Tubing

I went for a "Tubing" last week. Tubing is going down a river in float.

Sickman's Mill Home  
Address:  671 Sandhill Rd, Pequea, PA 17560   Phone: (717) 872-5951



It takes about an hour to go down a river. The flow is basically slow, but sometimes there are shallow places and they catch your tube. Also, speed gets fast at some points. So you can enjoy some thrill. However, it's not dangerous. Even the small kids age about 4 years can enjoy it by connecting their tube with adult, or you can take your child together in your tube.

It will be more fun if you connect tubes with your friends or family.If you go alone, it's easy to get separate and very difficult to get together again.I recommend to chain for 3-4 people together. It makes to get direction easier and you can enjoy conversations during the Tubing.

Since there are holes at your seat so your bottom gets always wet. Depends on the flow, you will also get wet on your back. You should be well prepared for it. At the final destination, they will pick you up and takes you to the start point.There is a snack bar selling cheese-steaks and sandwiches and so on.

Besides this place, there is also Tubing place in New jersey.

 Delaware River Tubing 

Address: 1121 New Jersey 12, Frenchtown, NJ 08825　Phone:(908) 996-5386

I think Tubing is a very American way to enjoy great natures.

It' really fun to go with friends or family. I definitely go next year. I highly recommend it!!

Alapocas Run State Park & Free Summer Taichi Class

Delaware is surrounded so many greens and you might have gone through a park every 20 minutes while you are driving.

I'm going to have a simple introduction about the trail and free summer Taichi class.

I went to Alapocas Run State Park for the first time and saw a flier the picture below.
According to the flier, Gentle Palm Karate Academy offers free Taichi classes during summer.

Taichi is a kind of Chinese martial arts and it's also moving meditation as well.
It's not here, but I'm taking 24 method Taichi lessons in IWC and I enjoy it very much.   

Flier at  Alapcas ball fields

The purpose I visit the park is for running.
Since I applied for the Philadelphia Marathon, I need to practice as much as possible.
It's too hot to run in the daytime, so I was looking for somewhere cool for running.
Besides, this park is close to the International women's club, so it's convenient for me to run after club activity.

【Full page Map (PDF)】 

PDF shows distance of each trail.

Today I stared from Alapocas Ball Fields and run light yellow trail.
It was great run in the wood, because it was cool and the ground was much softer than asphalt road.

I was worried if I would get lost, but if you come twice, it will be OK.
It's great not only for running, but also for walking. I will definitely come again for running.
Besides Alapocas Run State Park, there are many parks in Delaware. You can check them at Wilmington State Parks web site.
They will have free concerts and some other events, don't miss them!

Golf Shops around Delaware

Golf is very popular sports in the U.S. Even small kids plays golf with their family.
However,　playing golf is very expensive in Japan.

Many Japanese people start to play golf after they move to the states.
We also started golf to take this advantage of staying here.

There are three kinds of big golf shops in Delaware.

I went to looking around those three shops.  【MAP】

1．Dick's Sports  　（Map：Ｃ   At Christiana Mall and at 202, same place where Target is) 

This shop is not golf department shop, but it has every kinds of sports goods.
Golf section is bigger than other sports one, but it seems there is no golf professional in the store.

   

2．Golf Galaxy   (Map：Ｂ　Route 58　Located neear Delaware park, same mall with Home depo)

It's a bit small shop, but it has a good product line up.
A Virtua triall hitting machine is  set, you can try clubs before you buy.
There were used clubs as well.

3．Golf Smith   (Map：Ａ　Route 58  North of Golf Galaxy)

It's a biggest store among the three shops. Since there were little customers in the store at that time, clerk helped me a lot.
This shop also has three virtual trial hitting machines.
The line up of used clubs is also the best among the three.
I didn't ask at other shops, but this shop clerk told me that if you don't like the clubs, you can return the product in 30 days with 90% of original price, even if you have used it.

Each shops have different product lineups.
Especially Golf Galaxy and Golf smith are located very close each other, you can go both shops before you shop.
For example, I got Lynx golf set at golf smith, but there was no Lynx set or gloves at Golf Galaxy.

I took golf classes for a year when I was college student. After that, I just played sometimes, but I always used rental clubs.
In Japan, every driving range and golf course has rental clubs and it is very cheap or free for women.
Besides, people live small house and I didn't want to keep a golf set in my room.

On the other hand, Golf is such a common sports in the state, it seems difficult or not cheap to rent a clubs.
I finally bought a golf set at Golf smith.
It was originally $399.99, and the price at the shop was $245, and it was on sale $179.99.
Finally,  there was an additional promotion for Farther's day, and I got it for  $159.99.
What a great saving!!

I'm a beginner, and I'm not sure if I keep playing golf after I go back to Japan.
So I bought an inexpensive golf set. I went to driving range with this set, and it worked well.
I'm very satisfied with this set and the price. It's not a great clubs, but enough for beginners.
I will keep practicing with this set, and I hope one day, I will feel this club is not good for me.
Because it's a proof that my skill has improved.

Philadelphia Marathon

I registerd the Philadelphia marathon.

The Philadelphia marathon is held on November 23, from 7:00 am. 

Application fee becomes high as it approaches a due date.

I applied on May 23, and the price of me was a total of $124.82 including service charge.

You can also find Baltimore marathon, which is on October 18, in marathon calendar.

It is introduced in an article "10 Awesome Marathons To Sign Up For Right Now "