Our Ice Castle Adventure!

I had quite an eventful Valentine's Day weekend! So eventful, I'm going to break it up into two posts!
Saturday, Rob and I drove up to Mayville, NY for the Ice Fest on Lake Chautaqua. Rob has fond childhood memories of seeing their annual Ice Castle, and he couldn't wait to take me for the first time. We had a lot of fun, even though the high was twenty-two degrees, and it was snowing and windy. I always dream really big, so the ice castle was a bit smaller than I though it'd be...but it was still really neat! Just think...they carve all that ice out of the lake and build with it. It was really something. I'm going to call it a fort though, because that's more what it looked like to me!

The ice fort wasn't the only thing to see...I was amazed at the number of people out on the lake. It was completely frozen, and there must have been at least fifty, probably more like one hundred people on the water at once. Not only were they ice fishing, they were snow mobiling! We walked about 5 or 6 yards out on the ice, and I couldn't believe I was on ice. It felt like concrete! It was a little unnerving to think there wasn't a support system underneath us though, so we only stayed out for a minute or two. Further down the way, we made it to what is usually the beach. Looking out, it just looked like a huge field, but the signs were so ironic, I had to catch it! I think that was one of my favorite sightings at the festival!

Of course, the best part of any festival is the food! I had saved all of my calories for having a funnel cake, but Rob was looking forward to other goodies. There was a plethera of choices and we would have liked to try each one, but I stuck with my old favorite, and Rob landed at the German Food vendor. He loves spicy things, so his spicy sausage dog hit the spot! I enjoyed the customer ahead of us immensely. Bless his heart, he asked the German woman, serving German food, if she had any Italian sausage. She just looked at him for a second, then said,"No! I'm German!"

After eating, we browsed the retail vendors and found loads of fun stuff. We really enjoyed the handmand clothing. The hats alone were worth the trip! I wasn't brave enough to buy a quirky one, but I wish I had gone for my favorite now. I LOVE the beach, and the crab hat was calling my name. I thought it'd be a good hat to wear when feeling crabby too, that way everyone would know not to mess with me!

All in all, my first Ice Fest was great! I lasted about three hours before telling Rob I thought I needed to head for a building to warm up...that's pretty good for a Southern girl! We took the long way back, for more snow pictures, and made a huge pot of coffe to warm up when we made it home. Maybe next year I won't be too chicken to try to snow mobile rides!