The Hotel de Glace was beyond description. Seriously. You remember when you were about 10 years old and it had just snowed a few feet (before global warming, when it actually snowed in NJ), and you plunged outside to build the most amazing snow fortress ever built? Remember how it looked in you head? Well, that's what the Hotel de Glace looked like. It was like my imaginary snow castle had become real, except it served alcohol and had hot tubs. Sweet. Of course, you know Brian and I are picture fanatics, so we had a bajillion pics of the place, but I'll try to post a few that'll give you a feel for the place:
Entryway
Fire place in the Ice Bar
Us in the Ice Bar
The Ice Chapel
Entryway at night
The Hotel at night
Looking in to the Ice Bar
Having some drinks in ice glasses
Our room the first night had the bed on a second story!
The Ice Bar at night
Warming up
The hot tubs
Hallways
Sunrise
In case you're wondering how difficult it is to spend the night in an ice hotel where the inside temperature hangs around 20 degrees F, I'll tell you that it's complicated, to say the least. We actually had to sit through a 45-minute demonstration to learn how to get in and out of the sleeping bags they provide for you. But pretty much the deal is that from 10:00am to 9:00pm the hotel is open to the public, including all rooms. You can spend the day walking around (it takes hours to really take your time and look at everything), drinking in the ice bar, or participating in one of the daytime activities they offer (we did dog-sledding, which I'll tell you about later). At 8:00pm, the rooms are closed to the public and the hot tubs open to guests. They have changing areas (with showers, bathrooms, etc) both at the main lodge and in the jacuzzi area. Brian and I spent our evenings between the hot tubs and the bar. At 9:00 they put the sleeping bags in the rooms and you can go to sleep whenever you want. You have to change into dry clothes and be completely dry when you get into your bag, or you'll freeze during the night. I'll admit, the cold was pretty intense. Good thing the bags are rated for -60 degrees, or you'd never make it. We heard a lot of people complaining in the morning about how it was too cold, and they couldn't move in the bags, but I think these people just didn't use their common sense when booking a night at the Ice Hotel - of COURSE it's cold! It's made of ICE! Brian and I followed the directions and slept pretty good the first night. By the second night, we had the system down and slept like babies. It was awesome
During the second day we went dogsledding. It was even cooler than it sounds. I figured they'd let you sit in the sled and drive you around, and then maybe let you try driving them in a confined area or something.
Nope.
After a 10 minute crash course, they hand you your sled and team, and you're off into the wild Canadian outback for an hour and a half. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done (literally and figuratively. MAN it was cold, which explains our ninja gear in the pics). Brian and I took turns driving and had a blast, even when I accidentally steered us into a snowbank that came up to my neck (whoops, sorry about that babe). Here are some pics, and I'll try to post video too:
Getting ready to go (he was howling)
Brian managed to take this while I was driving
That's us!
Dogsledding
Links to video:
Getting ready:
http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=260731047/PictureID=6864433630/a=141816946_141816946/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
Dogsledding:
http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=260731047/PictureID=6864430349/a=141816946_141816946/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
And of course, they had to show us the future team leaders:
When we were done, they took us into a yurt to warm up and drink hot chocolate (if you know about me and my yurt obsession, you'll appreciate this).
The dude with the red beard was our guide. He looks like he was practically born on a dogsled, so you can imagine our surprise when he said he'd only been doing it for a year, lol!
After our outdoor fun, you can imagine we were happy to drive to Quebec city to enjoy a little indoor living. We spent most of our time there walking around and taking pictures (because we're nerds like that). Here are a few good ones:
This place had the best pastries I ever ate:
We also went to the winter Carnival. It was way cool.
This guy sold snow-cooled maple taffy
The best part was the snow tubing:
Links to video:
Snowtubing:
http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=260731047/PictureID=6864434123/a=141816946_141816946/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
The Tornado (same thing except you spin):
http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=260731047/PictureID=6864434718/a=141816946_141816946/otsc=SHR/otsi=SPIClink
After 2 days in Quebec we headed home to pack and unwind. And look at pictures, of course! So, now I'm off to Tampa for two days (talk about a climate change), and to court on Wednesday to perhaps get a divorce. All good things! Stay tuned for good news (?)...
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