Family Fun Day really ‘takes it outside’
To the editor:
February has certainly been cold here in Aroostook County, and when I woke up this past Saturday and saw the thermometer struggling to get past the zero mark, I wondered, “do I really wanna go play outside today?” Well, Aroostook State Park’s Family Fun Day happens just once a year, so I decided I was going to go get my granddaughters and we were going to “Take it Outside”.
Family Fun Day is never a disappointment and this year was no exception. We arrived early and put on our warm winter gear and headed off to see what was in store. The sliding hill was exceptional and we took several trips on the tubes, screaming as we flew down the hill onto the lake, what fun!
Next we took off to find a snow sled tote ride around the lake. When we arrived at the shore of the lake, the girls saw it, “The Moose!” Someone had taken a boat, added a nice cozy, warm, fuzzy seat and designed the front end to look like a moose. Well, that was the one we had to ride. Nippy as it was when the driver said, “long ride or short ride?”, of course we answered “Long Ride.”
We took a beautiful ride around the lake on our very own “moose”. Next it was time to get warm, so we headed off to find the warming area. Some very nice folks had been very busy preparing hot soups, hot chocolate, hot dogs and every kind of sweet treat you can imagine. So we sat inside, filled our tummies and got warmed up for round two.
Once back outside we checked out the LL Bean Bootmobile, the girls were quite taken with it, wondering if we could “tie the laces.” We play a quick “boot toss” game and won a prize, then headed for the animal display where we saw some pretty amazing “stuffed animals” from bear to fox and got some really valuable information about animal tracks.
Finally, we had a choice to make — would it be cross country skis or snowshoes for our final activity? Snowshoes won out, perhaps because Grammie was a bit nervous about trying the skis. So we found the nice man who helped us pick a pair of snowshoes and pointed us up the trail. What a great time spent in the great outdoors of northern Maine.
We would like to say a big “thank you” to Scott Thompson, all the rangers at Aroostook State Park and all others who helped make this event happen. Everything our children participated in was at no cost to them, and very minimal cost to the grownups. The hard work it took to put this all together is very much appreciated and I hope that if you missed it this year, you will watch for it in the future. It is a truly valuable thing to show our youngsters what our State Park has available to them for great exercise and even greater fun.
At Aroostook State Park you can “Take it Outside” all year long. Thank you so much!
The Rogeski Kids (Big and small.) of Fort Fairfield
