THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 9, 1996 TAG: 9601090229
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: THE BLIZZARD OF '96
SOURCE: BY KERRY DOUGHERTY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Legend has it that F. Scott Fitzgerald once vacationed at the Cavalier Hotel. So have rich people and royalty.
But it's unlikely that the high and mighty had more fun there than the apple-cheeked children sailing down its snowy terraces Monday on garbage can lids, boogie boards and strips of plastic.
``This is great,'' screamed Amanda Marie Fay, 7, a Linkhorn Park first-grader, sliding down the hill on her orange boogie board.
In a city just a few feet above sea level where snow is as rare as a jellyfish in January, sledding is not an indigenous sport. But imaginative youngsters - delirious with an unexpected day off from school and snow that wasn't turning to rain - improvised.
Boogie boards wrapped in garbage bags outnumbered real sleds on the snowy hills at the Oceanfront.
On Christmas Hill, off 46th Street and Pinewood Road, mobs of youngsters shrieked their way down that nifty little incline. Among the boogie boards there was one gem - a real honest-to-goodness Flexible Flyer, burnished a deep maple color. It belonged to Dr. H. Courtenay Harrison Jr., 37, when he was a child. But today the endocrinologist was teaching his daughter Natalie, 5, and son Neil, 4, the finer points of sledding.
``Hang on, Neil,'' he yelled as the smiling redhead went sailing through a crowd of teenagers.
``This is the first time they've been on my old sled,'' Harrison said, helping Neil off and lovingly flipping the vintage sled over to reveal a $19.95 pricetag. ``I used to take this sleighing in Durham, N.C., and out in Danville where my grandparents lived.''
On a little hill at 53rd Street and Holly Road, 7-year-old Rob Skenes was sledding on a shiny new American Flyer with bright red runners.
``That sled was a gift from his godfather on his very first Christmas, when Rob was just 6 months old,'' said his grandmother, Anne Smith, who was standing sentry at the bottom of the hill watching for traffic. ``He didn't even remember he had the sled until today, when I got it out of my garage.''
For his part, Rob, a second-grader at Linkhorn Park, was too busy to comment on the sport except to say sledding was ``fun.''
But a snow day isn't just for the young. Sue Bowser, a teacher at Crestwood Middle School in Chesapeake, and her friend Gayle Cameron, a psychotherapist, bundled up and took their dogs for a walk in the storm.
Bowser held on to Spunky and Buffy while Gayle had Maxine - a shivering Yorkshire terrier - zipped into her down jacket.
Bowser seemed as pleased as any school child to have the day off, and Cameron said, professionally speaking, that snow is good for the soul.
``It's so nice for people if they can just enjoy the weather and take a day off,'' Cameron said. ``But for the people who had to work today, and risk driving on the slippery roads, it could be pretty stressful.''
Ayla Alexander, a physician's assistant, posed for a picture in her snowy driveway across from the closed Association for Research and Enlightenment as she left for work.
The doctor she works for, she said, grinning, is a workaholic. ``He doesn't close for a little snow.''
Snapping her picture with a disposable camera was Scott Milburn, a professional photographer and videographer who had been unable to find a working camera in the snowstorm.
His employer, Celebrations of Life, in Norfolk had closed because of the weather and he had spent the morning observing a strange ritual in the empty A.R.E. parking lot.
``All morning, cars have been coming over here and doing doughnuts,'' he said, laughing. ``A little while ago a guy in a beautiful black BMW drove up, looked around and started spinning around the parking lot. Then he drove off nice and slow.
``Guess the weather just brings the kid out in all of us.'' ILLUSTRATION: BILL TIERNAN
The Virginian-Pilot
Phillip McNeal, 3, glides down Holly Road at 53rd Street on Monday
in Virginia Beach. The hill was long enough and slippery enough to
give children their first sled ride in awhile.
by CNB