So yesterday I was trying to think of fun weekend trip ideas for this summer and one place I used to love to go to was the Vermont State Fair. Every year my parents would rent a place at Okemo for Labor Day weekend just before school started. We would go run around the mountain, climb on the empty chair lifts, watch horse races and get crappy prizes that wouldn’t last a week. All in all a good time for a 7 year old.
We also went to a place called Bromley that had a alpine slide. If you don’t know what a alpine slide is it’s a long track on a side of a mountain that you ride down in the summer. Now Bromley has all this different attractions but at the time I went it only had three concrete alpine slides.
So for years anytime I wanted to ride the Alpine Slide I would have to ride with my dad. Being the youngest child, I was jealous that my brother and sister got to ride by themselves. But 1995 was different. I was finally old enough to ride all by myself.
The day started off normally. My dad and I went down a few times together while my brother and sister got to ride by themselves as usual. They eventually got bored and found out that they could rent ATVs. Somehow they convinced my parents to sign the release forms and I was left behind being too little again.
But there was a silver lining.
“Do you want to go on yourself?” My dad asked me. I didn’t even have to think about it. I NEVER got to do thing anything myself. The alpine slide was huge to me. I got to ride down by myself just like my brother and sister. I was almost an equal!
My dad told me to grab a sled and we headed back to the top. Most likely he carried it up most of the way for me anyways. The first time I went down by myself it was exhilarating. I was victorious. I was invincible! I was in control. I felt the need for speed!
Of course I wouldn’t quit while I was ahead. I ran back up to the top and headed down another run. My dad warned me to watch my speed and to use the break but I guess I was little too cocky. I just felt my self speeding up and up. Suddenly I lost control of the sled! The sled flipped over and I kept sliding forward.
I was in complete and utter shock. This couldn’t happen to me. I was finally a big kid. This stuff didn’t happen to my brother and sister so why would it happen to me? Eventually my dad came around the same corner responsible for my demise and saw quite a crash scene. There was me missing patches of skin, sled overturned. I immediately starting crying but all my dad could tell me was “Well there’s no other way to get down. You need to get back on.”
I was still sobbing going 1mph down the mountain with my dad tailing close behind me causing a huge ass traffic jam of people behind us.
My mom was waiting at the end of the track. She was wondering why we hadn’t made it down the track yet then there’s me sobbing eeking my way down to the end of the track. While my dad put my sled away, my mom whisked me off to the first aid station.
The walk to the first aid station was arduous. Not only was I physically and emotionally scarred, the amount of people staring, wincing at the sight of me, was even worse. Did I mention it was a concrete track? Yeah, I was missing a lot of skin. I came out of there covered in gauze and tape. It was summer so there was no covering it. Everyone stared.
But there was a semi-happy ending to this story. I was not the only person to pull a dumbass move that day. When my parents went looking for my brother and sister, they found that had flipped the ATV. Not only flipped it but flipped it into a ditch. Fortunately they were unscathed. We make the Clark Griswold’s family look like a Norman Rockwell painting.
That night my parents decided to take us mini-golfing apparently as a distraction for me. I don’t know how that helped my searing pain and utter embarrassment to be seen in public.
Luckily for my fragile child mind, I started school that week. It was a great day of hiding and avoiding questions. It’s amazing how I was back to school pictures from that year.
I don’t think we went back to Bromley after that year. I’ve never gotten the chance to redeem myself on the Alpine Slide. Hopefully this summer will change I will return to Bromley and conquer it once and for all.
frothybits 