This is really the first winter Olympics with a women’s ski jumping event? REALLY?

I’m thinking about the old ski jump at Minneapolis Woods up in Sault Ste. Siberia. Back when I was a kid, there was a skating rink, a warming shack, a rope tow (a pretty fast one if my memory is accurate), and a SKI JUMP! There was a sound system that blasted tunes out onto the slopes while people were skiing. There was a lot of 60s rock and “Wipe Out” was a fave but I’m sure that the management needed to accommodate all ages, etc., so there was frequently a yodeling album (or whatever) in the rotation.

Winters in Sault Ste. Siberia… Sigh. When I was in junior high, so many nights, I would schlep my downhill skis, poles and boots up the alley behind our humble home on Superior Street walking toward The Rion in the sky and Minneapolis Woods on earth. We had so much fun skiing at Minneapolis Woods, going up the rope tow and down the hill forever, all the while listening to the music and watching those brave men (and yes there were women) climb up to the top of the ski jump and fly down it. I don’t remember any accidents at all. Those kids knew what they were doing and it was fun times. (No, I did not jump!)

Sshhh. Minneapolis Woods was also a place for junior high kids to rather surreptitiously meet up with, you know [wink wink] Romantic Interests. Oh, not me. Not that I didn’t have little crushes on some of the boys that showed up to ski. I just always thought that they wouldn’t be interested in me. I was in 8th grade for most of this, ROIGHT?

I had friends who did meet boyfriends up at Minneapolis Woods. Once I was up there with a friend and her [bad] boyfriend, when my old coot came to pick me (and my skis) up. Somebody tried to hitch a ride on the back of my old coot’s car and my dad somehow managed to shake that person off without injuring him. Friend’s boyfriend noted that Mr. Fin, the Bank Manager, was a good driver. Well, yes, he was, he also flew planes, etc. AND HE WAS MY DAD!!! I’m not sure that kid even knew that.

To my parents, who worried so much about me all those years ago when I was a junior high kid schlepping ski equipment up to Minneapolis Woods. I liked a few of the boys who hung out there. I bet a few of those guys liked me too. We were too shy to say that to each other. I never had a boyfriend at Minneapolis Woods, as much as I may have wanted one. The boyfriends I had back in those days were not skiers.

I didn’t marry a ski-jumper but I did marry a cross-country skier. I think that I am probably a better yodeler than a skier.

Note to self: the next time you are in Sault Ste. Siberia and staying at the Hotel Ojibway, walk up to Minneapolis Woods!

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