Friday, January 19, 2018

The Ice Castles

I have a treat for you today!  It’s a bit of a departure from my normal posts.  This week we had a date night at an Ice Castle!  


For the past three years our city has built a massive ice castle using only water and icicles.  We’ve always missed it every year because of our schedule, but this year we made it a date.  It was spectacular!  So, I thought I’d take you on a mini tour.  It was the perfect day, temperature just above freezing, and we caught it right before sunset and it was the perfect light for photos.  This is outside the castle where the explain a little of the process of creating the structures.  It’s all icicles and water.  No other structure is used.  


The colour was amazing.  It really is this blue tone.  Just like the ocean reflects blue, so does the ice.  
They said the Ice Castles are in some spots 10 feet thick and the entire castle weighs about 25 million pounds.  It’s really impressive.  


Inside the castle are mazes, domes of ice, ice slides, a fire pit, and photo ops every corner you turn.  This was facing west as the sun was beginning to set.  I felt like we were in Narnia at the White Witch’s castle.  

This is one of the three ice slides, closed while we were there, but I still slid down another one.  


They have sections that look like crowns over top of you.  Against that blue sky, it’s amazing!  


It’s about 3 stories high, so it really does feel like a castle.  


This is looking up inside the maze.  Isn’t that impressive?  






They have an ice throne for pictures :)  Here’s me and my sweetie.  He’s the best.  


As the night begins to come, they have LED lights behind the ice that start to glow different colours, so you get yellow, green, turquoise, red, purple, and blue.  




They have a large wall section with dancing LED lights behind it that constantly change colour, it’s a bit like Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights.  


A specatuclar sky and a really fun date that I just had to share with you.  One of the parts I loved about it was that it embraces that we’re a winter city and that we can enjoy it!  They do have sites all over the US and a couple in Canada, and they’re well worth checking out! Hope you enjoyed the pictures!  
SaveSaveSaveSave

9 comments:

Rosy Newlun said...

Look at this! What eye candy for us! I have been thinking about you, missing your coloring and had to come "by" for a visit. Look at you and your hubby!!! It's breathtakingly stunning! Thank you so much for sharing! Ethereal!!!

Helen said...

Christine, thanks for sharing these incredible pictures. I've never seen anything like it. So glad you had the chance to see it.

kathy Thompson said...

Wow, that is gorgeous. So unusual. Thanks for sharing the pictures. They're wonderful. I would love to see it in person. What are the dates for this? Is it the same time every year? You're so lucky to be able to see it.

Conniecrafter said...

Wow that is just so cool, so glad you were able to go this time and that you were sweet enough to share your date :)

Anne said...

WOW! all I can say is WOW! What a great experance.

Leslie Miller said...

Oh, my word! I'm in awe. Truly stunned. The colors and structure, the magnificence! You and Terry look so cute together. They build fires in there? What a grand treat to see this!

Tracy said...

wow, that is so cool, thanks for sharing and glad that you finally were able to see it, it looks amazing!

Brenda said...

Christine, this is so amazing and truly a wonder. Thanks so much for sharing them!

CherylQuilts said...

Wow, what an incredible experience to visit this beautiful (no, stunning) place! The photos are amazing, and what beautiful colors of both the ice and the sky. It's amazing to see the formations. Such a reminder of the beauty God has allowed us to have even in this flawed world. I can only imagine the beauty of heaven for all eternity!! Hugs, sweet friend!