<p>When it snowed hard last winter, DD was really bummed that we did not have any good sledding devices. Dad pointed to our collection of Hawaiian bodyboards - she had a blast! By the time the kids were done, our private drive was polished so well, dad had “fun” sliding down it in our van. :)</p>
<p>This brought back memories for me too. I may have a few of those college dining hall trays still! What fun! I hear so many kids say they hate the cold and they want to go down South for school - but going to school in NH - the winters were so much fun with all the snow activities - skiing, sledding, traying, ice skating! We even had a blizzard that shut school down and had people camped at our apartment for days. The real panic set in when the town ran out of beer…</p>
<p>Heck yeah - it was an intramural sport at Lafayette! Colleges on a hill did have their advantages…</p>
<p>I never did it, but my roommate did – and a moving car ran over her leg on the street at the bottom of the hill when neither she nor the driver were able to stop in time.</p>
<p>Amazingly, the bone was not broken. She was told later that if the car had stopped successfully, the bone would probably have been smashed.</p>
<p>While attending Livingston College at Rutgers, I worked in the cafeteria. Not only did we tray but we took the gigantic mixing bowls that could fit a whole person inside and went sailing down the hills. Ahhhh, what fond memories…</p>
<p>I also recall using old tubes too - with 2-4 kids on them LOL - what a tumble of arms and legs - this is a fun ride down memory lane LOL</p>
<p>Looks like I unleashed some inner college students. I went traying with Amherst guys–down the hill above the soccer fields, as I remember. It’s kind of a fog. I hope our serious, college-stressed kids know what fun they’re in for over the next four years.</p>
<p>Ha ha… to whoever did it at Colgate… I did too… class of 1983!!</p>
<p>I remember my guys freshman year - he calls and there is alot of hootin’ and hollerin’ going on - was about 2am - was the very 1st snow fall - and you could hear in the background all the fun - and the snowball fight going on LOL - the students were having - especially the ones who never experienced the wonder of snow - and the fun it can bring - he was just having a fantastic time - and he from the nor’east LOL</p>
<p>For many years UW also had a ski jump right on campus. Awesome.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.lakeshorepreserve.wisc.edu/visit/muirknoll.htm[/url]”>http://www.lakeshorepreserve.wisc.edu/visit/muirknoll.htm</a></p>
<p>Yes, Rachacha, we once went traying down College Hill Ave after a big storm. But we didn’t use trays from the cafeteria, we used metal pans/huge metal cookie sheets from the frats. OMG, now that I think about how COLD that metal must have been… but we didn’t care.</p>
<p>BTW, no one had shovels to dig out their cars, we used trays for that as well.</p>
<p>Ha, I have great memories of traying.</p>
<p>We too used cafeteria trays. Freshman year we’d actually begin our run with tray INSIDE the dorm, running down the hallway as fast as we could go, through the open door at the end of the hall by then running at top speed, then sat or fell on tray and hung a sharp right as soon as we got outside, right over the stairs and down the hill. Funny I can’t remember what I had for breakfast this morning but I recall every bump of that ride. Since the whole campus was on one mountain (Lehigh) it was a heck of a ride although looking back, somewhat insane.</p>
<p>The only thing we really needed was a chairlift…walking back up was brutal!</p>
<p>Traying was fun but dangerous at Washington State - hills are very steep and it gets dark before classes are over in the afternoon. Or maybe it was the Coors beer we smuggled over from Idaho (couldn’t buy it in Washington) that added to the feeling of danger?</p>
<p>Oh, what a fun post! I remember traying. The dining hall put out old trays with a sign to please take the old ones and not to steal the good ones. I was in Denton Complex at Maryland. And across the street, where the performing arts center is now, there was a hill, not real big, but I remember at times the snow icing over and you could start down the hill then slide forever on the ice on the cafeteria tray. We had soooo much fun, especially if it was bad enough to close campus and we didn’t have classes!</p>
<p>So the tradition is alive and well in Rhode Island. My D was saving a couple of trays since October (we saw them Parents’ Weekend!) and she and her friends used them when the first snow fell! She promised they would return the trays to the cafeteria when the weather warmed up.</p>
<p>U of South Carolina. Yes, we “trayed”. It snowed once in 4 years!</p>
<p>Yes! I did too! I went to Carnegie Mellon and when it snowed we would sneak trays out under our shirts/coats and head over to Schenley Park. It was a lot of fun.</p>
<p>“…Rosebud!..”</p>
<p>(classic movie reference)</p>
<p>Not in college, but I worked banquets at the Hilton Hotel in Philadelphia and we used to use those grand large oval trays to get 2 on at a time and whiz down hills (we “borrowed” the trays and took them to hills).</p>
<p>Ah yes, when I’ve described this sporting event to my D she says “it’s a wonder you didn’t break your neck!” (like mother like daughter!)</p>
<p>^^ROFL - if our kiddo’s only knew :D</p>