The Winter Carnival

All last winter Justin kept telling me about a winter carnival in McCall, Idaho complete with ice and snow sculptures.  It sounded interesting, but more cold than interesting.  The idea of driving two hours in icy and snowy conditions just to tromp around for hours in subfreezing temperatures, through piles of snow to stare at a few sculptures that could just as easily be viewed online just wasn't that appealing.  I secretly hoped that this topic would not be revisited again this year.  No such luck, Justin started talking about it again in October, and eventually had his whole family hyped up for the event, along with our next door neighbor Judy.  So the only thing to do at that point is start planning out the proper winter equipment to make the expedition tolerable.  Fortunately, I can still squish myself into my winter coat, the weather up there became unexpectedly warm, and therefore the road conditions up were mostly clear.  Had it been a different year I might be on here whining about my husband dragging me up there and making me suffer, but it really wasn't too bad.  I wouldn't describe it as warm, I mean the entire lake up there was completely frozen over, but I found the conditions to be tolerable with the assistance of toe and hand warmers.  The sculptures were actually very interesting, and I've truthfully never seen anything quite like it in person.

Justin preparing to enter the Sphinx.

One of the mummies inside the Sphinx.

Interior walls

The Goodale family.  Judy declined to be featured in this photo.

Brooke and the brothers standing in the middle of the frozen lake.

...and then the inevitable snowball fight with the brothers.

For some reason men seem immune to the cold.  My husband returned to me about 45 minutes later with snow down his collar, a clump still sitting inside his frozen ear, and a huge grin on his face like it was the most fun he'd had in months.  I was tired and cold and ready to go, but glad we made the trip.