Oh the good old days. I’m sure you remember. You’re in those pre-teen years. Before love, popularity, college, career. You’re the Christmas Story definition of a kid. You wake up. Look out the window and say to yourself “There’s snow! Close call though…Is it enough?” If you could hear the inner thoughts of all the neighborhood kids there’d be one chant in unison – “Please let school be cancelled!!!”

You turn on the radio. Best to go with BZ-1030AM as they announce closings most often. No websites to check. No automated hotlines that call the house to notify of cancellations. Perhaps you could call the school and ask? Ha!!! You’d never get through. Those five phone lines would be lit up like a Christmas tree.

The announcement would start. “Abington, Acton… Bellmont…” I lived in Norwood. My kid logic mind wished I lived in a (first letter of the alphabet) town as the suspense was unbearable. The announcer continued “Medfield, Milton”. That was a good sign. Milton got less snow generally. Looking back, I think every New England kid could map out the winter weather patterns with precision. The announcer was entering the final turn “Needham, Newton, Norwell”, huge pause “NORWOOD!!!!” Yes!!! This was the stuff dreams were made of.

I’d make sure my room was clean. Help out with the shoveling (that’s how I remember it Mom J ). Whatever it took. Mom would say I could go play. I’d grab my sled. Make sure the rope was tied to the front and drag it to “the hill”.

My perfect hill was behind the Willett School in Norwood. It had a great drop from the sledding perspective and a little side route that made it much easier to cart the sled back up. There’d always be neighborhood kids there after a nice storm. We’d have races, trade sleds, throw snowballs, and be kids! We’d trudge up the hill all day for that 10 second rush. We’d all be lost in the moment.

I’d “forget” to go home or check in. Then I’d see the sun setting and sprint back, sled in tow. But mom wasn’t mad. Perhaps because she remembered her sledding days as well “or more likely she was too tired from all that shoveling”. There’d be post sledding P+J’s, or Fluffernutters. Always accompanied with that perfect “mom” cup of hot chocolate (little marshmallow and some cool milk to bring it to perfect temperature). Yup, few things top that memory.

Fast forward… I’m 30 something and married with a 13 and a 1 ½ year old. I’m self employed. A snow day usually means I have to bring the younger one with me to the office because our day care follows the towns’ school cancellation policy. That white stuff has taken on a new meaning.

After a recent storm I decided to take the kids over to “the hill”. I don’t know. Maybe they did some landscaping or something. I noticed two big differences. First, when sledding down the hill it didn’t seem as steep or long as it used to. Second, when pulling the sled back up it seemed to be a lot steeper. I was exhausted after 3 runs up. Half an hour in, I was saved. The police came by and said we were trespassing and had to leave. Something about a liability issue. I thought about salvaging the day by swinging by moms’ house for some hot chocolate. But I remembered she was in Vegas for the week. “Oh well” I thought while driving home. “If only there was somewhere to go that could bring that memory back”. Three words folks – I found it!

The Amesbury Sports Park is Awesome! It provides the perfect atmosphere for the entire family. You don’t need to bring a sled. They have snow tubes for all. The hill is amazing! It blows away any sledding venue I’ve been to. Getting up the hill is no problem. They have two chairlifts! They hook up to your tube and pull you to the top.

Kids ages 4-6 have to wear a helmet and be accompanied by an adult. If you don’t have a helmet they are available free of charge. Kids 7 and up are helmet optional.

What about kids under 4? The park took the suggestions and requests of the patrons for a toddler venue and just recently opened the “tiny hill for tiny thrills”. A great venue for the littlest ones.

Need to warm up? Go in the Corner Kick Pub. They serve interesting micro brews, piping hot pizza, grilled sandwiches, fresh salads, and tasty appetizers. Public restrooms, arcade games, vending areas, and ample seating are available.

Older kids into snowboarding? Send them over to the junkyard terrain park. They even have a “Big Air” competition in March.

I’d classify it as a hop away from skiing. But you don’t have to take lessons, buy a ton of gear, or wait in those nasty rental lines.

Ticket prices are reasonable. On Thursdays a 3 hour pass is $15 and a 5 hour pass is $20. Thursday hours are 3:30 to 9:00. Friday and weekend 3 hour pass is $22 and a 5 hour pass is $30. Friday hours are 3:30-9:00. Saturday hours are 10am-9pm. Sunday hours are 10am-7pm.

There is a link for a $2 discount coupon. They also have a banner on their home page that advertises a $3 discount if you bring in a canned or perishable good for donation. I’m not sure if the two promotions can be used together.

Definitely worth checking out!!!

Check out a video of some recent action:

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 2:49 am and is filed under Places to Go. If you use RSS, you can subscribe to the RSS feed , or if you would rather receive an e-mail, please subscribe to the e-mail in the lower right hand corner of this page. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.