An Experience of a Lifetime

If you’re looking for an essay about snowmobiling you're in the wrong place. Yes, I went last weekend with about 2,000 others, but the last thing that you want to read about is the feel of the engine throughout your body, the sound of the gears switching, or the memories made on and off the snowmobile. A lot more was learned along the journey. 

I wanted to go snowmobiling with my stepdad and his friends. My

mom did not want me to go. She talked about how dangerous it was.

She told me about a time that her friend crashed and had to have surgery

on her arm. Growing up in Minnesota I have tried almost everything, skating

on the rinks in Minnesota, ice fishing in the freezing cold on Bone Lake,

Wisconsin, dirt biking in Duluth, Minnesota, etc. At the same time, my

stepdad's friends were getting at me, telling me I wasn’t truly from the

Midwest if I didn’t try this. 

I was the one arguing that I wanted to go. “I have a motorcycle.”

“I can make memories.” “Come on we have to embrace the winter.”

As a true Minnesotan, it was something I felt I had to do.

Last year I took my mom out on my motorcycle. I took my mom

down Shepard Rd on a summer night. A road that I believe is beautiful,

parallel to the Mississippi River, all the old houses on our left, leading up

to the Xcel Energy Center where my favorite NHL team plays. The sound

of my motorcycle roaring through this scenic route with the wind hitting

us seemed so peaceful to me. The lights of Saint Paul ahead of us and

the stars sparkling above us. I thought that this would be a fun experience

for my mom too. When we got back home her first words were “that thing

is dangerous.”

The motorcycle ride that I took my mom on didn’t make her feel any

better about me riding my motorcycle. I went snowmobiling and it was a

great time. Since then I have realized that growing up here my entire life

is what makes me Midwestern. It’s not about being a stereotype or what

I’ve done or where I’ve been, but it’s about being a part of the culture here

and reshaping that culture. It’s about embracing who we are and who the

people around us are.