Some who had hoped for a winter vacation filled with recreation, are instead encountering a fair amount of frustration.

The day after Christmas is the day the inner tubing season is scheduled to begin at the St. Joseph County Parks.

HO, HO, HO.

"We're looking more like a golf course than an inner tubing hill today," said K.C. Nieboer, an employee at St. Pat's Park.

Lately, that's about par for the course.

The opening was cancelled due to the mild weather.

Last season, the tubes didn't get any mileage until January 20th. The Winter before that, the tubing hill was open for a grand total of two days.

The park system has snow making machines, but Neiboer says "to run those effectively, we need temperatures in the low 20's or high teens."

At South Bend's Howard Park Ice Rink, even attempts to mechanically re-create winter conditions failed.

"I've been here 25 years and have never ever seen things kind of cascade like they have this year," said rink manager Melanie Trowbridge.

On Wednesday, the rink was closed due to a combination of malfunctioning refrigeration equipment, and a broken water main that cut off the facility's water supply.

The closing was a disappointment to Elaina Polovick who planned to celebrate her 18th birthday on the rink along with 19-guests.

"Well its really frustrating cause we called all of our family had it all planned we were all going to come here together to celebrate my birthday, and go out for pizza. When we got here it was closed, and now we have to call everyone and cancel it and try and figure something else out."

It's hoped that the rink will be open later this week, perhaps by Friday.

The search for winter recreation was successful for those who traveled to Mishawaka's Merrifield Park.

Some traveled farther than others.

"My daughter has never seen the snow, so , this is the first, we're from California it doesn't snow there," said Jean Henderson.