Buy new ski poles...for America!

A little snippet on the radio this morning caught my attention. They were citing an article from the Wall Street Journal about sporting goods sales. Despite the ongoing economic doldrums, sales of outdoor gear are increasing. The analysis was that "soccer shorts for the kids and a fishing lure for dad remain essential purchases for many Americans."

In our house, it isn't soccer shorts or fishing lures. It's cross country ski gear. My older son had a present all wrapped up under the Christmas tree. Underneath that wrapping paper made of an old AAA map of snowy Colorado was either a Nimbus 2000 (if you have to ask what that is, it doesn't really matter what it is) or a new pair of cross country ski poles. 


It was the ski poles. And they were an "essential purchase." My sons keep growing, and this one in particular is big enough that he's using my gear (including my poles). And, as anyone who knows me knows, cross country skiing is essential.


The Wall Street Journal article goes on to say, "American families have traditionally shown a tendency to spend on sports apparel for their children...even during times of economic stress." Granted, these poles are the cheap and heavy kind (my son swooshed them back and forth and commented, "they feel like they've got lead weight on the bottom.") and not the $200 racing poles. Those poles would have really stimulated the economy...someone else's economy. 


Now that we all have ski poles again AND helped the economic recovery, it's off to the Lester Park ski trails!