A couple weekends ago Steve and I (and doggies too!) decided to get up and make the 3-hour drive to Breckenridge, CO so that we could see the International Snow Sculpture Festival of 2014. The weather wasn't too cold, around 30 degrees. The hardest thing was finding parking in the little ski village. Luckily we spotted a family leaving after a day of skiing. They even sold us the use of their all-day parking pass. Score!
The snow sculptures were outside near a park at the river walk so we got the dogs in their harnesses and leashes and off we went. It turned out to be very crowded and I was concerned that no one could see the little dogs. I ended up picking up Fiona and snapped a few pictures. The sculptures were pretty amazing but I'm afraid that they didn't expect such high temps because a few of them were showing signs of melting.
Winter Fun by Team USA (doesn't the dog look like a cairn terrier?)
The Dark Side of the Moon by Team France? (a nod to the film work of Georges Melies as featured in the movie Hugo)
Steve was kind enough to hold both of the dogs while I went through the Ice Castle. I don't think they allowed dogs and I don't blame them. It was very crowded in very tight quarters but oh so worth seeing. Apparently they "grow" between 3000 to 5000 icicles every night for the show's duration. At night they light up the LEDs that are buried in the ice. That must have been a sight to behold. Enjoy the few pics that I took during the daytime.
There was also a tunnel that you could crawl through but I opted not to try that out. The few people who did it came out the other side completely soaked from crawling on the snow covered ground.
Since we had a long drive we decided against staying in town for lunch. Plus it didn't look like there would be a good place to eat while having the dogs with us. Next time if we plan ahead we can take the dogs to daycare so that they'll be watched while we enjoy the day. But we just hate leaving them home alone for such a long day without walking breaks.
Breckenridge itself looked like an adorable ski village with lots of quaint shops on the main street. Beautiful! We saw people kite skiing along the frozen lake as we exited town. It looked like a lot of fun. So if you ever find yourself in this part of the world next year, I'd highly recommend checking out the Snow Sculpture festival. If you go the week before we did you'll get to see the artists as they make the sculptures. It's all free to the public.