today you can buy Disney decorated equivalents of flattened cardboard for much more money. My advice? Go with the cardboard and save the money for hot chocolate. It (hot chocolate) tastes much better when your hands are numb from the cold and your clothes are sopping wet from the snow.

I admire the durability of the equation: gravity + hill + snow = fun.

In Eldorado Tuesday afternoon, Doug Seagraves and friends were snowboarding behind a four-wheel ATV. In Mahoney Park, Eldorado, the Williams family, mom, dad, and kids, were getting in some good rides on the plastic dish variety of snow sliding machine. Meanwhile, in Harrisburg, the hill behind the hospital was delivering good rides to anyone willing to do the drop from the road.

Seagraves is a veteran snowboarder who in the 1990s had been out west to the Rockies and beyond to Utah and Tahoe. Tahoe was his favorite trip but now, with house, mortgage etc. he is fine with riding behind tow vehicles. He gets over to Paoli Peaks, Ind. each year.

The Williams believe that the family that sleighs together stays together. Father, Bobbie, mom, Angie and daughter Brianna, 11, were getting crazy on the hill in Mahoney Park along with a gang of friends.

Morgan Burklow, 18, Haley Price, 18, and Ayden Price, 10 were getting their exercise trudging back up the excellent hill behind Harrisburg Medical Center.