Life in Northern Towns III

Thanks to warmer temperatures and some spring showers, all the snow has finally melted away down here at the edge of the prairie. Watching the daily erosion of the massive snowbank at the edge of my campus parking lot, I got to thinking about how much of my childhood recreation depended on snow. Lots of snow.

While many Midwestern kids go sledding on hills (or, if you're cursed to live in Fargo, on the Dike), the Upper Peninsula is snowy enough that we would sled off buildings. Dad would use the good old International Harvester Scout to plow a giant bank to the eaves of the chicken coop or another outbuilding, we'd climb up to the peak, and then we'd send ourselves flying down across the yard. Repeat until tired, then recuperate by digging a long tunnel and substantial cavern into the same bank. I don't remember ever getting cold.