Chutes and Ladder Trucks

Last week, our playgroup had an outing to a local firestation. I am a slacker and did not get around to posting these photos at that time. Since I spent a LOVELY (sense my sarcasm?) day getting yelled at by my mother today after paying her rent and really did nothing else of note, I thought I'd post these instead.

Turns out, firemen really DO slide down brass poles! They are too big in diameter for pole dancing though, in case you were wondering. I checked.

They also have the option to slide down a big, curving metal slide, which from what we were told, most of them do not enjoy. While this sounded like a lot more fun to me at first, I have to point out the pads on the wall. They're up there because apparently when you hit that curve you also hit the wall...hard. We got to see a demo. Ouch.

This would also be the "chute" to which I oh so cleverly alluded in my post title, in case you missed it. It's late and I'm punchy.

This is the top of the slide. I liked the warning.

This is the ladder truck. You too could have one of these for the reasonable sum of 1.4 million dollars. A pittance, really.

The Jaws of Life. Cool.

This is where the hoses hook up to the basket for the top of the ladder. We learned that the ladder truck can't pump it's own water, which means that an engine always has to accompany it to a call. We also learned that the trucks get washed every day and detailed once a week.

Bubba in the driver's seat.

I swear I'm not taller than my husband! I just have better posture. :) Later on in the day I made some blueberry muffins and we took them back there to thank them for the tour.