GIANT Slide Mt. Tabor Park Rocky Ridge, Maryland

Several years ago while traveling through Northern Maryland we made a side visit to the Rocky Ridge municipal park. The community park isn't particularly large, but it sure packs a punch. Unfortunately the day we visited their main attraction was under restoration. To bear our disappointment we rode the old time merry go round, that has certainly been removed from almost every other park in the country. Since that time my daughter has been consistenly reminding me that we need a revisit.

A few weeks ago I made sure to put a trip together that would involve a stop at the Mt. Tabor park in Rocky Ridge, Maryland, and just in case I grabbed a couple towels before we left the house. When we arrived in the parking lot everyone was quite excited but didn't wanna show it. We quickly and quietly scarfed our lunches down under a shady pavillion, than we made the dash to the big red slide. This slide isn't anything like your normal sliding board. It towers 35 feet in the air, and consists of a 100 feet sliding surface that mostly resembles old bowling lanes, with small ramps built in. We grabbed our towels and rushed off to the top, placed myself on the edge and was face first in a pile of sawdust in no time. Pretty soon my daughter and I were racing each other, while trying not to abuse ourselves too much. Burlap sacks are usually located at the foot of the slide, but we found we accelerated much quicker using the smooth side of a beach towel. Some younger visitors opted to go without anything. I wouldn't recommend this as I ended up with a nice brushburn on my elbow just from rubbing the wooden surface accidentally while racing. That also ended my turns on the slide, as the park crowd was now quickly gathering. As we headed to the car we had smiles on our faces, brushburns on our bodies, the memories of our adventure, and hopefully some cool scars to prove it!