Newport Winter Festival: a reason to leave home

by Jamie Rhein on

Maybe winter seems like a time to bundle up and stay inside, but here is an event that might get you to think again. The Newport Winter Festival in Newport, Rhode Island has 150 offerings over a 10-day spread. From Friday, February 16 to Sunday, February 26, it looks like the whole town is involved. There are mansion museum tours, tours of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, dances, scavenger hunts, plays, ice-carving demonstrations, restaurant deals etc., etc. If you can think of it, the festival has it.

This is the Newport’s 19th Winter Festival with a lot of press attached. That spells organized. You can check on the website for specific events that only happen at specific times like the 12th Annual J.P. Serpa Chili Cook-Off (Feb.17) and the Karaoke Idol Off the Curb (Feb. 24). Most events are on-going, meaning they either happen throughout the day or at least once a day. With a festival button you can get into some venues free or for a reduced admission. Special event tickets can be purchased on-line.

Snow tubing: winter time action that packs a thrill

by Jamie Rhein on

According to an article in today’s New York Times, Punxsutawney Phil and Charles G. Hogg of the Staten Island Zoo have predicted an early spring. With that said, here’s a winter time action option while there’s snow to enjoy.

For anyone who wants the thrill of whizzing and spinning down a hill without the hike back up, tubing is it. Instead of strapping on a pair of downhill skis and forking over the price of a lift ticket, pay to tube instead. It’s cheaper, and you can do it as a group activity. Last weekend, when my five year old and I headed to Snow Trails near Mansfield, Ohio for a tubing outing, I was delighted to see the conveyor belt contraption that transported people back to the top. I had no idea. I also didn’t expect the various lanes with built up edges to keep tubers from crashing to each other. I expected a free-for-all.

First, we started out with him in one lane in his child-size inner tube and me in my adult version in another. Next thing I knew, there he was hanging on to one of the tubes of a group of older boys. They good-naturedly let him join their pack. Group tubing is allowed in certain lanes. I saw groups of four people barreling towards the bottom.

While Ohio’s hills are–well–hills, there are other places where the terrain might be steeper. Steep or not, if there’s a way you can get up the hill without walking, go for it. Also, because tubing hills are connected to ski resorts, you can enjoy the comfort of their lodges. Here are 10 of the tubing places I found. There are more.