This last Sunday afternoon we redeemed one of our pre-purchased Bucket List dates. About mid-December Idaho Sleigh Rides had a Groupon out for 1/2 off a ride ticket, so I bought 2 of 'em and gave them to Les for Christmas. We scheduled our ride for 1:00 in the afternoon and it was an absolutely beautiful day for it. The sun was shining and it wasn't windy at all.
The worst part was this section of the road up there. Part of the Banks/Lowman Highway that has mountains on both sides of it. The road was slick in some places. And that view right there just made it look very cold (along with the ice-filled river!).
Poncho & Cisco (The hard workers for the day!) They had five sleigh rides to give the day we went and 7 the day before. The horses are 9 and 10 years old and are full brothers. And... they have been in the Rose Bowl Parade!
The ride itself takes about 45 minutes and it winds you through a bit of the valley.
And some of the trees. It was so peaceful.
The horses, sleigh and tent - where you can have hot chocolate, cider, tea or coffee before and after the ride. You can also buy a dinner sleigh ride for a little more (of course) and have it served in the tent.
We were a little disappointed to hear that a "subdivision" is going in out there. But from what I understand Southfork Landing is going to be an outdoor adventure community and about 60% of it is dedicated to open space/wildlife conservation area. They are putting in a whitewater park. And it currently has a small tubing hill.
After our sleigh ride we walked over to the tubing hill to check it out. If you click on the picture and make it bigger, along the right side you see the tubes & riders getting a lift up the hill. Just after they go behind the trees - you are at the top of the hill.
The owner (I'm guessing) was standing down at the bottom with a radar gun letting people know how fast they were going. Les, kind of jokingly, asked if he'd ever had anybody on ski's go down it. The guy said just one guy on a snowboard, after hours, when the employees were playing. Les, of course, said he'd give it a try. He had his ski's in the pickup. And the guy said to go for it, go get 'em. Les asked if he was serious and the guy says go get 'em. And he was off...
So here he is going up the lift.
And at the bottom - 38 mph.
I didn't get a picture of him on the hill as I was trying to video it. That failed ...and he was hoping to get 40 mph, so he went one more time. That video is below (and on facebook). Got to 39 mph.
This was taken from up on the tubing hill - I was hoping for an overall shot of the valley where the sleigh ride goes, but the tube storage was in the way & I couldn't get high enough!
On the way home we stopped along the Payette River - standing on a snow covered beach along the ice filled river.
1 comment:
I saw the facebook video and thought - of course Les would do it!!! Good for him, and good that there was no mishap. At 39 mph, yikes! The ride looks delightful. So glad that you do those things. Making time to do them takes some effort and they will give lots of good memories.
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