Eagles Mere is located in Sullivan County in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania. It a beautiful little bed & breakfast town situated on Eagles Mere Lake. I have only been there when it is a winter wonderland and it's absolutely gorgeous. I am anxious to go there when it is warm out so I can walk through the town & explore the many different things they have to offer.
I digress... We went to Eagles Mere to ride on the Ice Toboggan Slide. The Slide is something you will do & never forget. I knew it was going to be cold, but I also knew that Austin & Aidan would never forget this day. Even if we never get to go again, they will remember.
I will try to describe the Slide with the help of the adorable little book I bought (The History and Building of The Eagles Mere Ice Toboggan Slide) and then embellish with pictures. Enjoy.
This is the line we had to wait in to get a toboggan. We arrived in Eagles Mere at 11:18 am. We got our sled at 2:08 pm. Although three hours seems like a long time to stand in line, it actually went pretty fast. Even Austin commented on how it didn't seem like three hours.
While we were standing in line, this horse drawn hayride passed us several times. It was $5.00 for adults & $3.00 for children.
The slide is built using approximately 1200 block of ice that are cut from the lake. The blocks are 15 1/2" wide, 44" long and the depth depends on the thickness of the ice. Usually the slide is built when the ice is 12 inches thick. Each block weighs 256 pounds. They start at the bottom of the hill and build up towards the launch. It takes around 380 man hours to build the slide, 9 pick-up trucks are used to haul the blocks which cover a total of 250 miles, and they carry approximately 1000 blocks, weighing a total of 120 tons.
They estimate that on a good weekend, 1700 people will ride down the slide.
"After loading at the top of the hill, the sled is released. It will reach a speed of 40-45 miles per hour by the time it reaches the bottom of the hill. The sled will continue out across the slide and end mid-lake, 1200 feet from its starting point."
We went to Eagles Mere with the Lutz's (Michael, Sherry, Joel & Ashlee) and the Swavely's (Merry, Amy, Ryan, Julie & Scott). Aidan rode down the hill with the Lutz's and got to ride in the front of the sled the first slide & rode backwards with Ashlee on the second slide. Austin & Scott rode with Jerry & I.
You are guaranteed two slides and that's what we got.
We then made the trek back to Berks County & quickly got everything ready to head over o Jerry's dad's for a SuperBowl party.
What a wonderful day!
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